What it means for you
**What happened on 23 September 2026.** LTA's second bidding round for September 2026 closed with premiums easing back from the September 1st round across all five categories. Cat A dropped to $131,890, Cat B to $133,000, Cat C to $92,144, Cat D to $12,201, and Cat E to $137,000. After several months of climbing premiums, this was the first round where every category moved in the same direction at once.
**The category-by-category table.** Cat A cars up to 1600cc and 130bhp closed at $131,890, down $1,119 from $133,009 in the previous round, with 1,507 bids chasing 1,193 certificates. Cat B cars above 1600cc or 130bhp closed at $133,000, down $2,001 from $135,001, with 1,135 bids for 927 certificates. Cat C goods vehicles and buses closed at $92,144, down $957 from $93,101, with 532 bids for 318 certificates. Cat D motorcycles closed at $12,201, down $355 from $12,556, with 605 bids for 522 certificates. Cat E open category closed at $137,000, down $890 from $137,890, with 431 bids for 269 certificates.
**Why the 5-way dip is unusual.** Across the last six months it is rare to see all five categories move in the same direction in a single round. The pullback came after two consecutive rounds in August where Cat A and Cat B both closed above $130,000 for the first time in 2026. Industry watchers have attributed the cooling to dealers and private buyers holding back ahead of the Car Expo promotional period later in October, though motorist.sg does not retain enough history to confirm a causal link.
**Why the PQP column barely moved.** PQP stands for Prevailing Quota Premium. It is the rolling three-month average of successful bidding premiums, recalculated at the start of each month, and it is the figure LTA uses to calculate your COE renewal price. A single round's dip does not drop renewals on its own. Two or three higher rounds still sitting inside the three-month window keep PQP elevated even after a softer round. For September 2026 the published PQP figures sat at $126,208 for Cat A, $128,697 for Cat B, $92,907 for Cat C, and $10,366 for Cat D, all month-start averages based on the previous three months' premiums.
**How LTA's bidding actually clears.** LTA holds two bidding rounds per month, on the first and third Wednesday. Each round, bidders submit a price they are willing to pay for a COE. LTA ranks bids from highest to lowest, and the round clears at the lowest price that fills the available quota. Everyone who bid at or above that price pays the clearing price. Anyone below the clearing price walks away with no COE. The Bids Received column shows how many people bid. The Quota column shows how many COEs were on offer. A ratio above one means the category was oversubscribed, with more bidders than plates.
**What's next.** The first bidding round of October 2026 closed on Wednesday 7 October 2026. We have published the next update.
**Source.** Land Transport Authority (LTA), republished via OneMotoring — onemotoring.lta.gov.sg.
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