Business-owned private-hire cars cannot be sold to individuals for 3 years after registration
Starting 19 February 2025, companies will be barred from selling private-hire cars to individuals for three years after the vehicle’s registration.
In a statement released by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on 19 February, they said this new mandatory three-year lock-in period is meant to achieve a more stable supply of vehicles that can be used to provide ride-hailing services.
This new lock-in period will apply to vehicles with their Certificate of Entitlement (COE) issued as part of the ongoing bidding exercise ending on 19 February.
The lock-in period will help to ensure that businesses that acquire private-hire cars do so primarily for the purpose of leasing them to private-hire drivers and curb the premature conversion of private-hire cars out of the private-hire car scheme.
Prior to this policy change, there was no restriction on such conversions.
For vehicles registered as private-hire cars by businesses, the start date for the three-year lock-in period will be the date of registration. For vehicles converted in private-hire cars by businesses, the start date will be the date of conversion. For private-hire cars transferred from individuals to businesses, the start date will be the date of transfer.
From 19 February 2025, business-owned private-hire cars with an existing lock-in period can be transferred to another business, with the remaining lock-in period carried over to the new business.
Existing business-owned private-hire cars that were registered, converted, or transferred before 19 February 2025 and private-hire cars owned by individuals will not be subject to the new lock-in period.
The LTA also stated that they originally wanted to announce this new requirement only after the current COE bidding exercise concluded. However, due to a premature release of information by their vendor, NCS, some industry players received notice of this new requirement ahead of the planned announcement date.
The LTA then stated that to ensure transparency and fairness, they decided to bring forward the implementation of this new policy to 19 February, before the end of the current COE bidding exercise.
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