Renting a car between cars

Sooner or later most Singapore drivers spend a few weeks without their own car. A COE reaches its tenth year, a dealer is still waiting on registration, a repair takes longer than the workshop promised, or a relocation means selling one car before the next is in sight.

A rental fills the gap without forcing a decision you are not ready to make. The useful thing is to book it in the right shape: long enough to take the weekly or monthly discount, flexible enough to stretch if the gap does.

A COE lasts ten years. Before it ends, you can renew it for another ten years by paying the Prevailing Quota Premium (PQP), a moving average of recent COE prices that LTA publishes each month, or for five years at half the PQP. A five-year renewal can be made only once; when it ends, the car must be deregistered.

If you would rather not renew, the car is deregistered, scrapped or exported, and you may receive rebates on what is left of its value. Either way, the decision is easier without a deadline on your back: deregister on time, rent for a month or two, and buy when the right car and the right COE round come along. COE bidding runs twice a month, and a new car is usually delivered some weeks after its COE is secured.

If another driver caused the accident, you may be able to claim for loss of use, the cost of getting around while your car is repaired, from their insurer. Some policies also include a courtesy car or a daily allowance for a limited number of days; DirectAsia, for example, offers S$50 a day for up to 10 days per accident as an optional benefit. Check what your own policy and the other driver's insurer will pay before you book, and keep every receipt.

Ask the workshop for an honest ready date, then book a week or two and extend online if the parts are late. Your receipts can carry your company name and billing details, which helps if an insurer or employer is paying.

Your rental's collection address does not have to match its delivery address, and changing it costs nothing. Have the rental delivered to your home, then hand it back at the workshop in Sin Ming or Ubi, or at the showroom, on the morning you collect your own car. No second journey, no taxi home.

Between a signed order and the keys there is COE bidding, registration and preparation, and any of them can slip. Book the rental to the dealer's expected date with a week to spare, and extend online if delivery moves. From 30 days a car's monthly discount applies, so a booking that will probably run past four weeks is usually cheaper made as a month from the start.

If you have just arrived for work, a monthly rental lets you settle in before deciding whether to buy, and the car can meet you at Changi Airport arrivals. You can drive on your foreign licence with an IDP or official English translation for your first 12 months of living here.

If you are leaving, sell your car when the price is right rather than on your last day, rent for the final weeks, and have the rental collected at Changi on the way to your flight.

• Book seven days or more for the weekly discount, 30 days or more for the monthly one.
• If the gap grows, extend the booking online rather than starting a second one.
• Choose by boot space as well as seats: every car page lists the boot in litres and what fits.
• Cancellation is free until 24 hours before the delivery window, so book as soon as you know the gap is coming.
• If the car you booked becomes unavailable, you get the same model or a free upgrade, so an early booking is not a gamble.