{"id":78556,"date":"2026-08-22T11:48:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T03:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=78556"},"modified":"2026-08-22T11:48:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T03:48:45","slug":"lta-proposes-tighter-rules-for-deregistered-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=78556","title":{"rendered":"LTA proposes tighter rules for deregistered cars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 <!-- -->The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is considering a new scheme that would shift responsibility for deregistered vehicles from their owners to authorised exporters, amid a rise in cases of such vehicles being driven illegally on roads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Under the proposed Authorised Exporter Scheme (AES), vehicle owners who hand their deregistered cars to authorised persons would no longer have obligations related to the disposal of the vehicles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The authorised persons would be responsible for handling the deregistered vehicles and proving to LTA that they have been properly disposed of.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">LTA is also considering immediately disbursing any residual rebates from the certificate of entitlement (COE) and preferential additional registration fee (PARF) once a vehicle has been properly handed over to the authorised person.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Dealers typically wait between four and seven days for the money to be disbursed, according to motor traders familiar with the process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Currently, vehicle owners have to inform LTA within 30 days of a vehicle being deregistered that it has been properly disposed of.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">A vehicle can be scrapped at an LTA-authorised scrapyard, exported directly from Singapore, or stored at an export processing zone (EPZ) while waiting to be exported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">After the disposal documents are submitted, owners will receive any residual COE and PARF amounts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">However, LTA said it has detected deregistered vehicles being driven on public roads,<!-- --> <!-- -->even after they were declared as exported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In the first five months of 2026, it investigated 122 cases of deregistered cars on the road. This is nearly double the 75 cases reported in the whole of 2024, and<!-- --> <!-- -->around three times the 39 cases in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">First-time offenders who kept and used a deregistered vehicle may be fined up to $20,000 or imprisoned for up to two years, or both. The penalties are doubled for repeat offenders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On its webpage announcing the proposed AES, LTA said that <!-- -->under<!-- --> the Road Traffic Act 1961, owners have to prove that their deregistered vehicles are disposed of, and they<!-- --> <!-- -->may still be held liable for false or inaccurate export information submitted on their behalf.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The authority reached out to the motor industry, including the operators of LTA-approved scrapyards and EPZs, on July 30 to seek their feedback on the proposed scheme. A spokesperson said LTA will share more details when ready.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">If the scheme is implemented, LTA intends<!-- --> <!-- -->to give industry players a transition period of at least a year to prepare.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Some industry insiders, like Oliver Ong of Accord Motoring, said that<!-- --> <!-- -->wanting to avoid the cost of using EPZs while waiting for export may be a factor behind traders not storing the deregistered vehicles correctly and allowing them to be driven on the roads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">EPZ@Carros, one of three EPZ operators in Singapore, charges a one-time fee of $120 and a monthly fee of $230 to store a deregistered vehicle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Neo Tiam Ting, director of EPZ@Carros and ThinkOne Group, suggested that shortening the 30-day window for owners to submit their disposal documentation will help prevent deregistered cars from being driven on the road.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Vehicle exporters like Adam Mirza, owner of Prestige Auto Export, said that the Middle East conflict has caused delays in export shipments, incurring additional storage cost.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mirza\u2019s company currently has 180 cars in EPZ storage, with the vehicles waiting for about a month for a ship to transport them to the Caribbean.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">His company exports between 500 and 600 deregistered cars monthly. Having met with LTA over the proposed scheme in July, he is looking forward to its implementation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mirza understands that exporters authorised under the scheme could be listed on LTA\u2019s website. This would allow vehicle owners to identify authorised parties to whom they can hand over their deregistered vehicles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Vehicle deregistrations have been rising in recent years, from 47,575 units in 2022 to 70,748 units in 2025. In the first seven months of 2026, 49,850 vehicles had been deregistered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Some of these vehicles are dismantled for parts or crushed for recycling, while others are exported as complete vehicles for use overseas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The call for feedback on the scheme closes on Aug 28, 2026, at 5pm. Those who want to contribute can do so at <a href=\"https:\/\/form.gov.sg\/68b7a077c87fdb2c9830b4cd?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_self\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\"><a href=\"https:\/\/form.gov.sg\/68b7a077c87fdb2c9830b4cd?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">https:\/\/form.gov.sg\/68b7a077c87fdb2c9830b4cd<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/transport\/lta-proposes-tighter-rules-for-deregistered-cars-amid-rise-in-illegal-use-on-roads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is considering a new scheme that would shift responsibility for deregistered vehicles from their owners to authorised exporters,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/78557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}