Netizen comments on price increase of COE for motorcycles

Singapore — A member of the public remarked on the price of a motorcycle COE on Facebook.

He put up a post in a Facebook group named “Complaint Singapore” to speak up about the spike in prices.

In the screenshot he included, the price of a Certificate of Entitlement (COE) for a motorcycle was stated to be S$8,899, which meant that it had climbed up by roughly $210 or 2.4 per cent.

The netizen wrote that even owning a motorcycle in Singapore had grown costly and that the price of a motorcycle COE was just a hundred dollars shy of $9,000. He added that some first-hand Class 2B motorcycles are priced around $4,000, which meant that the amount needed to purchase a new COE for motorcycles could be used to purchase two new motorbikes instead.

A few netizens remarked that they predicted the premiums for motorcycles would continue to rise and eventually hit $10,000 in the near future.

Some suggested that having different categories for motorcycle COEs, like for cars, might be more suitable instead.

Yet another netizen mentioned that much more people were purchasing motorcycles recently, which drove up the demand and consequently led to an increase in prices for the COEs.

The supply of motorcycle COEs was reported to have decreased by over a quarter during the Aug-Oct period, whereas the supply of car COEs, including for those in the open category, decreased only by 6.6 per cent.

Taking the recent Covid-19 restrictions into consideration, the demand for car COEs is expected to experience little or no increase.

The price of COEs for 1,600cc and below for cars dropped from $47,010 to $45,189 while prices of COEs for cars above 1,600cc fell from $47,010 to $45,189.

You Zi Xuan is an intern at The Independent SG. /TISG