The Government will extend the period of which car dealers are allowed to own used cars from nine months to one year.

It is also studying how to better determine the Open Market Value (OMV) of the car by taking into account the depreciation in the value of a used car, when applying them to the appropriate tier of loan restrictions.

These moves was announced in Parliament by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in his Budget debate round-up speech, in response to pleas to help car dealers adapt to drastic curbs on car ownership introduced last month.

"To help used car dealers make adjustments, LTA (Land transport Authority) will give them more time to find buyers for their cars, by extending the temporary transfer scheme for used car dealers from the current nine months to a full year," said Mr Tharman.

He added: "MAS will study how the depreciation of the value of the used car can be taken into account in determining the OMV for the purpose of applying the appropriate tier within the new loan rules."