COE bidding is the open auction the LTA runs twice a month to ration the right to own a car in Singapore. You place a reserve price (the most you will pay), the system lifts your bid in $1 steps against everyone else, and if you finish above the cut-off you pay the same Quota Premium as every other winner in your category. In the 17 June 2026 exercise that premium was $123,847 for Category A and $123,502 for Category B. This guide walks through the deposit, the live price screen, the reserve-price tactic that trips up first-timers, and whether to let a dealer bid for you or do it yourself.
A Certificate of Entitlement is a 10-year licence to own a vehicle. There is a fixed number released each quarter, so the price is set by auction rather than by a sticker. That auction is COE bidding. The certificate itself is the single largest line on most car invoices, which is why understanding how the premium is set matters before you sign anything. If you only want the headline premium and not the mechanics, the sister piece on the latest COE price tracks the figure by category.
There are two bidding exercises a month. Each one opens at 12pm on the first and third Monday and runs for three working days, closing at 4pm on the Wednesday of that same week (later if a public holiday falls in between). You do not need to sit at the screen the whole time; you can place a reserve price and let the system work, then check or revise it before close.
You bid in one specific category, and the category your car falls into is fixed by its engine size or power output. Electric cars are sorted by motor power, not engine capacity, which is why a fast EV can land in the pricier Category B even though it has no engine. Category E is the wildcard: it covers everything except motorcycles and can be used for any car, which is why dealers chasing certainty often bid there.
| Category | What it covers | Premium (17 Jun 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| A | Petrol cars up to 1,600cc and 97kW; EVs up to 110kW | $123,847 |
| B | Petrol cars above 1,600cc or 97kW; EVs above 110kW | $123,502 |
| C | Goods vehicles and buses | $93,001 |
| D | Motorcycles | $9,989 |
| E | Open category (any vehicle except motorcycles) | $129,002 |
You cannot bid without a deposit, and it is not a token sum. For Categories A, B, C and E the deposit is $10,000. For Category D (motorcycles) it is $1,500, as of June 2026. The deposit is collected before your bid is accepted and is refunded if you do not win. If you do win, it is applied toward the premium and you settle the balance.
Individuals bid through DBS or POSB ATMs, while companies and motor traders use the online channels at DBS, UOB or Maybank. The practical point: the cash for the deposit has to be available in your account on bidding day, on top of whatever you are budgeting for the car itself. Factor that into your car cost calculator run before you commit.
This is the part most first-timers get wrong. You enter a reserve price, the maximum you are willing to pay. You are not committing to pay that number. The system automatically nudges your active bid up in $1 increments only as far as it needs to keep you in the running, never past your reserve.
On screen you watch the Current COE Price, which equals the highest unsuccessful bid plus $1. As long as your reserve is at or above the Current COE Price, you stay in the winning pile. The moment the Current COE Price climbs above your reserve, you drop out unless you revise your reserve upward before the exercise closes.
Here is the twist that protects you: everyone who wins pays the same final premium for that exercise, the Quota Premium, not their own reserve price. So if you set a reserve of $130,000 in Category A and the premium settles at $123,847, you pay $123,847, not your reserve. Setting a higher reserve buys you a better chance of staying in; it does not punish you with a higher bill if you win cheaply.
Say the quota is 1,251 certificates and 1,768 people bid in Category A, the actual numbers from 17 June 2026. The system ranks all reserve prices and draws a line after the 1,251st. The premium becomes the bid at that cut-off. Everyone above the line wins and pays that single figure; everyone below either loses or has to lift their reserve to climb back above the line before 4pm Wednesday.
Most buyers never touch the ATM. They buy through a dealer who bids on their behalf, and the deal comes in one of two shapes. A guaranteed COE package locks your price: the dealer commits to securing the certificate within a stated window and absorbs any premium increase. A non-guaranteed package is cheaper up front but leaves you exposed; if premiums spike before the dealer wins, you top up the difference or wait.
Bidding yourself saves the dealer's bidding fee and gives you full control of the reserve price, but you carry all the risk and admin, and you can only realistically do this when buying a used car or renewing rather than ordering a brand-new model. For a new car the dealer almost always bids as part of the package. Whichever route you take, read the COE line the same way you read the OMV and ARF on the invoice, because together they decide your real depreciation.
When your 10-year COE runs out you do not have to re-enter the auction at all. You can renew by paying the Prevailing Quota Premium (PQP), which is the moving average of premiums over the last three months and is published monthly. A five-year renewal costs half the PQP, but it is a one-way door: a car on a 5-year renewal cannot be renewed again and must be scrapped at the end. Run the renew-versus-scrap maths in the dedicated COE renewal cost guide before deciding.
Renewing skips the bidding stress entirely, which can be the cheaper move when premiums are high and your car is in good shape. The trade-off is you lose the PARF rebate the moment you renew, which is the whole argument in the scrap, COE and PARF rebate breakdown.
Premiums are volatile and move with quota and demand, so there is no perfect day to bid. What you can control is your reserve price discipline. Decide your true walk-away number before the exercise, set the reserve there, and revise upward only if the Current COE Price overtakes it and the car is still worth that to you. Do not chase the screen on emotion in the final hour.
Quotas are released in quarterly batches with monthly allocations, so a quarter with more deregistrations usually loosens supply and softens premiums. Watching the published quota for the upcoming period is a better signal than guessing. When in doubt, compare the all-in cost of buying now against waiting, using the cheapest new car breakdown to see how much of the price is COE versus the car.
You need $10,000 for Categories A, B, C and E, or $1,500 for Category D motorcycles as of June 2026. The deposit is refunded in full if you lose and goes toward the premium if you win.
No. Every winner in a category pays the same final Quota Premium for that exercise, not their individual reserve price. Your reserve only sets how high the system will lift your bid to keep you in the running.
Twice a month. Each exercise opens at 12pm on the first and third Monday and closes at 4pm on the Wednesday of the same week, running for three working days unless a public holiday falls in between.
Yes, individuals can bid through DBS or POSB ATMs, which avoids the dealer's bidding fee. In practice this is realistic for used-car buyers and renewals; for a brand-new car the dealer usually bids as part of the purchase package.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.