The short version
- 5-year renewal costs half the PQP. Cheaper upfront, but you’re back at this same decision before you know it
- 10-year renewal costs the full PQP. A bigger number, but the per-year cost often works out lower if the car holds up
- Renewing forfeits your PARF rebate permanently. Once the car crosses 10 years from first registration, that money’s gone
- The right question is total ownership cost per year from now, not the renewal sticker price
Your COE expiry notice arrives with a number labelled PQP, and nobody tells you how it was actually calculated or whether renewal makes sense for your car. This is one of the bigger financial decisions you’ll make as a Singapore car owner, so the framework matters.
| Job | Typical range | What moves the number |
|---|---|---|
| 10-year COE renewal | 100% of PQP | PQP is the three-month moving average of your category’s COE prices, and LTA resets it every month. |
| 5-year COE renewal | 50% of PQP | A final term, so the car cannot be renewed again and must be deregistered at year five. |
| PARF rebate you give up | Up to 75% of ARF. No cap at all on COEs obtained before the 2nd February 2023 exercise, $60,000 up to the 1st February 2026 exercise, $30,000 after that | Forfeited permanently the moment you renew, because the first registration date never moves. |
| Rebate left to you afterwards | QP × unused months ÷ 120 | The COE rebate is all that comes back when you eventually scrap or export the car. |
What is PQP and how is it calculated for COE renewal in Singapore?
PQP (Prevailing Quota Premium) is the price you pay to renew a COE, set by LTA as a three-month moving average of that category's COE prices and updated monthly. A 5-year renewal costs 50% of the PQP. A 10-year renewal costs the full 100%.
PQP stands for Prevailing Quota Premium. Specifically, it’s the three-month moving average of COE prices for your vehicle category, calculated by LTA and updated each month. When Cat A or Cat B premiums spike or crash in any single bidding round, the PQP smooths that out instead of pegging your renewal cost to whatever the market did last week.
PQP this month (Sep 2026)
To renew a COE right now you pay the Prevailing Quota Premium for your category: $126,208 for Cat A and $128,697 for Cat B. A 10-year renewal costs the full PQP, a 5-year renewal costs half.
| Category | PQP (Sep 2026) | 5-year renewal (half) | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cat A | $126,208 | $63,104.00 | Cars up to 1,600cc and 130 bhp |
| Cat B | $128,697 | $64,348.50 | Cars above 1,600cc or above 130 bhp |
| Cat C | $92,907 | $46,453.50 | Goods vehicles and buses |
| Cat D | $10,366 | $5,183.00 | Motorcycles |
| Cat E | n/a | n/a | Open category, with no PQP of its own. A vehicle registered on a Cat E COE renews at the PQP for its corresponding category, A to D |
PQP is the three-month moving average of COE prices for your category and is reset by LTA every month. Figures above are for Sep 2026; the prior month was Aug 2026 at $125,646 for Cat A. Live figures and the 12-month trend sit on the COE results page.
Your renewal cost ties directly to this figure. Five-year renewal costs 50% of PQP; ten-year renewal costs the full 100%. The current number lives on the OneMotoring website, and it changes every month, so what you’ll actually pay depends on when your renewal date falls.
You can work out your own PQP in four steps:
- Pull the last three months. Take the quota premium for your category from every bidding exercise held in those three months. Bidding runs twice a month, so that is normally six figures, not three.
- Average them. Add the figures and divide by how many there are. Say the six rounds came in between $120,000 and $124,000.
- Read off your PQP. That average, say $122,000, is your PQP, and it is what a 10-year renewal costs.
- Halve it for a five-year term. Renewing for 5 years instead? You pay half, so $61,000, and the car cannot be renewed again after that.
Should I renew my COE for 5 years or 10 years?
A 5-year renewal costs 50% of the PQP and can only be done once, after which you must renew for 10 years or scrap the car. A 10-year renewal costs 100% of the PQP. Both forfeit your PARF rebate. The 5-year option is cheaper upfront but pricier per year.
| 5-year renewal | 10-year renewal | |
|---|---|---|
| You pay | 50% of PQP | 100% of PQP |
| PARF rebate | Forfeited | Forfeited |
| Renew again after? | No, final term | Yes |
| Must deregister at end? | Yes, at year 5 | No |
| Best for | Older car, short horizon | Car in strong condition |
The 5-year option costs less today. For owners who aren’t sure how long they’ll keep the car, or who plan to upgrade in a few years anyway, that smaller upfront outlay is the obvious move. But five years passes quicker than people expect, and at the end of it you’re back at the same decision, possibly with a higher PQP than today.
The 10-year option is a bigger number, sure. Spread over a decade though, the annual cost is often competitive with what you’d otherwise lose to depreciation on a brand new car. If the vehicle is mechanically sound and you’re not gunning to trade up, the math typically points at the longer term.
One practical detail people forget: LTA requires you to renew before the COE expires, or within one month after expiry with a late renewal fee. Renew ahead of your expiry month and the unused days on the old COE are forfeited, so the expiry month itself is the window that costs you nothing.
Do you lose your PARF rebate when you renew your COE?
Renewing your COE permanently forfeits the PARF rebate. The car's first registration date never moves, so once you pass year ten you lose that ARF refund (up to 75% of ARF, with no cap at all on COEs obtained before the 2nd February 2023 bidding exercise, a $60,000 cap up to the 1st February 2026 exercise, and $30,000 after that). After renewal you only get the COE rebate back: QP multiplied by unused months, divided by 120.
This is the part most people miss, and it’s costly. When you registered the car, you paid ARF (Additional Registration Fee). If you deregister before the car turns 10 years old, you get a PARF rebate back, a percentage of that ARF refunded. The older the car at deregistration, the smaller the percentage, but it’s still real money.
COE renewal happens at exactly the 10-year mark. The moment you renew, the car’s first registration date doesn’t move, and you’ve now committed to keeping it past year ten.
Whenever you eventually scrap or export the car after renewal, you’ll only see the COE rebate (a refund of unused COE), never the PARF portion again.
This doesn’t make renewal a bad call automatically. It just means the PARF rebate you’re walking away from is a real number with a real dollar value, and you should slot it into the comparison instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.
Is my car worth renewing the COE?
A car is worth renewing when its condition is sound and the PQP is reasonable. Get an honest inspection of the engine, gearbox, suspension, brakes and cooling system first. High mileage alone is not a dealbreaker if the service history is complete and major components have life left.
Condition reads differently by badge at the ten-year mark. The BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo and Volkswagen pages set out what tends to be worn or leaking by then, so you know what the inspection should be looking for.
The car’s condition matters as much as the PQP. A well-maintained sedan with no recurring problems is a completely different proposition from one that’s been patched together over the years. COE renewal extends the timeframe you can drive the car; it doesn’t fix anything mechanical.
Before you commit, get the car properly checked: suspension, brakes, gearbox behaviour, engine health, cooling system. Not a quick poke under the bonnet, but an actual assessment of what’s wearing out and what’s likely to need replacing in the next five to ten years. Those repair costs are part of the ownership equation, not separate from it.
When should you not renew your COE?
Skip renewal when yearly repair bills keep climbing, major parts like the gearbox or engine are near failure, or the PQP sits near a multi-year high. Compare the full cost of keeping the car for five or ten more years against switching to another vehicle, then decide.
Some cars aren’t worth the renewal cost even if they’re running fine today. If repair bills have crept up year after year, if a major component (gearbox, aircon compressor, suspension struts) looks ready to fail, or if the PQP for your category is sitting near a multi-year high, the numbers usually point one way.
The comparison that matters: total cost of ownership per year if you renew (PQP spread over 5 or 10 years, plus anticipated running costs) against the total cost of switching to something else (depreciation, insurance, loan interest, road tax).
If you’re leaning toward exporting or scrapping, both routes return money to you, the PARF and COE rebates. Exporting typically pays better than scrapping when the car is desirable in destination markets, so it pays to compare both before you decide.
Not sure if your car is worth renewing?
Bring it in before you commit. We’ll check the car properly: mechanical condition, what’s worn, what’s coming up next. You’ll walk out with an honest picture of what ownership over the next five to ten years actually costs, no upselling. WhatsApp us and we’ll book you a time that works.
We’re at Autobay @ Kaki Bukit, #02-61. Monday to Friday 9am to 6:30pm, Saturday 9am to 12:30pm.
