Every Time COE Broke a Record: A Complete Timeline

A History of Extremes

The Certificate of Entitlement system has been running since May 1990, and its price history reads like a financial thriller — full of crashes, surges, and records that seemed unbreakable until they were shattered. This is the definitive timeline of every major COE price record, compiled from LTA bidding data and historical sources. View the full dataset on our historical trends page.

What follows is not a selective highlight reel. It is every significant price record, chronologically documented, with the context that drove each one. Bookmark this page — it will be updated after every new milestone.

The Inaugural Era: 1990–1993

May 1990 — The Very First COE Bidding Exercise

The Vehicle Quota System launched quietly. The first Category A premium settled at approximately $300. Nobody knew what a COE should cost because there was no precedent anywhere in the world. Quotas were generous relative to demand, and the system was treated as an administrative formality rather than a financial event. Most buyers barely noticed the added cost.

1990–1993 — Gradual Price Discovery

Through the early 1990s, COE prices drifted upward as Singapore's economy gained momentum and the public began to understand the mechanics of the quota system. Cat A premiums moved from triple digits to the low thousands. There were no dramatic records in this period — the market was still learning how to bid. By 1993, Cat A was trading in the $10,000–$20,000 range, which felt expensive at the time but would soon look like a bargain.

The Asian Tiger Boom: 1994–1997

1994–1997 — Cat A Reaches ~$62,000; Cat E Reaches ~$68,000

Singapore's economy roared through the mid-1990s alongside its Asian Tiger peers. GDP growth routinely exceeded 8%, property prices surged, and consumer confidence was sky-high. COE premiums rode the wave. Category A climbed relentlessly through the $30,000s, $40,000s, and $50,000s, eventually reaching approximately $62,000. Category E (Open) pushed even higher, hitting roughly $68,000 — a record that would stand for well over a decade.

At these levels, newspaper headlines declared "COE madness" and editorial writers questioned whether the system had spiralled beyond its intended purpose. The $68,000 Cat E record seemed like an anomaly that could never be repeated. History would prove otherwise.

The Crisis and Collapse: 1997–2001

July 1998 — Asian Financial Crisis Aftermath; Cat A Drops to ~$22,000

The Asian Financial Crisis devastated regional economies. Singapore escaped the worst of the currency contagion, but confidence evaporated. Cat A premiums fell from $62,000 to approximately $22,000 — a collapse of roughly 65% in under two years. The speed of the decline shocked the market. Dealers who had stockpiled COEs at peak prices faced enormous losses.

Late 1990s — Ultra-Low Cat E Premiums

In the aftermath of the crisis, several bidding exercises produced extraordinarily low premiums as demand dried up. Cat E premiums in thin bidding rounds fell to negligible levels. The contrast with the $68,000 record just two years earlier was stark — a reminder that the COE market could deflate as violently as it inflated.

The Post-Millennium Cycle: 2002–2009

2002–2003 — Dot-Com Bust and SARS

The early 2000s brought no new records. The dot-com bust and the 2003 SARS outbreak kept sentiment subdued. Cat A traded in the $20,000–$32,000 range — unremarkable by historical standards. The market was in a holding pattern, waiting for the next catalyst.

2006–2007 — Pre-GFC Boom

A global credit boom lifted all asset prices, and COE premiums rose modestly. Cat A reached the mid-teens — $15,000 to $18,000 — which felt elevated at the time but was well below the 1990s peaks. Quotas were relatively generous in this period, keeping a lid on prices even as demand grew.

November 2008 — The Famous $2 COE

This is the most legendary number in COE history. In the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse, the November 2008 bidding exercise for Category A produced 1,852 bids for 1,851 certificates. The premium settled at $2. Not $2,000. Not $200. Two dollars. One bid above the number of available certificates was all it took to produce a price of essentially zero.

The previous round had cleared at $10,455. The next round in December 2008 rebounded to $7,721. The $2 result was a statistical fluke born of extreme fear — Lehman had collapsed just weeks earlier and the global financial system appeared to be teetering on the edge. But it remains the lowest modern-era Cat A premium and a cautionary tale about what happens when supply almost exactly equals demand. Learn more about COE mechanics in our COE explainer.

February 2009 — GFC Rock Bottom; Cat A at ~$1,020

While the $2 result was a single-round anomaly, February 2009 represented the genuine market bottom. Global equity markets were at their lowest point, unemployment fears were spreading, and nobody wanted to commit to a 10-year vehicle purchase. Cat A settled at approximately $1,020. This was not a fluke — it was the market's honest assessment of what a car registration certificate was worth during the deepest financial crisis in a generation.

The Great Surge: 2010–2013

2010 — Recovery Begins; Cat A Climbs from $5,000 to $38,000

As global markets recovered and Singapore's economy rebounded strongly, pent-up demand returned. Cat A premiums rocketed from roughly $5,000 at the start of 2010 to $38,000 by year-end — a staggering seven-fold increase in 12 months. This was the fastest sustained price increase in COE history up to that point.

January 2012 — Cat A Crosses $60,000

For the first time since the Asian Tiger boom of the 1990s, Cat A premiums breached the $60,000 level. This was psychologically significant — it meant the market had fully recovered from both the Asian Financial Crisis and the GFC, and was now trading at levels that matched or exceeded the previous generation's peak.

February 2013 — Cat A Hits $92,100 (Record at the Time)

The surge continued into 2013. In February, Cat A reached $92,100 — obliterating all previous records and falling agonisingly short of the $100,000 mark. The psychological barrier of six figures seemed within reach, and market participants expected it to fall within months. It would take ten more years.

Cat E also set new highs during this period, surpassing the 1990s $68,000 record and pushing into the $90,000s.

2013 — Government Cooling Measures

Alarmed by the record prices, the government acted. MAS tightened car loan restrictions: maximum tenure was capped at five years (from seven), and the loan-to-value ratio was cut to 60% for cars with an OMV exceeding $20,000. These measures, combined with quota adjustments, would eventually bring prices down — but not before the records were set. Check our PQP calculator to understand how loan restrictions affect total cost.

The Cooling Period: 2014–2019

2014–2015 — Retreat from the Peak

Cooling measures took effect gradually. Cat A premiums retreated from the $92,000 peak to the $60,000–$70,000 range. The correction was orderly rather than dramatic — unlike the post-Asian Crisis collapse, this was a managed decline driven by policy rather than panic.

2017 — Cat A Touches $30,000 (Decade Low)

Four years of cooling produced the decade's lowest prices. Cat A dropped to approximately $30,000 — a level not seen since the GFC recovery. For a brief window, car ownership became almost affordable again by Singapore standards. Buyers who locked in COEs at $30,000 in 2017 secured what would prove to be one of the best deals of the decade. Our trends page visualises the full trajectory.

2018–2019 — Stability at $32,000–$38,000

The market found equilibrium. Two years of stable prices around $32,000–$38,000 for Cat A suggested the cooling measures had achieved their objective. Nobody expected what would come next.

COVID and the New Records: 2020–2026

April 2020 — First-Ever COE Bidding Suspension

Singapore's Circuit Breaker lockdown forced the suspension of COE bidding for the first time in the system's 30-year history. The certificates that would have been offered were rolled over to subsequent rounds, compressing future supply. This suspension, while brief, had lasting consequences: it tightened quotas in later periods and contributed to the price surge that followed.

December 2021 — Cat A Crosses $60,000 Again

Post-COVID demand exploded. Supply chain disruptions delayed new car deliveries, while stimulus money and pent-up demand fuelled aggressive bidding. Cat A crossed $60,000 in December 2021, reaching a level not seen since the 2013 peak period. The speed of the recovery — from $32,000 in early 2020 to $60,000 in under two years — caught many observers off guard.

September 2022 — Cat A Crosses $80,000

The surge showed no signs of slowing. Cat A breached $80,000 in September 2022, approaching the 2013 all-time record. At this point, the market began to price in the possibility that six-figure COEs were not just possible but likely.

September 2023 — Cat E Hits $144,640

Category E premiums were the first to enter truly uncharted territory. The Open category premium reached $144,640 in September 2023, demolishing all previous records. This was nearly 50% above the prior Cat E record.

October 2023 — Cat A Crosses $100,000; Cat E Hits $152,000

The psychological barrier finally fell. Category A crossed $100,000 for the first time in October 2023 — a milestone that had seemed inevitable since 2013 but took a full decade to arrive. In the same period, Cat E surged to $152,000, setting a new all-time record for any COE category.

The $100,000 Cat A premium was a watershed moment. It meant that even the cheapest new car in Singapore required a six-figure registration certificate, a cost that exceeded the price of a new car in virtually every other country on earth. Check the latest results for current premiums.

March 2026 — Six-Figure Premiums Are the New Normal

As of March 2026, premiums across all car categories remain firmly in six-figure territory: Cat A at $111,890, Cat B at $115,568, and Cat E at $118,119. The $100,000 floor that once seemed extraordinary now appears to be the baseline. Use our prediction tool to model where prices may head next.

The Records at a Glance

What the Record Book Tells Us

Every record was once considered impossible. The $62,000 Cat A of 1997 was shocking at the time. The $92,100 of 2013 was deemed unsustainable. The $100,000+ premiums of 2023 were labelled the end of affordable car ownership. And yet prices kept climbing.

The pattern is clear: records are made during booms, broken during recoveries, and pushed to new extremes with each cycle. The lows have been getting higher (from $2 in 2008 to $30,000 in 2017), and the highs have been getting higher (from $68,000 in the 1990s to $152,000 in 2023). Until the fundamental structure of the quota system changes, this trajectory is likely to continue.

Set up price alerts to be notified when the next record falls, and consult the glossary if any of the terminology in this timeline is unfamiliar.