The first Certificate of Entitlement (COE) bidding exercise for October 2024 saw premiums increase across all categories, with Category A going past the $100,000 mark for the first time since last October.

Cat A COEs, which are used for cars with internal combustion engines (ICEs) of up to 1,600cc in capacity and have a power output of less than 130hp, as well as electric cars with a power output of up to 110kW, went up by $5,275 to end the bidding exercise at $103,799.

Cat B COEs, which are used for ICE cars that exceed 1,600cc in capacity or have more than 130hp, and electric cars with over 110kW, saw premiums going up by $6,001 to end at $116,002.

Cat C, which are for goods vehicles and buses, saw prices go up by $1,009 to end the bidding exercise at $75,009.

Cat D, which are reserved for motorcycles, went up $101 to close at $10,001.

Finally, Cat E, which is open to all vehicles except motorcycles, saw premiums go up by $2,896 to finish the exercise at $116,000.

Industry observers note that the sharp rises in premiums were unsurprising, given the three-week break from the last bidding exercise, along with the Car Expo sales event which took place last weekend, resulting in dealers garnering more sales orders before this round.

Jason Lim, managing director of BMW Eurokars Auto, said that the results were "as expected", and added that his brand saw strong sales at the Car Expo event. A senior sales manager at Mercedes-Benz, who declined to be named, also echoed the same sentiment, highlighting that sales for the brand at the event was "not bad".

COE prices are expected to remain at an elevated level over the next few rounds of bidding, as dealers continue to clear their sales backlog generated from the event. This is despite the upcoming increase in COE quota for the next three-month period from November to January, which industry observers say is not significant enough to ease the pressure on prices.

Here's a summary of the first COE bidding exercise for October 2024:

*PQP, or Prevailing Quota Premium, is the moving average of COE prices in the last 3 months, and denotes the amount payable in order to renew a car's COE at the end of its tenure.

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