Depreciation
Depreciation is the decline in a vehicle's value over time, driven primarily by COE decay in Singapore, alongside age, mileage, condition, and market conditions.
What it means
Depreciation in Singapore behaves differently from most markets because it is dominated by COE. Every year the car ages, the unused portion of its 10-year COE shrinks, and the linked PARF rebate (if the owner deregisters) reduces according to a published schedule. That makes Singapore depreciation curves much more predictable than in markets where supply, condition, and brand image dominate. Owners commonly track depreciation as an annualised figure, calculated as (purchase price minus current resale value) divided by years owned. A well-maintained car at year 5 might depreciate at S$15,000 to S$25,000 a year depending on the marque and segment; a poorly maintained car at the same age might be worth less than its PARF rebate, which means the owner would be better off deregistering than selling. Care decisions made earlier (paint protection, OEM-parts servicing, documented history) directly slow the depreciation curve in the second half of the COE term.
Why it matters in Singapore
In Singapore, depreciation is the single largest cost of ownership for most cars, larger than fuel, insurance, road tax, or even servicing combined over the 10-year term. Anything that meaningfully slows depreciation, especially in years 5 to 10 when paint condition and service history start to matter most for resale, has outsized financial value.
How Revol Carz handles this
Revol Carz works with owners on the long-term care side of the depreciation equation: paint protection that keeps the car cosmetically presentable through year 10, OEM-parts servicing at the workshop, and documented history that supports resale or trade-in valuation.