Selling a car in Singapore is really two money questions. If your car is worth more than its scrap value, you sell it for cash, transfer the ownership to a new owner for a $25 LTA fee, and the road tax follows the car. If the car is near the end of its 10-year COE or worth little on the open market, you deregister it and claim a PARF rebate plus a COE rebate from LTA instead. Which path puts more money in your pocket depends on the car's age, its remaining COE, and whether it was registered with a COE from before or from the second February 2026 bidding exercise, when LTA cut PARF rebates (per the LTA newsroom release on the revised PARF rebate schedule and cap). This guide walks through every option, the 2026 figures, and how to avoid leaving money on the table.
You have two broad routes. Selling means handing the car to a new owner who keeps driving it, and you collect the cash. Deregistering means taking the car off the road by scrapping or exporting it, after which LTA pays you a PARF rebate (a refund of part of your registration tax) and a COE rebate (a refund of the unused portion of your COE).
For a car with a few years of COE left and decent market demand, selling to a private buyer or a dealer almost always beats deregistering, because a live, drivable car is worth more than the sum of its rebates. For a car near the end of its COE, or one nobody wants to buy, deregistering and claiming the rebates is usually the better number.
The trap people fall into is accepting a dealer's trade-in figure without checking what the rebates alone are worth. A dealer who scraps your car keeps the rebate, so your offer should reflect that the rebates exist. Always work out the PARF and COE rebate first, then judge any cash offer against it.
Two rebates set the floor on what your car is worth. Knowing them stops you accepting a lowball offer.
The PARF (Preferential Additional Registration Fee) rebate is a refund of part of the ARF you paid when the car was registered. You qualify only if the car is not more than 10 years old at deregistration and was registered as a new car (or an imported used car under 3 years old at registration from 1 September 2007). A car whose COE has been renewed past 10 years gets no PARF rebate.
The COE rebate refunds the unused portion of your COE. The formula is the quota premium (or PQP) you paid for the 10-year COE, multiplied by the number of unused months divided by 120. A car with 4 years (48 months) of COE left, where $90,000 was paid for the COE, has a COE rebate of $90,000 x 48/120 = $36,000.
| Car age at deregistration | COE before 2nd Feb 2023 exercise | 2nd Feb 2023 to 1st Feb 2026 exercise | From 2nd Feb 2026 exercise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 5 years | 75% | 75% (cap $60k) | 30% (cap $30k) |
| 5 to 6 years | 70% | 70% (cap $60k) | 25% (cap $30k) |
| 6 to 7 years | 65% | 65% (cap $60k) | 20% (cap $30k) |
| 7 to 8 years | 60% | 60% (cap $60k) | 15% (cap $30k) |
| 8 to 9 years | 55% | 55% (cap $60k) | 10% (cap $30k) |
| 9 to 10 years | 50% | 50% (cap $60k) | 5% (cap $30k) |
| Over 10 years | Nil | Nil | Nil |
Budget 2026 cut PARF rebates sharply, but only for cars registered with a COE obtained from the second February 2026 COE bidding exercise onwards (non-COE cars such as taxis: registered on or after 13 February 2026). If your car predates that, you keep the older, more generous rates. According to the LTA newsroom release on the revised PARF rebate schedule and cap, there are three regimes, all based on a percentage of the ARF the car paid:
Say your car was registered in 2021 (so it falls under the pre-February 2023 rules), it is now 5 years old, and it paid ARF of $48,000. Your PARF rebate is 75% of $48,000 = $36,000. Add a COE rebate of, say, $30,000 for the remaining COE, and the car is worth at least $66,000 in rebates alone before anyone offers you a cent for it as a working car.
The same car registered with a COE from March 2026 would only get 30% of $48,000 = $14,400 in PARF rebate, well below the old figure. The February 2026 change makes newer cars yield far less when scrapped and changes the maths on whether to sell or deregister.
Check your own numbers with LTA's rebate enquiry service on OneMotoring before deciding. You can also sanity-check the after-tax view of any windfall with our income tax calculator if the sale ties into other income, though a private car sale itself is not taxable.
If the car is worth selling rather than scrapping, you have four channels. They trade off price against effort, speed, and certainty.
Selling direct to a private buyer gets you the highest price, typically several thousand dollars above a dealer's offer, because you cut out the middleman's margin. The cost is your time: you advertise, field messages from tyre-kickers, arrange viewings and test drives, and handle the paperwork and loan settlement yourself. Expect three to six weeks and a bit of admin.
Selling to a dealer is fast and certain. You can often walk in and walk out with a deal in a day or two, which suits you if you need the cash quickly or are buying a replacement and want to trade in. The price is the lowest of the channels, usually a chunk below open-market value, because the dealer needs room to resell at a profit.
Consignment sits in the middle. You keep ownership while a dealer markets and sells the car for you, taking a commission (commonly a few percent of the sale price) when it sells. You usually net more than a straight dealer sale because the dealer is hunting for a retail buyer on your behalf, but it can take a few weeks and the final figure is not guaranteed.
A bidding platform is the newer route most people see advertised. You submit your car's details once, the platform's panel of dealers competes for it, and you get back the highest offer, often within a day. It saves you walking from one dealer to another, and the competition tends to lift the price above what a single dealer would quote. You are still selling to a dealer at the end, so the offer sits below a clean private sale, and most platforms charge a transaction or admin fee that comes out of your proceeds. Read the fee terms before you accept: some waive the fee when very little COE is left, others charge a separate fee only if you opt for home collection. Treat the headline offer as the gross and subtract the fee to see your real net.
| Channel | Price you net | Speed | Your effort | Paperwork and loan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct to private buyer | Highest | 3 to 6 weeks | High: advertise, viewings, admin | You handle it |
| Bidding platform | Mid (minus a fee) | About a day to an offer | Low: one submission | Platform or winning dealer handles it |
| Consignment | Mid to high | A few weeks | Low: dealer markets it | Dealer handles it |
| Dealer or trade-in | Lowest | 1 to 3 days | Lowest | Dealer handles it |
Every channel above hands you a number. You can only tell a good number from a bad one if you have valued the car yourself first. Two anchors matter: the floor, which is your combined PARF and COE rebate, and the market price, which is what a buyer will actually pay for a working car of your make, model and remaining COE.
For the market price, look up recent listings and, where shown, transacted prices for the identical model and roughly the same COE expiry on Sgcarmart and Carousell. Asking prices run a little above what cars sell for, so shade your expectation down from the top listings. A handful of factors move your figure within that range.
Run the same logic before you buy your next car too, so you know whether a trade-in offer is fair. Our car cost calculator sizes the full cost of ownership, and what really drives the cost of a car in Singapore breaks down where the money goes.
If your car is still financed, you cannot transfer or deregister it until the loan is cleared. The new owner's confirmation only takes effect immediately if the car is not under financing.
Ask your bank or finance company for an early settlement letter. This states the exact amount needed to fully redeem the loan, including any early settlement charge. The charge usually follows the Rule of 78 or a flat rebate formula, so settling early does not save you all the remaining interest. Get the figure in writing so you know your true net proceeds.
If you are selling direct, the cleanest approach is to use the buyer's payment to settle the loan, then transfer the car once the finance company lifts its interest. If you are selling to a dealer, they will normally handle the loan redemption and pay you the difference. Either way, confirm in writing who pays the bank and when. If clearing the loan strains your cash, our budget planner helps you see whether to wait for a private sale or take a faster dealer offer.
Once you have a buyer and the loan is settled, transferring ownership is a short online process. It must be completed within 7 days, and the transfer fee is $25.
The seller initiates the transfer on LTA's OneMotoring portal using Singpass 2FA. The new owner then gets an SMS and logs in to confirm acceptance within 5 calendar days, otherwise the transaction is cancelled. The new owner pays the $25 fee and the transfer is effective on confirmation (for a car with no outstanding financing).
A car is one of the largest cash transactions most people handle outside their home, which makes it a target for the usual tricks. The defences are simple once you know them.
Take payment in a form you can verify before you sign anything over. PayNow shows the money landing in your account in real time, and a banker's cheque can be confirmed with the issuing bank. Avoid loose cash for a five-figure sum, and never release the car or initiate the LTA transfer on the strength of a screenshot, a personal cheque that has not cleared, or a promise to pay the balance later. Confirm the full amount is settled first.
If a buyer or dealer drops their offer after the viewing, you are not obliged to accept the lower figure unless they have uncovered a genuine fault you did not disclose. Describe the car honestly in your listing, mention any known issues, and keep your service records to hand, so a viewer has nothing legitimate to renegotiate on. For a platform or dealer sale, get the agreed price and any fee in writing before you commit, so the number cannot quietly shrink at signing.
When you sell a car to a new owner, the road tax stays with the car and passes to the buyer. LTA does not refund road tax on a sale. So factor any unused road tax into your asking price, otherwise you are giving it away. If three months of paid road tax are left, that is real money the buyer is getting for free unless you price it in.
Road tax is only refunded when you deregister the car (scrap or export), not when you sell it. On deregistration, LTA automatically refunds the unused portion of road tax to the last registered owner.
Your motor insurance is separate. If you cancel a policy partway through, the insurer refunds the unused premium, usually on a short-period or pro-rated basis that is slightly less than a straight time split. Check your cheapest-quote options at renewal time anyway, since rates move; our note on cheap car insurance in Singapore covers how to compare. Time the cancellation for after the ownership transfer or deregistration so you are never driving uninsured.
If you are deregistering rather than selling, you do it online with Singpass 2FA on OneMotoring, then dispose of the car within the required window. For a PARF-eligible car you deregister first, then dispose. There are three disposal routes. For the full rebate maths and worked examples, see our guide to the scrap car COE and PARF rebate.
Failing to submit proof of disposal on time is an offence, with penalties of up to $2,000 or 3 months' imprisonment, so do not let the paperwork slip.
After deregistration and disposal, apply on OneMotoring to take your PARF and COE rebates as cash. You have 12 months from the deregistration date to redeem them before they expire. LTA pays the rebate to your GIRO refund account or by PayNow tied to your NRIC, FIN or UEN, within 14 working days of a successful claim.
Two pro-rating rules to know. If you export the car within 2 years of registering it, the COE rebate is capped at 80% of the quota premium paid. For a Category E car, the COE rebate is based on the lower of the Category E premium you paid or the premium of the category the car actually belongs to.
A few habits separate a good sale from a forgettable one. None of them cost much beyond a little time.
Start by knowing your floor (rebates) and your ceiling (recent transacted prices for the same make, model and remaining COE). Sites like Sgcarmart and Carousell show what similar cars are asking; aim near the top of that range for a clean, well-kept car. A car sale is one of the bigger one-off cash events most working adults handle, so it is worth treating it like a small project rather than a chore.
Sell it if the car still has useful COE left and there is market demand, since a working car is worth more than its rebates. Scrap or deregister it if the COE is nearly up or no one wants to buy it, then claim the PARF and COE rebates from LTA. Always calculate the rebates first, then judge any cash offer against that floor.
The vehicle ownership transfer fee is $25 in 2026, paid by the new owner on OneMotoring when they confirm the transfer. The transfer must be completed within 7 days, and the new owner has 5 calendar days to confirm acceptance after the seller initiates it.
No. Road tax stays with the car and passes to the new owner when you sell, and LTA does not refund it on a sale. Factor any unused road tax into your asking price. You only get an automatic road tax refund when you deregister the car by scrapping or exporting it.
The COE rebate is the quota premium you paid for the 10-year COE multiplied by the unused months divided by 120. A car with 48 months of COE left, where $90,000 was paid for the COE, gets a rebate of $90,000 x 48/120 = $36,000. Export within 2 years caps it at 80% of the quota premium.
Yes, for cars registered with a COE from the second February 2026 COE bidding exercise onwards (non-COE cars such as taxis: registered on or after 13 February 2026). Per LTA, those cars get 30% of ARF for vehicles up to 5 years old, sliding to 5% at 9 to 10 years, capped at $30,000. Cars whose COE predates that keep the older rates of up to 75% of ARF, capped at $60,000 from the second February 2023 bidding exercise and uncapped before that.
Not until the loan is cleared. Get an early settlement letter from your bank stating the full redemption amount including any early settlement charge. Either use the buyer's payment to settle the loan and then transfer, or let a dealer redeem the loan and pay you the balance. Confirm in writing who pays the bank and when.
After you deregister and dispose of the car, you apply on OneMotoring and LTA pays the rebate to your GIRO refund account or by PayNow linked to your NRIC, FIN or UEN within 14 working days of a successful claim. You have 12 months from the deregistration date to claim the rebates before they expire.
A bidding platform lets a panel of dealers compete for your car after one submission, usually returning the highest offer within a day. It is faster and less hassle than visiting dealers one by one, and the competition tends to beat a single dealer's quote. You are still selling to a dealer, so the price sits below a clean private sale, and most platforms take a transaction or admin fee out of your proceeds. Check the fee terms, then compare the net figure against a direct sale and your rebate floor.
Set two anchors. The floor is your combined PARF and COE rebate, which you can check on OneMotoring. The market price is what buyers pay for the same make, model and remaining COE, which you can gauge from recent Sgcarmart and Carousell listings (shade down from asking prices). Remaining COE, mileage, condition, accident history and model demand all move your figure within that range. Never accept an offer below the rebate floor.
You need the vehicle log card from OneMotoring, your service records and receipts, valid motor insurance details, and the loan settlement letter if the car is financed. Clear any road tax arrears, fines and outstanding fees with LTA first, since a car with outstanding matters cannot be transferred. The seller initiates the transfer on OneMotoring with Singpass and the new owner confirms and pays the $25 fee.
No. The proceeds from selling your personal private car, and any PARF or COE rebate from deregistering it, are not taxable income for an individual. The car is a personal asset, not a trade. This differs if you deal in cars as a business. If the sale ties into other income, our income tax calculator can show the after-tax view of the rest.
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.