Taxis to be taken out of COE bidding process

[Barney]

By Angelina Dass

SINGAPORE - Minister of Transport Lui Tuck Yew today announced that taxis will be taken out of the COE bidding process with effect from August 1, 2012.

This move is part of three initiatives taken by the Government to make taxis more readily available to commuters.

Mr Lui said regardless of whether the new taxis are intended to replace deregistered taxis or to add to the existing fleets, companies will now pay the Quota Premium (PQP) of Category A (cars 1,600 cc and below).

"And so from now on, taxi operators will be price takers," he said.

PQP refers to the average premium price for the past six bidding exercises.

Currently, taxi companies can bid for a new COE or pay PQP to register a taxi. The latter is only in the case of a new taxi that replaces a deregistered one within six months.

Speaking at the sidelines of the Ministry of Transport (MOT) Family Scholarship ceremony held at Sheraton Towers, Mr Lui also announced that with effect from the next bidding exercise on August 1, taxis will be moved to the Open category (Cat E).

This means that while taxi companies pay the PQP taken from Category A (Cat A) they will be registered in Cat E. 

COEs in Cat E  are made up of 20 per cent of vehicles from categories A to D and can be used to register vehicles in any category.

Taxis are currently allowed to be registered using Cat A COEs, even though almost all of them today have engine capacities above 1,600cc.

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Noting that taxis come in a range of vehicles, Minister Lui said that they will be a better fit in the open category than in the category for small cars.

"The variety of taxis that we see, come to some extent from Cat A type of vehicles, certainly Cat B type vehicles and some of them are even mini-buses and hence we think that it is more appropriate that taxi COEs be taken from Cat E instead of Cat A", he said.

There will be no change to COE quotas already announced for the next six months (August 2012 to January 2013).

More information on COE-related changes will be released next week, before the start of the next COE bidding cycle.

[Barney]

Well done garhmen, just when I bought a CAT A car at historical prices! WTF

[Penyekz]

LOL.... maybe you should have waited until the recession hits singapore next year and COE drops to historical lows...

I dun understand why people will pay over 90K for COE? And even then, there's clearly a demand??!!! Singaporeans really got too much $$$

[alvin89]

damn it, same comment as u barney. holy shit. now the COE for CAT A is going down and down..

[Barney]

damn it, same comment as u barney. holy shit. now the COE for CAT A is going down and down..

For those of use who bought at $188,888 not so bad. It will be worse for people who bought after the price increase. Effectively, they paid a premium and given less stuff (paid forward pricing). If COE drop until just before the COE rebate, it will be double whammy.....

[JCase]

Kinell.

[alvin89]

For those of use who bought at $188,888 not so bad. It will be worse for people who bought after the price increase. Effectively, they paid a premium and given less stuff (paid forward pricing). If COE drop until just before the COE rebate, it will be double whammy.....

COE rebate for CAT A is 42,888, if it drop below this amount then, well its worth the deal . if not then double whammy.

[Barney]

COE rebate for CAT A is 42,888, if it drop below this amount then, well its worth the deal . if not then double whammy.

If drop until $42,788? Rebate $100 but paid for $68k Coe? Faint.....

[JCase]

It won't drop to 42K I feel. There still is a quota and its demand and supply. If Cat B continues to rise there is a possibility of people trying for CAt A cars and this will keep prices on an even keel. ...... hopefully

[alvin89]

If drop until $42,788? Rebate $100 but paid for $68k Coe? Faint.....

hopefully just keep rising.

[Barney]

It won't drop to 42K I feel. There still is a quota and its demand and supply. If Cat B continues to rise there is a possibility of people trying for CAt A cars and this will keep prices on an even keel. ...... hopefully

Still got many orders not fulfilled. Not so fast though......lol

[sapporobier]

as the title, will Cat A COE fall the next round? those who booked B class and C class recently probably had overtrade lowered now may face getting lower COE premium.

i guess those who got the 69k COE probably got the best deal (squeeze) out of C&C.

[alvin89]

nothing much we can do anyway, just like stock up and down.

[kepiting1sg]

Still got many orders not fulfilled. Not so fast though......lol

When is your ride due?

[Barney]

When is your ride due?

Sept/Oct

[Atlantis]

I guess we need more details from MOT before anyone can guesstimate what the ripples will be like

[vectrasonic]

as the title, will Cat A COE fall the next round? those who booked B class and C class recently probably had overtrade lowered now may face getting lower COE premium.

i guess those who got the 69k COE probably got the best deal (squeeze) out of C&C.

YEAH!!!

But I think it still too early to now the outcome. Like many, they will think it's the best time to buy and it will go up again.

[Barney]

CAT E underperforming. Gahmen trying to address the unhappiness of high COEs for bread and butter cars, but at the same time don't want revenue to fall. Quota remain the same, so technically, CAT B & E will rise or hold so revenue will not be affected much but still lower CAT A prices.

No matter what permutation, they still win because they can happy happy announce whatever policies they want to implement on moment's notice. The scholars are very smart..,,,,

CAT E underperforming. Gahmen trying to address the unhappiness of high COEs for bread and butter cars, but at the same time don't want revenue to fall. Quota remain the same, so technically, CAT B & E will rise or hold so revenue will not be affected much but still lower CAT A prices.

No matter what permutation, they still win because they can happy happy announce whatever policies they want to implement on moment's notice. The scholars are very smart......I surrender....

[JCase]

CAT E underperforming. Gahmen trying to address the unhappiness of high COEs for bread and butter cars, but at the same time don't want revenue to fall. Quota remain the same, so technically, CAT B & E will rise or hold so revenue will not be affected much but still lower CAT A prices.

No matter what permutation, they still win because they can happy happy announce whatever policies they want to implement on moment's notice. The scholars are very smart......I surrender....

Is like casino like that bro. casino how often lose?

Also Cat A COE go down, then trade in / overtrade value of current ride will also go down.

[Hippo]

I think Cat A will still inch up slowly. But will not be higher then 80k. Thats my guess. So long total package for Cat A cars not more then 200k will still has buyer for them except maybe Jap (excluding Lexus), Korean and others will suffer sales.

Car depreciation COE + CAR is 15-20K a year after deducting scrap value (50% of OMV) is still affordable in most average household with combined income of 6-8k per month. Or monthly installment of 2k or less (90% loan).

Above that will see higher resistance due loan repayment quantum.

[Cloud]

IMHO, no matter what permutation, the end results will be the same. Whether the taxi get the quota from cat a or cat e, the demand will eventually be compensated by one or the other.. I think it is just a common prejudice that taxi operators is the cause of raising Coe in cat A which may not be the case. Hence, the change in policy on one hand pacify whom has been lobbying the change which may or may not be true. At the same time, reduce the quota for cat E which may force the cat b and e price to sky rocket. This is win-win no matter how you look at it.

[sapporobier]

i guess if the BMW316 joins the fray within the next 6 months cat A will continue to rise. What the Euro car manufactuers are doing is "changing" our legally defined big cars to small cars for us. Thus if the government is truely keeping up with the time and trend, the whole COE system has to be revamp. who would have thought 15 years ago that a Cat A car could churn out 180 hp.