SINGAPORE — Car owners who had been looking to sell their vehicles are ruing the fact that they did not manage to do so earlier, before the new car loan restrictions kicked in last Tuesday.

TODAY understands that several used car dealers have stopped buying vehicles from owners, until they manage to sell the cars already on their books. Those which continue to buy are doing so at prices that are around S$10,000 lower than what they were previously offering.

Mr Neo T S, a 32-year-old sales manager, was planning to sell his Honda Civic last week after buying a second-hand Volvo S60 before Chinese New Year. Now, he is left in a fix — with two cars to maintain after dealers refused to buy his old car.

He said: “The two dealers which I approached to sell my old car were not free during Chinese New Year. Now, both dealers are not willing to quote me a price at all.”

As part of the Budget measures unveiled last Monday, the Government also announced a tiered Additional Registration Fee (ARF) structure, which imposes a heavier tax on luxury cars compared to economy cars. Since then, several luxury car brands including Mercedes Benz, BMW and Volvo have offered to absorb the ARF to attract car buyers.

A car owner who wanted to be known only as Ms Ng said she sold her Lexus GS300 last week to a used car dealer for S$50,000, after the new car loan restrictions kicked in. She said that before the restrictions were announced, the same dealer had offered to buy her car for S$60,000.

Ms Ng sealed the deal to sell her Lexus over the weekend, days after she bought a new BMW 5 Series so that she need not pay the ARF. She said: “I feel very disgruntled as we have no choice but to sell at a lower price.”

A used car salesman, Mr J Cai, said his company — which failed to sell a single car over the weekend — has stopped buying cars from owners. Previously, even on slow days, it could sell at least two cars in a weekend, he said.

Three other used car dealers TODAY spoke to said they have reduced the prices offered to owners who wish to sell their cars — likewise for customers who wish to trade in their cars.

Singapore Vehicle Traders Association Honorary Secretary Raymond Tang said: “There are dealers definitely not buying but there are dealers still buying too. But price-wise, they might be very conservative.”

TODAY visited several used car marts and luxury car showrooms on Saturday and yesterday — the first weekend since the ARF and car loan changes were announced.

At the Ubi and Commonwealth used car belts and The Grandstand Car Mall, business was slow-going. The used car dealers said that in recent days, more people are buying cars with Certificates of Entitlement (COE) that will expire in less than five years. The profit margins are low for these cars, they lamented.

Over at the luxury car showrooms along Leng Kee Road, a salesman said the number of customers over the weekend has halved to 20, compared to previous weekends.

He said: “Right now, everything is quite uncertain, as we are unable to predict how the restrictions will affect the COE bidding in two weeks.”