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COEs for cars at a low, but tough for buyers to cash in: Dealers

SINGAPORE — Certificates of Entitlement for cars are ending the year on a low but buyers may find it hard to take advantage of decreases in Wednesday’s (Dec 20) bidding exercise before stricter emissions standards kick in on Jan 1, industry players said.

SINGAPORE — Certificates of Entitlement for cars are ending the year on a low but buyers may find it hard to take advantage of decreases in Wednesday’s (Dec 20) bidding exercise before stricter emissions standards kick in on Jan 1, industry players said.

With only six working days left in the year to seal a sweet deal, the challenge lies in the sparse stock of cars available and how ready the buyer is to pay by cash, they say.

“You will need three days to get a car loan. Then, it also depends on whether dealers still have cars to sell to (buyers) or not, but I doubt so. Most of us already cleared our stock (of older, more polluting cars a) long time ago,” said Mr Dominic Lee, 35, a sales executive at parallel importer Car Regency, a subsidiary of used car dealer Thong Lee Trading.

At his company, only cars that will be less affected by the new Vehicular Emissions Scheme (VES) are left – models such as the Honda Vezel hybrid and Honda Shuttle – said Mr Lee. The Toyota CHR, which is popular with Singaporean drivers, would be out of stock in many places, he added.

“Most of them will miss the window of opportunity,” he said.

The VES for all new cars, taxis and newly imported used cars will take effect from Jan 1, replacing the current Carbon Emissions-Based Vehicle Scheme.

The VES takes into account four more pollutants apart from carbon dioxide — nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons — and rebates or surcharges for vehicle owners under the scheme will be determined by the worst performing pollutant.

From a S$30,000 rebate under the current scheme, a Honda Vezel Hybrid 1.5X will qualify for a S$10,000 rebate under the VES between January and June 2018, for instance.

And from a S$30,000 rebate under the current scheme, a Toyota Prius Hybrid 1.8CVT would be neutral under the VES, drawing neither a surcharge nor rebate.

On Wednesday (Dec 20), the COE premium for cars above 1,600cc and 97kW fell to its lowest in 12 months, finishing at S$47,002, or 12.5 per cent lower than in the last tender on Dec 6.

Meanwhile, COE premiums for cars up to 1,600cc and 97kW and for the Open category dropped to their lowest in three months, closing at S$38,200 and S$48,011, respectively.

Other motor dealers similarly do not expect a rush by buyers to cash in.

“Those who want to buy have already bought,” said a salesman from parallel importer F1 Auto Cars who declined to be named. His company had seen a 200 per cent increase in sales in November, he added.

Buyers would not want to risk having their transactions delayed and spilling over to next year, when they might be subjected to the revised rebates, he said.

Agreeing, Mr Jeremy Soh, director of used car dealer Ricardo Cars said: “It is now very close to the crossover period, so everyone is holding back. It is too little time to get your car registered before the year ends.”

But at least one trader was trying on Thursday (Dec 21) to capitalise on the “COE crash”.

An advertisement in The Straits Times by parallel importer SPL Automobiles read: “COE further crashed, our prices further slashed!”

The company also claimed it could perform a registration in three days for the Open category, adding: “All deliveries guaranteed before 31st December 2017.”

SPL told TODAY the prices were slashed in line with the fall in COE premiums.

But its senior sales manager Cindy Win, 28, agreed that drivers who wanted to secure COEs “have already done it in the last two bidding rounds”.

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