http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1103120/1/.html
Car rental business booming due to higher COE
By Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid Posted: 06 January 2011 2131 hrs

Due to the higher COE, people decided to on hold or not to purchase new car yet. If they have booked a car and they are unsuccessful in the COE, they do not want to top up the price. They rather rent a car instead. Despite the expected Lunar New Year boom, the company, Popular Rent a Car decided to put expansion plans on hold as captail and operating costs will go up by 30% to 40% per cent if he buys new cars with the higher COEs. For the Lunar New Year, all of its small cars have been booked as a lot of people want to have a car for the New Year. With the COE going up, there are more enquiries for long term rental in terms of weeks or even for a year. They have customers planning to rent car until new cars become affordable. Beside renting, more people are now more open to the concept of car sharing. Trading-in has also become popular as there is higher value for used cars.

I feel that renting a car is definitely a next resort of owning a car since right now, the COE is way too expensive for us to own a car. I believe that the COE of a car would not reduce in a short period of time as the government wants to decrease the number of cars in Singapore. Therefore, it is quite impossible for us to own a car, especially youngster like us who have just gotten our driving license. In my opinion, i would rent a car if i really wish to have it. If not i would just stick to taking public transport as it is cheaper and more convenient.