If you want a car in Singapore, the COE price is the number that decides whether you can afford it. In the second June 2026 bidding exercise (results 17 June 2026), Category A closed at $123,847 and Category B at $123,502, with the open Category E at $129,002 (LTA results). That is a piece of paper, on top of the car itself, that you must win in a government auction before you are even allowed to register a vehicle for 10 years. This guide breaks down the latest COE price for all five categories, how the LTA open bidding system actually sets that price, what it adds to a real car's bill, and the calls that genuinely move the number for you: which category to bid in, whether to renew an old COE instead, and how to time a bid.
A Certificate of Entitlement is a licence that gives you the right to own and operate one vehicle in Singapore for 10 years. Singapore caps the total number of vehicles on the road to manage congestion, so the government releases a fixed quota of COEs and lets buyers bid for them. The COE price is whatever the market clears at, which is why it swings from one fortnight to the next.
Because the quota is fixed and demand from buyers, dealers and businesses is not, the COE price behaves like any auction for a scarce asset. When more people want cars than there are COEs, the price climbs. When the economy cools or quotas rise, it falls. There is no list price you can plan around, only a range and a trend. For a fuller breakdown of how COE sits inside the total bill, see our guide on the real cost of owning a car in Singapore.
One COE covers one vehicle. When the 10 years are up, you either deregister the car, or pay again to renew the COE for another 5 or 10 years. The COE is also a big chunk of what you get back when you scrap, through the COE rebate covered in our scrap car COE and PARF rebate guide.
Here are the closing prices, also called quota premiums, from the second bidding exercise of June 2026, with results published on 17 June 2026. These are the actual amounts the last successful bidders paid, sourced from LTA's COE bidding results.
Bidding activity eased in four of the five categories compared with the first June exercise, when Category A had closed higher at $126,009 and Category B at $126,989. Prices at this level are normal for 2026 rather than a spike, so treat anything around the $120,000 mark for a car COE as the going rate, not a one-off.
| Category | What it covers | Quota premium | COEs available | Bids received |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Cars up to 1,600cc and up to 97kW | $123,847 | 1,251 | 1,768 |
| B | Cars above 1,600cc or above 97kW | $123,502 | 883 | 1,202 |
| C | Goods vehicles and buses | $93,001 | 291 | 390 |
| D | Motorcycles | $9,989 | 532 | 615 |
| E | Open (any vehicle except motorcycles) | $129,002 | 262 | 487 |
COE bidding runs twice a month. Exercises usually open at 12pm on the first and third Monday and stay open for three working days, after which LTA publishes the results. You bid through the Online COE Open Bidding System, normally via a dealer, though individuals can bid too.
The mechanism is a uniform-price auction. You enter a reserve price, the most you are willing to pay, and the system bids on your behalf, rising in $1 steps. The price keeps climbing until the number of bids at or above the current level equals the available quota. Everyone who wins pays the same closing price, not their individual reserve. So if the COE closes at $123,847, that is what every winning bidder in that category pays, even someone who set a reserve of $150,000.
You put down a bid deposit to take part: $10,000 for Categories A, B, C and E, and $1,500 for Category D motorcycles. If you win, the deposit goes towards your COE; if you lose, it is refunded. The key thing to understand is that your reserve price does not set the market price. The market does. You can only lose by overpaying if you would have happily paid less, which is why your reserve should be the genuine ceiling of your budget, not a number you hope to beat. Plug the COE into a full ownership estimate with our car cost calculator before you settle on that ceiling. For the plain-English definition, see the COE glossary entry.
The COE is one line in a stack of taxes, but it is the biggest variable. On top of the car's Open Market Value (the assessed import price), you pay the registration fee, Additional Registration Fee (ARF, tiered on OMV), excise duty, GST, and then the COE on top. For a mainstream Category A car in mid-2026, the COE alone is often close to or more than the value of the car beneath it.
A worked example shows the scale. Take a Category A car with an OMV of around $25,000. Add roughly $20,000 to $30,000 of ARF, excise duty and GST, then a COE near $123,847, and the on-the-road price lands well past $150,000 before options. That is why the same model that costs the equivalent of S$35,000 abroad sells for over four times as much here. If you are weighing models, our rundown of the cheapest new cars in Singapore shows how much the COE dominates even the budget end.
Most buyers borrow to cover it. Singapore caps car loans at 60% to 70% of the purchase price depending on the OMV, over a maximum of 7 years, so you need a substantial cash down payment that includes a big share of the COE. The COE price therefore decides your down payment, not just your monthly instalment.
When your 10-year COE expires, you do not have to scrap the car. You can renew the COE and keep driving, paying the Prevailing Quota Premium (PQP) rather than bidding. The PQP is the moving average of the closing prices over the previous three months for that category, so it smooths out the fortnightly swings.
You choose a 5-year or a 10-year renewal. A 10-year renewal costs the full PQP and is renewable again afterwards. A 5-year renewal costs half the PQP, but it cannot be renewed and the car must be deregistered at the end, with no COE rebate left. Renewing makes financial sense when the car is mechanically sound and a replacement would cost six figures in fresh COE and taxes.
As a reference, the June 2026 PQP rates for renewal were around $118,357 for Category A, $121,218 for Category B, $82,868 for Category C and $9,437 for Category D (Motorist, based on LTA averages). Compare a 5-year renewal at half those figures against the full cost of a new car before deciding.
| Option | Approx COE cost | Keeps the car? | Renewable after? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bid for a new car COE | ~$123,847 (last close) | New car only | Yes, in 10 years |
| 10-year renewal (full PQP) | ~$118,357 | Yes, +10 years | Yes |
| 5-year renewal (half PQP) | ~$59,179 | Yes, +5 years | No, must scrap |
You cannot control the COE price, but you can avoid bidding into a peak and you can pick the smarter category. A few habits separate buyers who overpay from those who do not.
First, watch the quota cycle. LTA sets quotas in quarterly tranches, and a quarter with a larger quota usually softens prices over its exercises. Second, mind the Category A versus B gap: in mid-2026 they have at times closed within a few hundred dollars of each other, which means a larger, more powerful Category B car can cost almost the same in COE as a small Category A one, changing which car is the better value. Third, remember Category E is fully open and often the most expensive, so it only makes sense for buyers who need flexibility on the exact car.
If you are buying through a dealer on a guaranteed COE deal, read the fine print: the dealer commits to a COE up to a stated cap, and you may owe the difference or get a rebate if the actual price lands above or below it. For the financing side, our piece on getting the cheapest new car pairs well with timing the bid.
In the second bidding exercise of June 2026 (results 17 June 2026), Category A closed at $123,847, Category B at $123,502, Category C at $93,001, Category D (motorcycles) at $9,989, and the open Category E at $129,002, according to LTA's published results.
Singapore caps the number of vehicles to control congestion, releasing only a fixed quota of COEs each quarter. Because demand from car buyers, dealers and businesses regularly outstrips that quota, the auction clears at a high price, often more than the value of the car itself.
Renewing is usually cheaper if the car is still reliable. You pay the Prevailing Quota Premium rather than bidding, and a 5-year renewal costs only half the PQP. Buying new means a fresh COE plus full ARF, excise duty and GST, which together run well into six figures for a Category A car.
Yes. The COE open bidding system is a uniform-price auction, so every successful bidder in a category pays the same closing quota premium regardless of the reserve price they entered. Your reserve only determines whether you win, not how much you pay if you do.
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.