SINGAPORE: More people are looking to rent or share cars, instead of buying them, amid skyrocketing certificate of entitlement (COE) premiums. 

Car sharing and rental companies told CNA that they are seeing a boost in business. 

Car sharing platform GetGo, which connects people with car rental services, has observed a 10 per cent month-on-month increase in business over the last six months. 

The firm's co-founder and chief executive Toh Ting Feng said: “We operate a flexible car sharing platform. It means that many users can use every single car on a daily basis."

“So when car sharing gets more popular, what happens is that our cars get utilised more frequently. So for each car, when demand goes up, we are able to generate higher transactions.”

For some customers, these are more affordable alternatives as compared to owning a vehicle. Others look to them as temporary solutions while waiting for COE prices to fall. 

At the Nov 9 tender exercise, COE premiums for Category B cars, or those above 1,600cc, rose to a new all-time high of S$115,388, breaking the S$113,000 mark set on Sep 7. 

Open category COEs, which can be used to register any type of vehicle other than motorcycles, rose to S$116,577, surpassing the high of S$114,001 set on Jul 20.