SINGAPORE: From September, deregistered vehicles detected by police or Land Transport Authority (LTA) officers during their patrols will be wheel clamped for seizure, the authorities announced on Tuesday (Sept 8), as a proposed law to keep such vehicles off roads here was put before Parliament.
The Land Transport and Related Matters (No. 2) Bill outlines four key measures to enforce the timely and proper disposal of deregistered vehicles. The authorities say such vehicles are illegal to use and pose serious road safety risks as they do not have valid insurance and are not road-worthy.
Some have also been involved in hit-and-run accidents and criminal activities, including drug trafficking.
The proposed law will, among other things, enable the implementation of a new Authorised Exporter Scheme. Under the scheme, deregistered vehicles must be exported through LTA-authorised exporters. Currently, owners can arrange the export themselves or through a motor dealer or freight service.
The Bill also introduces a new offence for people who sell or supply deregistered vehicles knowing, or without considering whether, the vehicles will be kept or used on Singapore roads. Those convicted can be fined up to $20,000 and/or jailed for up to two years, with penalties doubled for repeat offenders.
The Bill was introduced by Minister of State for Transport Baey Yam Keng for a First Reading in Parliament on Sept 8.
The proposed law comes on the back of an increase in reported cases of deregistered vehicles being used on roads here, said the Ministry of Transport (MOT), LTA and Singapore Police Force (SPF) in a joint statement.
There were 40 such cases in 2022, and 39 in 2023. This jumped to 75 in 2024 and 245 in 2025. In the first five months of 2026, LTA investigated 122 cases.
Other than the proposed legislative amendments, the agencies said in the statement that they will step up enforcement efforts against the use of such vehicles.
This includes wheel clamping deregistered vehicles for seizure, and conducting more joint enforcement operations, such as roadblocks and patrols at identified hotspots.
Legislative measures proposed under new Bill
Under the Authorised Exporter Scheme outlined in the new Bill, the LTA-authorised exporters will be subject to compliance requirements to ensure the vehicles are properly disposed of. They must, for example, store the vehicles and carry out export-related activities such as cutting and packing within LTA-approved and secured premises.
The scheme is intended to address the risk of rogue exporters failing to properly dispose of or export deregistered vehicles, the authorities said. LTA will give the industry at least one year to transition before the scheme is implemented.
The Bill will also cut the grace period for owners to fulfil disposal requirements from one month to 14 days. The authorities said the shorter period will lower the risk of deregistered vehicles being misused before they are properly disposed.
Vehicle owners will only need to hand their deregistered vehicles to authorised exporters, authorised scrapyards or authorised export processing zone operators, and will no longer need to submit disposal documents to LTA.
Those convicted of failing to submit proof that their deregistered vehicles have been disposed of will also face a daily fine of up to $500 until proof of disposal is submitted.
The Bill will also empower the Government to prevent new or used vehicles from being registered by or transferred to high-risk individuals who may fail to dispose of them when they are deregistered.
These include people with records of keeping deregistered vehicles, as well as “juveniles under 18 who may be vulnerable to exploitation by criminal syndicates”.
The measures build on higher penalties that took effect in February.
First-time offenders who keep or use unregistered or deregistered vehicles can be fined up to $20,000 and/or jailed for up to two years, with penalties doubled for repeat offenders.
A 22-year-old man was charged in court in July with multiple traffic offences, including driving deregistered vehicles at several locations and driving without a valid licence.
In January, a 17-year-old was arrested following a high-speed car chase in Geylang, during which he was driving a deregistered vehicle, and was under the influence of drugs while behind the wheel.
In 2024, a deregistered car was found abandoned in the middle of the PIE after it collided with four other vehicles. - The Straits Times/ANN
