Perks for replacing old diesel vehicles

By Royston Sim, The Straits Times, 25 Apr 2013

A NEW scheme to encourage owners to replace their old diesel vehicles with newer and more environment-friendly models kicked off yesterday.

The Early Turnover Scheme will run till April 23 in 2015. It aims to incentivise owners to switch to commercial vehicles that meet the Euro 5 diesel standard, and reduce pollution.

Under the scheme, owners can deregister old diesel vehicles bought before January 2001 and register a replacement commercial vehicle by paying a discounted fee. They will not need to bid for a certificate of entitlement (COE) for a commercial vehicle.

In Parliament last month, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan noted existing old diesel vehicles remain a major source of pollution. He said there are about 38,000 old diesel commercial vehicles with pre-Euro or Euro 1 emissions standards bought before Jan 1, 2001.

Owners who opt to replace their old vehicles under the scheme will pay a discounted prevailing quota premium (PQP), which is a three-month moving average of the cost of COEs.

Owners can also transfer the unused period of COE from their existing vehicle to the replacement one. They will get a bonus COE period for their replacement vehicle. This is derived from a proportion of what's left of their existing vehicle's 20-year lifespan when it is deregistered. The proportion will be 10 per cent of the remainder of the 20-year lifespan if a vehicle's maximum weight is 3,500kg or less, and 30 per cent if its weight limit exceeds 3,500kg. The transferred COE and bonus COE periods will be capped at 10 years.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has set up an online service called Calculator - Category C Early Turnover Scheme on its one.motoring portal for owners to work out how much they need to fork out for the discounted PQP. Those with queries can also call the LTA hotline, 1800-2255-582.