The rules are simpler now, thankfully, because some critical changes in rebate calculation happened long enough ago to not affect most cars that are now on the road.
The scrap value, or officially the PARF/COE rebate, is made up of two parts. The COE rebate, and the PARF rebate.
The COE rebate is easier to explain. In principle, you will receive a rebate based on the portion of unused COE, pro-rated to the number of months and days remaining on the COE. The COE amount is basically what you paid when you bought/registered your car. There are some exceptions:
- If your vehicle was registered with an “Open” category COE, then the rebate is based on the lower of the Quota Premium of the “Open” category COE, or its corresponding category from the same tender exercise. I.e., it’s the COE of the open category or the COE of the rightful category for your car, whichever is lower.
- A vehicle scrapped within two years for export is subject to other rules, beyond the scope of this post.
Next, the PARF rebate is a percentage of the ARF paid during registration of the vehicle. The following table illustrates the rebate:
| Age at De-registration (years) | PARF Rebate as % of ARF |
|---|---|
| age <= 5 | 75% |
| 5 < age <= 6 | 70% |
| 6 < age <= 7 | 65% |
| 7 < age <= 8 | 60% |
| 8 < age <= 9 | 55% |
| 9 < age <= 10 | 50% |
| age > 10 | 0% |
The ARF, or Additional Registration Fee, is a tiered tax rate based on the Open Market Value of the vehicle. The ARF is part of the purchase price of your car.
| Registered with COE from tender exercise | ARF as a % of OMV |
|---|---|
| From March 2008 onward | 100% |
| From March 2004 to February 2008 | 110% |
| From May 2002 to February 2004 | 130% |
The ARF is also affected (by way of rebates or surchages) by the Carbon Emissions-Based Vehicle Scheme. Instead of trying to explain all the calculations, I suggest to just refer to your vehicle logcard. The ARF paid is stated in the logcard.
The PARF rebate table I mention here applies for vehicles registered with COEs from the May 2002 tender exercise. Now, if your vehicle is registered prior to May 2002, it is way more than 10 years old by now, so you get no PARF rebate at all.
Do note that LTA does provide a tool to Enquire PARF/COE Rebate for Registered Vehicle. It’s an online calculator to figure out the rebate for you, given your vehicle number and intended date of de-registration. The OneMotoring website also has a page on the PARF/COE rebates. If, however, you’re looking for a simplified tutorial on the calculations, then I hope this page will be helpful.