Part 2 - Types of pre-owned cars

PARF vs COE
The Pre-owned car market is typically broken down into two major categories. They are the "PARF cars" and "COE cars".

PARF Cars
If you were to decide to de-register your car earlier than 10 years, you will be entitled to a rebate. Do note that this is valid only for first-time registered cars. It is not valid for cars with renewed COE.

The term for the rebate is called the "Preferential Additional Registration Fee", or "PARF" in short. This rebate is to keep the car population in Singapore young.

COE Cars
"COE car" is thus the term given for any car with its COE already renewed.

Pros and Cons
Consider a COE car if your budget is tight. Without the PARF rebate value in the cost of the car, a COE car is a much cheaper option.

That said, COE cars attract high insurance premiums as well as interest rates if you were to take a loan. These old cars are considered high risk. On top of that, there is an incremental surcharge to your Road Tax with each increasing year after the vehicle's tenth year.

Age of Vehicle Annual Road Tax Surcharge
More than 10 years 10%
More than 11 years 20%
More than 12 years 30%
More than 13 years 40%
More than 14 years 50%

Finally, an old car will probably land itself in the workshop more often due to problems surfacing in major parts such as the engine. If the previous owner had not done a good job in maintaining the car, expect to spend more to keep the car in a relatively safe running order.

On the other hand, COE car prices will not be directly affected by spikes in COE prices like recent times. Price of PARF used cars typically goes up with COE and new car prices but used COE cars have their prices typically pegged to their own COE prices.

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