LTA has announced higher Vehicle Entry Permit and Goods Vehicle Permit fees for foreign-registered vehicles entering Singapore, with the revised rates taking effect from 1 January 2027. The update also covers OBU installation for ERP2 ahead of road charging changes due in the same month.
What changed
| Permit | Rate now | Rate from 1 January 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| VEP, foreign-registered car | $35 per day | $50 per day |
| VEP, motorcycle | $4 per day | $7 per day |
| GVP, goods vehicle | $40 per calendar month | $70 per calendar month |
Both rates will apply on all weekdays that are not Singapore Public Holidays. Two concessions that existed under the current scheme will be removed: the annual 10 free VEP days, and the free VEP hours on weekdays.
LTA’s stated rationale is that the cost of owning and using a foreign-registered vehicle in Singapore should remain broadly in line with that of a Singapore-registered vehicle. The authority notes that the gap between the two has widened in recent years, which it says gives rise to the need for this revision.
On the ERP2 front, foreign motorists will be able to install the new On-Board Unit on their vehicles from 1 April 2026. The OBU will not be mandatory. Vehicles that enter Singapore without one will be subject to a flat-rate ERP charge rather than the metered rate that OBU-equipped vehicles pay. LTA has set that flat rate at $3 per day for motorcycles and $10 per day for all other vehicles.
What it might mean
One read of the VEP increase is that it narrows a cost advantage that Malaysian-registered vehicles have had relative to Singapore-registered cars, particularly for frequent cross-border commuters.
At $50 per day for a car, a driver making 20 weekday trips into Singapore in a month could be looking at $1,000 in VEP fees alone, which starts to approach the monthly costs associated with owning a Singapore-registered vehicle when you factor in road tax and insurance.
The removal of free VEP hours on weekdays is arguably the sharper change for short-duration trips. Under the current scheme, VEP is not charged on entries between 5pm and 2am, so a foreign-registered car that comes in during the evening and leaves inside that window pays nothing.
For goods vehicle operators, the jump from $40 to $70 per month is a 75 percent increase. Businesses running foreign-registered lorries or vans into Singapore on a regular basis might want to review whether the operational model still holds at the new rate, or whether registering a Singapore-based vehicle makes more sense at that point.
The OBU question is a separate calculation. Installing the device is voluntary, but the flat rate for non-OBU vehicles, $10 a day for a car, could end up higher than the metered rate depending on the route and time of day. Foreign motorists who make frequent or longer journeys in Singapore might find the OBU pays for itself relatively quickly, though the unit itself costs $158.70 including GST to fit.
What to watch
The key date for goods vehicle owners is now, not January 2027. Purchasing a GVP at the current $40 rate before the revision takes effect is the one concrete action available today, and LTA has confirmed that option is open. For car and motorcycle owners, the VEP changes do not offer a similar pre-purchase window, so the focus there is on planning trip frequency ahead of the new year.
The flat-rate ERP charge for non-OBU foreign vehicles is already published, at $3 a day for motorcycles and $10 a day for everything else, so the open variable is how much metered ERP a given route actually costs. Keep an eye on the LTA announcements page and the OneMotoring portal for updates as they come through.
If you are a Singapore driver and these changes affect vehicles in your household or business fleet, the team at The Right Workshop is happy to talk through what the new cost structure might mean for your situation.
Source
This piece summarises and contextualises the official LTA release. Read the original at LTA Newsroom.
Source: LTA / OneMotoring.
