Certificate of entitlement (COE) bidding will continue to be suspended until motor dealerships and showrooms are allowed to reopen.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) did not say yesterday when the suspension will be lifted, but added that it was "monitoring the situation and will update motorists on subsequent bidding exercises in due course".
However, it said consumers can continue to buy vehicles online and dealers may continue to use their existing stock of unused COEs to register vehicles. The validity of such COEs expiring on or after April 7 had been extended by three months.
For motorists renewing the COE for their existing vehicles, the prevailing quota premium (PQP) will be based on the average of premiums for the latest three months in which bidding was conducted.
The PQP in July will, therefore, be based on the average of January, February and March premiums.
The following adjustments will be made to support vehicle owners:
- Vehicle services will remain accessible online via www.onemotoring.com.sg
- As inspection centres have not yet been allowed to resume periodic inspections for private cars, vehicles due to be inspected between April 7 and June 30 will have their deadlines extended by six months. Owners of such cars may renew their road tax if they have valid insurance coverage.
- Seal inspection for off-peak cars, whose road tax due dates fall between April 7 and June 30, will be waived.
- Commercial vehicle owners eligible for the Early Turnover Scheme (ETS), whose one-month deadline for registering a replacement vehicle falls between April 7 and June 30, will be given an additional two months to register a replacement vehicle under ETS. Owners whose deadline for registering a replacement vehicle falls between July 1 and Aug 1 will be given a further one-month extension to register a replacement vehicle.
- Owners who deregister vehicles or whose vehicle disposal deadline falls between April 7 and June 30 will be granted an additional two months to dispose of them. Owners whose disposal deadline falls between July 1 and Aug 1 will be given a further one-month extension. All five LTA-appointed scrapyard operators will resume scrapping services from Tuesday, and the three Export Processing Zones will reopen from June 2.
Motor traders were dismayed that COE bidding will not resume. Many said they have enough fresh orders to exhaust their supply of unused COEs.
Ms Jasmmine Wong, chief executive of Inchcape Singapore and Greater China, said: "This is unfortunate. Our shipments keep arriving and we have to pay storage and taxation coupled with the risk of customers cancelling orders with the long wait.
"It is also unclear what happens to the quota remaining, and that makes planning difficult. Without fresh COEs, delivery options are limited. Every month, millions of dollars are being burnt."
