Letter to the Editor: Inequitable COE system

There have been many calls to revamp the current COE bidding system. In the past, while Ex-PM Goh Chok Tong denied that the COE system is intended to raise the Government tax coffers, there is little incentive to make the system fairer, more transparent and equitable as the current COE system is undoubtedly a golden monetary tax goose.

Calls have been made to restrict bidding to individual car buyers but the reply is that the car dealers wish to package their cars with COE.

The rationale for this is flawed given that we bid for shares IPO via ATM ourselves and don’t need a broker to do it for us in this digital age. We buy numerous worldwide items online and even invest in cryptocurrency with a click of the mouse and it doesn’t appear we need a broker to do that for us.

In any event, the current outdated COE categorization should be revised. A Cat B+ for luxury sports car model sporting over say 250 bhp should be created as currently, the average care buyer of a multiple purpose vehicle who needs a  mundane 2-litre vehicle to ferry his extended family needs to compete for COE with the likes of the Bentley, MacLaren, Lamborghini, Porches, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Aston Martin or Tesla wannabe owners.

For some fortunate wealthy individuals, a car is far more than a means of transport, it is a status symbol and one that shouts of their station in life, which is understandable and perhaps even aspire to. In the distance past Cat A regarded as the bread and butter cars as their category is defined as cars below 1600cc, until some innovative car manufacturers gamed the system by using technology to make their less-than-1600cc cars far more powerful than many Car B COE cars. Hence the system evolved.

It is time to revamp the inequitable Cat B definition by splitting it into the normal cars that require the engine torque to pull their weight out of a traffic light vs the ultra, sports or luxury cars which are status symbol statements. Indeed, the Motorcycle category should have a premier category as well, as it is inequitable that the Harley Davidson buyer pays the same category as a plebian Yamaha workhorse.

Whilst we may not get cheaper COE at least we should get a more equitable system that is fairer to one’s needs and station in life.