Scrapping a car in Singapore is more structured than people expect. There are two rebates you’re entitled to, a fixed process to follow at an LTA-authorised yard, and a few details worth knowing before you sign anything. Here’s the full picture.
The short version
- Two separate rebates apply: PARF (if the car’s under 10 years old) and COE (if there’s still time on the COE)
- PARF rebate runs from 75% down to 50% of the original ARF, sliding down as the car gets older
- COE rebate is a pro-rated refund of unused COE, applicable only if you scrap before the COE expires
- Use an LTA-authorised scrap yard, not a random one. The whole thing wraps up in under a week
The two rebates: PARF and COE
Scrapping a car in Singapore can trigger two separate refunds from LTA, depending on your situation.
The PARF rebate (Preferential Additional Registration Fee) is a refund of part of the ARF you paid when you first registered the car. It only applies if the car is deregistered before its 10th anniversary from first registration. The percentage you get back depends on the car’s age at deregistration, and the older the car, the smaller the percentage.
The COE rebate is a pro-rated refund of any unused COE. If your COE has six months left when you scrap, you get six months back as a percentage of the original COE cost. If your COE has already expired, the COE rebate doesn’t apply.
PARF rebate tiers by age
The PARF rebate scales by age at deregistration:
- Up to 5 years old: 75% of ARF
- 5 to 6 years: 70%
- 6 to 7 years: 65%
- 7 to 8 years: 60%
- 8 to 9 years: 55%
- 9 to 10 years: 50%
- Over 10 years: nothing
So if your ARF was $20,000 and you scrap the car at 7 years, you’d receive 65% back, $13,000. Run the same calculation at 9 years and you’re down to $11,000, still meaningful but lower.
The exact ARF amount on your specific car appears on the registration documents, and you can also check it via the OneMotoring portal under your vehicle records.
COE rebate, only if you scrap early
The COE rebate exists to refund the unused portion of your COE if you deregister before its expiry date. It’s calculated as a percentage of the original COE cost, pro-rated by remaining months.
If you scrap exactly when your COE expires, the rebate is zero. If you scrap a year early, you get one year’s worth back as a percentage of the original COE, which can be substantial in a high-COE year.
The COE rebate is what makes early scrapping (or exporting) worth considering when a major repair lands on a high-COE-year car. The math sometimes favours cutting losses now and reclaiming the COE rebate, rather than spending the repair money to keep an aging car going.
The authorised scrap yard process
Singapore requires you to use an LTA-authorised scrap yard. The list is public on the LTA website, and there are around 20 of them across the island. Going to a non-authorised yard is a no, you won’t get the rebates and the deregistration won’t be processed.
The process at the yard:
- Bring the car, your NRIC, and the original logcard to the yard
- The yard inspects the vehicle and confirms VIN match
- You sign the deregistration paperwork; the yard submits to LTA on your behalf
- The yard removes plates and dismantles the car (or processes it for export of parts)
- LTA processes the rebates and pays them to your bank account, usually within 2 to 3 weeks
That’s the whole sequence. Most owners are in and out in under an hour, and the rebate payment lands a couple of weeks later.
What happens to the car after
The yard either dismantles the vehicle for parts (which get resold locally or exported) or shreds the metal for recycling. Some cars get exported whole as parts donors for the same model abroad, which is why some scrap yards quote slightly higher than others, they have established parts buyers and can extract more value from the car than pure scrap metal would generate.
Either way, your involvement ends at the deregistration. The car can never be re-registered in Singapore once scrapped, and LTA’s records show the deregistration as final.
When scrap is the right move (and when it isn’t)
Scrapping makes sense when the car has no realistic export demand, a major repair would cost more than the rebates you’d recover, or you simply want the fastest, cleanest exit from the car.
It makes less sense if the car is a popular Japanese model under 8 years old in good condition, in which case exporting typically pays better. It also makes less sense if the car is mechanically sound and the PQP is reasonable; renewal sometimes works out cheaper per year than buying something new.
Run the comparison properly across all three options before you commit. The right answer depends on your specific car, the rebate amounts, current PQP, and whether anyone overseas wants to buy it.
Not sure which exit makes more sense?
We can do a proper assessment of your car and tell you what’s likely to fail, what the realistic export interest looks like, and what the renewal-vs-scrap-vs-export math actually says for your specific situation. WhatsApp us to set up a time.
We’re at Autobay @ Kaki Bukit, #02-61. Monday to Friday 9am to 6:30pm, Saturday 9am to 1pm.
