CAR OWNERSHIP

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CAR OWNERSHIP

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5.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong asked the Minister for Transport (a) how car ownership papers can be transferred without proof of original documents like the logcard and identity card; (b) how will the Land Transport Authority (LTA) know that the additional authorisation letter introduced after the Benz E240 scam will be free from fraud too, considering that those conmen can even forge logcards and PARF papers; (c) how much money was involved in the scam of forging fake PARF and COE rebate papers from 1999 to 2003; (d) why was the public not warned earlier about such scams happening in Singapore; (e) how much losses were involved and who bears the damages for these losses; (f) what is the reason for restricting rebate owners from using the maximum paper value for a new car purchase; (g) whether the LTA charges for each transfer/splitting of the PARF paper can be reduced from $10 to $5; (h) how much did LTA collect from the PARF paper transfer fees and transfer of ownership fees for each year since 1998 to date;

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and (i) can the transfer of ownership fees be drastically reduced too since most of the car taxes have already been paid for via import tax, ARF and COE.

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will only effect the transfer of a vehicle, upon the payment of transfer fees, provided both the buyer and owner of the vehicle complete an application form and submit the following documents to LTA:

Original vehicle logcard
Original NRIC of both the owner and buyer; and
Original motor insurance certificate in the name of the buyer.

The LTA has removed the need for an authorisation letter from vehicle owners and buyers who are unable to effect the transfer of vehicle ownership personally at LTA. This was only an interim measure. As a new control measure, the person who submits the application for transfer on behalf of the owner and buyer is required to fill in his particulars on the application form and also to submit his original NRIC for verification to perform the transaction. This is in addition to the submission of the documents mentioned earlier.

Between 1999 and 2003, there was only a single case involving fake PARF and COE rebate certificates. This occurred in November 2000. The suspect apparently soldnine fake rebate certificates to buyers for a sum amounting to about $536,000. The case was reported to the Police. It was not publicised, as the case was then under Police investigations. However, LTA conducted a review of its internal procedures, and in September 2001, LTA stopped the issue of physical PARF and COE rebate certificates. Consequently, motorists did not have to produce the physical certificates to utilise, transfer or divide their PARF/COE rebates. They are only required to complete the necessary application forms and furnish their identification documents to use, transfer or divide the rebates.

During the same period, there were alsotwo other cases, one involved the use of duplicate logcards that were issued by the LTA and the other involved use of forged logcards, to transfer or de-register vehicles without the knowledge of the finance company or the registered owner. The amount involved in these cases was about $6 million, and the victims were mainly finance/leasing companies. These cases were also reported to the Police and investigations are still on going. LTA had also worked with the Association of Hire Purchase and Finance Companies (AHPFC) to review the processes that were exploited by these fraudsters. For example, a duplicate vehicle logcard requested by a registered owner would be issued only after checking with the AHPFC.

A holder of the Preferential Additional Registration Fee (PARF) and Certificate of Entitlement (COE) rebates can use the entire amount to offset the upfront taxes payable to register a new vehicle in his name. In cases where the PARF/COE rebates exceed the upfront taxes payable, the holder can split the rebates into smaller values or transfer the rebate to a third party at a mutually agreed rate. An administrative fee of $10 is payable in each instance, to cover the costs of providing these services.

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A transfer fee is levied when a vehicle is transferred from one owner to another. It comprises two components – a small administrative fee and a tax. The administrative fee is $3 for motorcycles and $10 for all other vehicles.

The tax, which is also referred to as an Additional Transfer Fee, is set at 2% of the assessed value of the vehicle. It is part of our national taxation framework and goes into the Government's Consolidated Fund, and used for the benefit of all Singaporeans.

Since 1997, the amount of fees that the Government collects from the transfer of rebates and vehicles amounts to about $60 million per year.

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