Three options over five years: renew for five, renew for ten, or sell up and buy something else. Everything is calculated from the numbers you enter — nothing is fetched, guessed or predicted.
This compares three options over one horizon. Five years is the default because a 5-year renewal cannot be extended, so it is the longest window in which all three are genuinely comparable.
Assumed to be your COE expiry date.
What the car costs to run now, and what it is worth if you let it go.
10 years 0 months old at the decision date.
From your log card. PARF works out at $10,000.
What a dealer or exporter pays for the car itself, on top of PARF.
If you keep it: what the body is worth in five years.
Settlement figure today, not the sum of remaining instalments.
Base amount before the age surcharge. Once the car passes 10 years LTA adds 10%, rising 10 points a year to 50% — that starts with the very first year after a renewal.
Routine servicing and consumables.
Age-related repairs, kept separate from routine servicing.
Charged annually once the car passes ten years, biennially before that.
One-off jobs you already expect: a traction battery, suspension, transmission, a set of tyres. Without these an older car always looks cheaper than it is.
Enter the OneMotoring figure to use it instead of the ARF calculation. Leave at 0 to derive it. Cars registered from February 2023 are capped ($60,000, or $30,000 from February 2026), so check the real figure.
A 5-year renewal costs half the PQP and cannot be renewed again — the car must be deregistered at the end, and few buyers want a car nobody can renew. A 10-year renewal costs the full PQP and can be renewed again, which is worth something this calculator does not price.
The three-month moving average for your category, from OneMotoring — not the latest bidding result. Starting figures are Cat A $125,600 and Cat B $127,800 as at August 2026, and the PQP moves every month.
Leave at 0 to use the deregistration floor: the unused COE rebate plus body value. An open-market sale usually beats it.
Enter the all-in transaction price you would actually pay, rather than trying to rebuild it from ARF, VES and COE.
What it is worth at the end of the horizon. If its COE expires before then, value it as a car you have already renewed.
Accessories, charger installation, anything outside the quoted price.
Used only to check the MAS loan limit: 70% up to $20,000 OMV, 60% above.
The quoted annual road tax for this car.
Routine servicing and consumables.
Age-related repairs, kept separate from routine servicing.
Charged annually once the car passes ten years, biennially before that.
One-off jobs you already expect: a traction battery, suspension, transmission, a set of tyres. Without these an older car always looks cheaper than it is.
Everything below defaults to zero, which means results are in plain nominal dollars.
Adds a present-value figure alongside the nominal total.
Return you would otherwise earn. Reported separately, never folded into the headline.
Over 5 years, on your assumptions
That is $7,913 less than the next best, Renew COE 5 years. Check that against the Kind and Harsh cases below before treating it as settled.
Exactly the numbers you entered.
| Option | Renew COE 5 years | Renew COE 10 years | Replacement carcheapest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net cost over the horizonEverything paid out, less what you get back and what the car is still worth. | $106,039 | $106,039 | $98,126 |
| Effective monthly cost | $1,767/mth | $1,767/mth | $1,635/mth |
| Cost per km | $1.41/km | $1.41/km | $1.31/km |
| Cash needed on day one | $62,800 | $125,600 | $184,000 |
| Biggest year of cash out | $71,700 | $134,500 | $190,811 |
| Total cash out | $108,039 | $170,839 | $231,126 |
| Money received backPARF, unused COE rebate and scrap value from the car you let go. | $0 | $0 | $13,000 |
| Financing interest | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Running costs | $45,239 | $45,239 | $34,126 |
| Worth at the end | $2,000 | $64,800 | $120,000 |
| Loan still owed at the end | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Difference against the cheapest | +$7,913 | +$7,913 | — |
The last step credits what each car is still worth. A line that finishes lowest may still have been the most expensive to carry along the way.
The comparison above values the 10-year renewal as if you scrapped it at the horizon. That is the one thing you would not be doing.
On the headline the two renewals cost the same, because LTA refunds the unused half of a 10-year premium pro rata. In cost terms the right to renew again is free.
What it does cost is cash: $62,800 more on day one. Set an opportunity cost rate under Assumptions to see what tying that up is worth to you.
At the end of the horizon the 5-year renewal leaves you with a car that must be deregistered and cannot be sold to anyone who wants to keep driving it. The 10-year renewal leaves you 60 months of COE still to run — about 5 more years of motoring with no further capital outlay, and the choice to renew again after that. Putting a car back on the road instead would cost you $197,000 on the replacement you priced.
Each line solves for the point where two options cost the same, holding everything else as you entered it.
How bad would repairs on the current car have to get?
Replacement car stays cheaper across the whole range tested ($0 to $25,000), so yearly repairs on the current car alone will not change the answer.
At what PQP does renewing stop making sense?
Renew COE 10 years is cheaper while the PQP stays below about $109,750; above that, Replacement car wins. You entered $125,600.
What must the replacement car be worth at the horizon?
Renew COE 5 years is cheaper while the replacement car's value at the end of the horizon stays below about $112,100; above that, Replacement car wins. You entered $120,000.
How much driving tips the balance?
Replacement car stays cheaper across the whole range tested (0 km/year to 60,000 km/year), so annual mileage alone will not change the answer.
| Line | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Renewal, purchase, fees and settlement | $62,800 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Road tax | $815 | $889 | $963 | $1,037 | $1,112 |
| Insurance | $1,400 | $1,400 | $1,400 | $1,400 | $1,400 |
| Servicing | $900 | $900 | $900 | $900 | $900 |
| Repairs | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Fuel or charging | $4,213 | $4,213 | $4,213 | $4,213 | $4,213 |
| Inspection | $72 | $72 | $72 | $72 | $72 |
| Net cash for the year | $71,700 | $8,974 | $9,048 | $9,122 | $9,196 |
| Running total | $71,700 | $80,673 | $89,721 | $98,843 | $108,039 |
Loan principal is cash leaving your account, not a cost: it is matched by the drawdown above it. Only interest and fees make financing more expensive than paying cash.
| Line | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Renewal, purchase, fees and settlement | $125,600 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Road tax | $815 | $889 | $963 | $1,037 | $1,112 |
| Insurance | $1,400 | $1,400 | $1,400 | $1,400 | $1,400 |
| Servicing | $900 | $900 | $900 | $900 | $900 |
| Repairs | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Fuel or charging | $4,213 | $4,213 | $4,213 | $4,213 | $4,213 |
| Inspection | $72 | $72 | $72 | $72 | $72 |
| Net cash for the year | $134,500 | $8,974 | $9,048 | $9,122 | $9,196 |
| Running total | $134,500 | $143,473 | $152,521 | $161,643 | $170,839 |
Loan principal is cash leaving your account, not a cost: it is matched by the drawdown above it. Only interest and fees make financing more expensive than paying cash.
| Line | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Renewal, purchase, fees and settlement | $197,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Road tax | $700 | $700 | $700 | $700 | $700 |
| Insurance | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Servicing | $700 | $700 | $700 | $700 | $700 |
| Repairs | $300 | $300 | $300 | $300 | $300 |
| Fuel or charging | $3,611 | $3,611 | $3,611 | $3,611 | $3,611 |
| Inspection | $0 | $0 | $0 | $36 | $36 |
| Money received | ($13,000) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net cash for the year | $190,811 | $6,811 | $6,811 | $6,847 | $6,847 |
| Running total | $190,811 | $197,621 | $204,432 | $211,279 | $218,126 |
Loan principal is cash leaving your account, not a cost: it is matched by the drawdown above it. Only interest and fees make financing more expensive than paying cash.