Before you read any COE prices, you need to know which category a car sits in, because the number on the news headline might not be the one you pay. Singapore runs five COE categories. Cat A is for smaller, less powerful cars; Cat B is for bigger or more powerful ones; Cat C is goods vehicles and buses; Cat D is motorcycles; and Cat E is the open category that can be used for almost anything. In the second June 2026 bidding (17 June), Cat A closed at $123,847, Cat B at $123,502, Cat C at $93,001, Cat D at $9,989 and Cat E at $129,002, per LTA's results. This guide explains how a car gets sorted into a category and what each premium really costs you.
A Certificate of Entitlement is the licence that lets a vehicle run on Singapore roads for 10 years. There is a fixed quota of them, so they are sold by open auction. The catch is that COEs are not one pool. LTA splits the quota into five categories, each with its own quota and its own closing price, so a small hatchback and a delivery lorry never bid against each other.
That split is why you see five different COE prices every fortnight instead of one. When someone says the COE is over $120,000, they usually mean Cat A or Cat B, which are the car categories most buyers care about. A motorcycle COE (Cat D) is a different world entirely, and was under $10,000 in the latest exercise.
If you want the full picture of how the auction sets the closing premium, read our COE price and bidding guide. This page is about the categories themselves: what each one covers, and which car lands where.
Here is what each category covers, using LTA's official definitions. Note that the Cat A and Cat B line moved in February 2014 to include a power cap, and electric cars are measured on power output alone, not engine size.
| Category | What it is for | The cut-off |
|---|---|---|
| Cat A | Mass-market cars and taxis | Engine up to 1,600cc AND power up to 97kW (130bhp). For fully electric cars: power up to 110kW (147bhp). |
| Cat B | Larger or more powerful cars | Engine above 1,600cc OR power above 97kW (130bhp). For fully electric cars: power above 110kW (147bhp). |
| Cat C | Goods vehicles and buses | Commercial vehicles, light and heavy goods vehicles, buses. |
| Cat D | Motorcycles | All motorcycles and scooters. |
| Cat E | Open category | Any vehicle except a motorcycle. Most go to cars that would otherwise be Cat B. |
These are the closing premiums from the second June 2026 exercise, with bids submitted on 17 June 2026 and results published the same week, per LTA's bidding results. Four of the five categories eased off the first-June peak, which dealers put down to the school-holiday lull. For context, in the first June exercise (4 June) Cat A had closed at $126,009 and Cat B at $126,989.
Two prices sit side by side here. The quota premium is what winning bidders in that exercise paid. The Prevailing Quota Premium (PQP) is the rolling three-month average LTA publishes for people renewing an existing COE rather than bidding for a new one.
| Category | Closing premium | Change vs 1st June | Bids vs quota | Renewal PQP (Jul) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cat A | $123,847 | -$2,162 | 1,768 bids / 1,251 quota | $123,315 |
| Cat B | $123,502 | -$3,487 | 1,202 bids / 883 quota | $124,705 |
| Cat C | $93,001 | -$999 | 390 bids / 291 quota | $88,368 |
| Cat D | $9,989 | broadly flat | 615 bids / 532 quota | $9,737 |
| Cat E | $129,002 | +$2 | 487 bids / 262 quota | n/a (no renewal pool) |
This is where most buyers get caught out, because the same model can sit in different categories depending on the variant. The deciding factor is the more restrictive of engine size and power output, plus a separate rule for electric cars.
For a petrol or hybrid car, the test is simple: it qualifies for Cat A only if it is at or below 1,600cc AND at or below 97kW. Breach either and it falls into Cat B. A 1.5-litre turbo making 110kW is a Cat B car even though the engine is small. For a fully electric car, engine size is irrelevant; the line is drawn at 110kW of power. A base electric sedan under 110kW can be a Cat A car, while the performance version of the same model jumps to Cat B.
Cat A and Cat B premiums have been trading within a few thousand dollars of each other through 2026, but the gap swings. When Cat B runs hot, choosing a Cat A variant of the same car can save you real money, on top of the lower Additional Registration Fee a smaller, cheaper car attracts.
The COE premium is not the sticker price; it is one slab inside it. A new car's price stacks the dealer's cost of the vehicle (the Open Market Value), the Additional Registration Fee tax band, excise duty, GST, and the category COE on top. With Cat A and Cat B both north of $123,000 in June 2026, the COE alone can be more than the metal underneath it on a mass-market car.
That is why a Cat A car advertised around $180,000 might carry only $50,000-odd of actual car under a six-figure COE and tax load. Before you commit, run the full ownership maths in our car cost calculator, which folds COE, road tax, insurance and depreciation into a monthly figure, and read why the numbers get so big in our true cost of owning a car breakdown.
You do not have to bid to keep a car past 10 years. You can renew its COE by paying the Prevailing Quota Premium, the three-month moving average for that category. The July 2026 reference figures are $123,315 for Cat A, $124,705 for Cat B, $88,368 for Cat C and $9,737 for Cat D, per LTA. There is no renewal pool for Cat E.
Renewing pays the average rather than the auction spike, and you skip the bidding gamble, but you keep an old car and its higher road tax surcharge. Whether that beats scrapping and buying new depends on the car; we work through it in our COE renewal cost guide.
COE bidding runs twice a month through LTA's open bidding system. A round opens at noon on the first Monday and third Monday, stays open for three working days, and closes mid-afternoon, with results out the same afternoon. The next exercise after June's second round opens on 6 July 2026 at noon, with results on 8 July at 4pm.
To submit a bid you put down a deposit through a participating bank: $10,000 for Cat A, B, C and E, and $800 for a Cat D motorcycle COE (older Cat D certificates obtained before the March 2022 rule change carry a $200 deposit). It is an open auction, so you can see the prevailing price move and revise your reserve bid while the window is live. Everyone who wins in a category pays the same closing premium, not their individual maximum.
In the second June 2026 exercise (bids on 17 June), Cat A closed at $123,847, Cat B at $123,502, Cat C at $93,001, Cat D at $9,989 and Cat E at $129,002, according to LTA's published bidding results. Prices change every fortnight, so always check the current exercise.
Cat A covers cars up to 1,600cc and 97kW of power (or up to 110kW for fully electric cars); Cat B covers anything above either limit. A car only needs to breach one threshold to fall into Cat B, so a small but powerful engine can still be a Cat B car.
Electric cars are sorted by power output, not engine size. A fully electric car up to 110kW (147bhp) qualifies for Cat A, while anything above 110kW goes to Cat B. That is why a base electric model can be Cat A while its performance version is Cat B.
Cat E is the open category and can register almost any car, so dealers use it as a second route to put a big car on the road when the Cat B quota is tight. That extra demand pushes Cat E premiums up, and it frequently closes higher than Cat B.
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.