SG: Old cars drive up COE prices

The COE system has been put in place to ensure older, less eco-friendly vehicles are taken off the road as soon as they reach a decade old. However, with the relatively recent regulations about the amount of cash you can loan from a bank when you purchase a car driving sales of new cars down, the age of our overall car population has increased. Cars aged between 8-10 years old amounted to over 105,000, where as more than 50% of our 621,000 cars on the road are over 6 years old. With more holding on to their cars for longer, there will be less COEs for potential buyers to bid on, thus, increasing the prices of the COE as bidders have to fork out more to get one. Industrial players hope that the COE Supply bloom from 2015-2017 will aid in reducing the cost of a COE. The newer regulations mean that more older modern classics will be kept on the road! Great news for the car enthusiast, but not so good news for those retailing new cars.Pictures used for illustration purposes only.