Singapore extended vehicle-loan limits to individually owned private-hire cars from Oct. 30, 2026, requiring buyers to pay at least 30% or 40% upfront as authorities seek more consistent financing rules.
For cars with an open market value (OMV) of S$20,000 or less, lenders may finance up to 70% of the purchase price. For cars above that threshold, the loan ceiling is 60%, leaving buyers to cover at least 30% or 40%, respectively. The price calculation includes relevant taxes and the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), and loan terms are limited to seven years.
The measure applies to individuals, including sole proprietors, borrowing through financial institutions or licensed or exempt moneylenders. It also covers hire-purchase and conditional-sale arrangements. A sales agreement signed on or after Oct. 30 is covered; where there is no agreement, the rule applies when the COE is obtained on or after that date. Business-owned private-hire cars, commercial vehicles and motorcycles are exempt.
The government said the individual-owner exemption had reflected the classification of these cars as commercial-use vehicles. Authorities pointed to about 500 monthly registrations of individually owned self-drive private-hire cars, saying the increase may indicate that some buyers sought more flexible loans without planning to provide private-hire services. The figure does not establish how many registrations involved that purpose.
Singapore had 98,621 private-hire cars at the end of September 2026, including self-drive and chauffeur vehicles, Land Transport Authority (LTA) statistics show. In the second COE bidding exercise in October 2026, premiums were S$132,004 for Category A and S$131,901 for Category B. A COE is required to register a vehicle and allows 10 years of road use; the LTA holds two bidding rounds each month.
The effect on COE demand depends on buyers’ decisions, analysts told CNA. Lee Kwok Hao, an assistant professor at National University of Singapore Business School, said some buyers may use ordinary private-car financing, company ownership or other arrangements. Walter Theseira, an associate professor at Singapore University of Social Sciences, also said individual choices would shape the outcome.
Lee said the fare effect would likely be minimal unless the limits materially reduce active drivers or raise their operating costs. Theseira considered fare increases less likely if the rules mainly affect people who had not planned to offer private-hire services. CNA also reported that NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Yeo Wan Ling raised drivers’ concerns about access to vehicle ownership, possible reliance on rental fleets and operating costs.
The government separately warned that a proposed COE category for private-hire cars and leasing companies could increase rentals and fares; that warning concerned the separate proposal, not the new loan limits. It said it would monitor the market, work with ride-hailing platforms and take further steps to apply financing restrictions consistently, including to in-house loans. Future COE bidding rounds may offer one indicator of any demand shift.
