PARF Value Singapore: What It Is, How to Check It, and How to Calculate Your Car's Scrap Value

Most Singapore car owners know PARF is worth something when they scrap their car. Fewer know exactly how much — or that Budget 2026 cut those values by so much that the old rules most people quote are now wrong by tens of thousands of dollars.

Here is the complete picture: what PARF and ARF mean, how to check your current PARF value, and how to calculate what you'd actually receive if you deregistered today.

What ARF Means (and Why It Matters for PARF)

ARF stands for Additional Registration Fee. It is a tax paid when you first register a car in Singapore, calculated as a percentage of the car's Open Market Value (OMV). The ARF is tiered:

• First S$20,000 of OMV: 100% ARF
• Next S$30,000 of OMV (i.e., S$20,001–S$50,000): 140% ARF
• OMV above S$50,000: 180% ARF

So a car with an OMV of S$60,000 pays ARF of: (S$20,000 × 100%) + (S$30,000 × 140%) + (S$10,000 × 180%) = S$20,000 + S$42,000 + S$18,000 = S$80,000 in ARF.

This number matters because your PARF rebate is calculated as a percentage of the ARF you paid — not the purchase price, not the current market value, not the OMV.

What PARF Means

PARF stands for Preferential Additional Registration Fee. It is the portion of your ARF that the government refunds when you deregister your car before or at the end of its 10-year COE lifespan.

The percentage refunded depends on the car's age at the time of deregistration. Before Budget 2026, this was a generous schedule — up to 75% of ARF for cars deregistered before five years old, tapering to 50% at nine to ten years. Budget 2026, effective for cars registered from 13 February 2026 onward, cut these rates dramatically:

The critical point: If your car was registered before 13 February 2026, the old, more generous schedule still applies to you. If it was registered after that date, the new schedule applies. This distinction is now one of the most important variables in Singapore used car valuation — a 2025-registered car is worth materially more at scrap than a 2026-registered car.

How to Check Your PARF Value

You can check the exact PARF rebate for any car through the LTA's OneMotoring portal:

1. Go to onemotoring.lta.gov.sg
2. Navigate to Vehicle → Enquire Vehicle Details
3. Enter your vehicle registration number
4. The page shows your vehicle's PARF rebate value, COE expiry date, and registration date

You need a Singpass login to access this. The figure shown is the current PARF rebate — what you would receive if you deregistered the car today.

Note that this value decreases each year as the car ages and moves into a lower rebate bracket. The value shown on OneMotoring uses the current age of the car against the applicable rebate schedule (old or new, based on registration date).

How to Calculate Scrap Value

The total amount you receive when deregistering a car is not just the PARF rebate. It has two components:

Total Scrap Value = PARF Rebate + COE Rebate

The COE rebate is the pro-rated refund of the COE premium for the remaining months on your COE certificate. If you have 24 months left on a 10-year (120-month) COE and you paid S$100,000 for it, the COE rebate is approximately (24/120) × S$100,000 = S$20,000.

On top of this, scrap yards and export dealers may offer an additional body value payment — typically S$1,000–S$5,000 for most cars, higher for popular models with strong export demand (Toyotas and Mercedes command higher body values than obscure brands).

Worked Example: Pre-2026 Car

• Car registered in 2020 (old PARF schedule applies)
• OMV: S$30,000 → ARF paid: S$20,000 + (S$10,000 × 140%) = S$34,000
• Current age: approximately 6 years → old PARF rate: 65%
• PARF rebate: 65% × S$34,000 = S$22,100
• COE paid: S$70,000, with 48 months remaining → COE rebate: (48/120) × S$70,000 = S$28,000
• Body value from scrap yard: approximately S$2,000
• Total scrap value: approximately S$52,100

Worked Example: Post-2026 Car

• Car registered in March 2026 (new PARF schedule applies)
• OMV: S$30,000 → ARF paid: S$34,000 (same calculation)
• Deregistered at age 9 years → new PARF rate: 5%
• PARF rebate: 5% × S$34,000 = S$1,700
• The maximum cap of S$30,000 is irrelevant here — the actual rebate is far below it
• Body value: approximately S$2,000
• Total terminal value after 10 years: roughly S$3,700

This is why depreciation calculations changed fundamentally in 2026. The old rule of thumb that "you get back S$15,000–20,000 at scrap" no longer holds for post-February 2026 registrations. For new car buyers entering the market now, the car's residual value at year ten is effectively zero.

What This Means for Your Buying Decision

PARF value is not just an exit number — it affects how you should think about the total cost of ownership from day one.

For anyone considering buying a used car registered before February 2026, that car carries embedded PARF value under the old, more generous schedule. That value is one reason pre-2026 cars are now commanding a premium in the used market — the buyer inherits the right to a larger government rebate at deregistration.

For new buyers evaluating whether to buy now versus renewing a COE on an existing car: the near-zero PARF on any new car registered post-February 2026 means you cannot rely on a meaningful "backend" to offset depreciation. The full cost of the car — COE plus purchase price minus virtually nothing — is what you're paying over 10 years.

The Singapore COE Navigator includes a worked PARF calculation tool and a total cost of ownership comparison that factors in the old versus new PARF schedules, so you can model what a car actually costs you on an annualised basis before you commit.