What you need to know with LTA's safe distancing measures

The elevated safe distancing measures that are to be put in place from 7 April 2020 to 4 May 2020 (since extended to 1 June 2020) requires us to make some changes to our lifestyle as many companies as well as services that are not deemed as essential will no longer be allowed to operate. As a car owner, there are some mandatory obligations to be fulfilled, such as the de-registration and disposal of a car and the periodic vehicle inspection, which is mandatory to allow road tax renewal here.

You might be wondering what LTA has in place for you to complete these obligations during this sensitive period of time. Here's what LTA says.

*With the extension of the circuit breaker measures to 1 June 2020, LTA has made some adjustments to the following measures, read more about them here.

1. LTA's vehicle services will remain accessible via the OneMotoring website

All counter services at LTA's Customer Service Centres and e-Lobbies at Sin Ming Drive will not be in operation during this period. However, LTA's services will remain accessible via the OneMotoring website.

This means that services such as de-registration of vehicles and transfer of vehicle ownership would still be possible.

2. Periodic vehicle inspection for private cars will be deferred

In order to facilitate the continued usage of private cars, LTA will allow the road tax for private cars to be renewed for six months as long as they have valid insurance coverage. The periodic vehicle inspection for private cars will be deferred.

Goods vehicles, buses, taxis, private hire cars and motorcycles will still be required to go for periodic inspections as scheduled. As such, Authorised Inspection Centres will remain open.

3. Seal inspection for Off-Peak Cars will be waived during this period

In case you didn't know, Off-Peak Cars have a number plate seal, which has to be inspected annually before road tax for these cars can be renewed.

During this period, the seal inspection for Off-Peak Cars will be waived.


4. Disposal of de-registered vehicles will be extended by two months

Normally, owners of cars that have been de-registered (it is an online process since LTA digitalised all its processes late last year) will be given a one-month deadline for the disposal of their de-registered cars. This can normally be done by towing the vehicle to an authorised vehicle scrapyard.

As all LTA-Authorised scrapyards and Export Processing Zones, as well as the other vehicle exporters will not be in operation during this period, owners who de-register their vehicles or whose one-month deadline for disposing their de-registered vehicles are reaching will be given an additional two months.

5. More time for registration of replacement vehicle under the Early Turnover Scheme (ETS)

Vehicle dealers are not among the essential group of services that will be allowed to continue operation during the extended safe distancing measures.

As a result, owners of commercial vehicles due to be de-registered during this period will have an additional two months to register their replacement vehicle under ETS.

Here are some related articles that might interest you

How to transfer vehicle ownership or deregister a car online through LTA 

7 things to know before scrapping or exporting your car

Electric car rebates - Tax incentives to boost ownership 

Deregistering your car: A guide to LTA rederegistration 

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