Vehicle registration fees to increase 59% from December 19

Vehicle registration fees are expected to increase by 59 per cent from December 19, but car dealers say the hike won't have a big impact on sales.

The fee for every vehicle registered for use in Singapore will increase to S $350.

The Land Transport Authority LTA issued a circular on Monday December 5 to motor dealers and importers, as well as electronic service agents.

This adjustment is the steepest revision among the 25 services listed in the LTA notice that will undergo fee increments, and is priced at S $220 currently.

These services include vehicle registration and its accompanying processing fee, vehicle type approvals, vehicle accessory approval and certificate of entitlement COE transfers.

Most of the other fees will increase by between 10 and 25 per cent.

Fee revisions come amid rising COE premiums, with Category A cars reaching a near 10 year high of S $90,589 in November's final bidding exercise.

The Category A premium has dipped to S $88,503 in the latest bidding exercise on December 7.

The LTA spokeswoman told CNA that the registration fee is about 0.2 per cent less than the average cost of a Category A car.

LTA said the fee increase across 25 services was due to the fact that the fees are charged for cost recovery and that fees have remained the same since 2017, or earlier, while operational requirements, such as enhancing data security measures, have increased.

The fees are adjusted based on the administrative costs of providing these services to vehicle owners. Arthur Wong, Managing Director of ACM Automobiles, refuted the suggestion of passing on the added costs to his customers.

It's not much, but over S $100. He said that it won't affect me much.

Aaron Tan, co-founder of online car marketplace Carro, believed that the increased fees would not affect immediate demand, although more observation is needed to pinpoint longer-term effects.

The amount is too small compared to a new car in Singapore. S $300 is not going to matter too much. It's not going to change anything, regardless of whether it's a used car or not, from that standpoint, it's not going to change anything, said Mr Tan.

The fee revision won't affect the demand. The fee increase would not deter people who are going to buy a vehicle anyway. A driver who spoke to CNA said the increase in vehicle registration fee was insignificant compared to other things when the salesman shows you the price. The man said it doesn't matter, he said he has been driving for almost 40 years.

The 65-year-old who declined to be identified said it is big, but it's a small amount.

He said that he hasn't decided whether to buy a new car when his current COE expires.

There are people who pay for their license plate to be kept on a new car, and even pay about S $1,000 to transfer their number plate to a secondhand car. What is an extra S $100?