How to renew a COE and how much it costs
Every COE in Singapore is valid for exactly ten years from the date the vehicle was registered. As that date approaches, the owner faces a choice. Renewing the COE keeps the vehicle on the road. Letting it expire forces the vehicle to be de-registered.
The two renewal options
You can renew for either five or ten years. The price is the same per year on both. It's the lump-sum bill and the future flexibility that differ.
- Ten-year renewal. Pay the full Prevailing Quota Premium up front. The vehicle gets another full ten years of life. At the end of that ten years, you can renew again.
- Five-year renewal. Pay half of the Prevailing Quota Premium up front. The vehicle gets five more years. At the end of those five years it must be de-registered. There is no second renewal after a five-year extension.
Five-year renewal is final. It gives you a cheaper out and a clean end-of-life date, but the vehicle cannot continue beyond it. Ten-year renewal is renewable, so a vehicle could in principle stay on the road indefinitely as long as the owner keeps paying the PQP at each ten-year mark.
What is the Prevailing Quota Premium?
The Prevailing Quota Premium, almost always called PQP, is the moving three-month average of bidding premiums in your vehicle's COE category. It is recalculated monthly. If premiums for Cat A in the most recent three months averaged S$95,000, the Cat A PQP for the following month is S$95,000.
The PQP tracks live bidding premiums but smooths out the swings. That means renewal cost moves with the market, but you usually have a few weeks of warning before a sharp move shows up.
How much does renewal cost?
It depends entirely on which category your vehicle is in and where the PQP is sitting at the time you commit. As a recent reference point, Cat A PQP has been in the high tens of thousands and Cat B in the low six figures. The latest live premiums for context are on our home page; LTA publishes the official monthly PQP figures on OneMotoring.
On top of the PQP, a renewed vehicle is no longer eligible for ARF rebates or paper-value claims at de-registration. That is part of the trade-off and worth modelling for high-value cars.
How to renew
- Decide on five or ten years. The decision is final once the renewal is paid.
- Pay the PQP through OneMotoring or via your bank's PQP renewal service. Singpass is required.
- LTA updates the vehicle's records immediately. The new expiry date is reflected on the windscreen tag at the next inspection.
For more on how many times you can renew, see How many times can you renew a COE.