Firms helping Singapore drivers with Malaysia's VEP see spike in demand amid festive season

SINGAPORE: Singapore car owners have been racing to apply for Malaysia’s Vehicle Entry Permits (VEPs) for road trips across the Causeway during the year-end festive season and ahead of Chinese New Year in January.

Companies that assist motorists with applications have seen a hike in demand in recent weeks.

Malaysia announced in May that from Oct 1, all foreign-registered vehicles entering the country by land from Singapore would be required to use VEPs or have action taken against them. The deadline has since been extended with no new date set. 

Innox Group is among the firms seeing more customers. The company was set up in June, soon after the October deadline for mandatory VEP tags was first announced.

The demand for the firm’s services peaked in September, with about 80 applicants per day, before falling to about 20 to 30 a day in November, said its general manager Christopher Leow.

This month, he is seeing about 30 to 40 customers each day.

Most clients who have approached his company are those who have to travel between the two nations for work or those who have relatives across the Causeway, said Mr Leow.

“They don't want to take any risk (by waiting for the new deadline), so they just want to get things done. (In case) they face any complications (and) they can't get it done on their own, they want to seek a service provider,” he said.

On Dec 13, more than 550,000 people crossed Singapore's land checkpoints in a single day, marking a new record. 

ENSURING DATA SECURITY

Other service providers, like First VEP Solutions, have seen a similar increase in business. 

"We have got a 20 to 25 per cent increase in demand, but it's mainly due to more people trying to visit Malaysia during the festive period, mainly for Christmas as well as Chinese New Year,” said the company’s director Anthony Lee.

Mr Lee's company charges motorists about S$130 (US$96) per application. This is at least three times the amount individuals pay if they apply on their own. 

He said the higher price tag comes with assurance that customers' details will be kept confidential. This is as the process includes the submission of several documents, including copies of identity cards.

However, some drivers are opting for cheaper services offered on e-commerce platforms for as low as S$40.

"I started with my own vehicle and I decided to do it to help others because I realised there are a lot of submissions to be done,” said freelance VEP assistant Christine Goh.

“I notice there are many elderly and Singaporeans who are not IT-savvy and have difficulty in applying VEP on their own, so I decided to help them."

Ms Goh, who has also seen more demand during the festive season, said she clears customers’ information after each application.

THE NEED FOR VEP

Following Malaysia's announcement in May, Singapore drivers scrambled to register the VEP for their cars. This resulted in a bottleneck in applications and delays in obtaining their radio frequency identification (RFID) tags that come with the permits. 

Motorists also faced long queues at the installation centres. 

However, four days before the start of the VEP enforcement, Malaysia’s Road Transport Department announced that it would be "executed in phases" and Singapore cars yet to install VEP tags by the Oct 1 deadline will still be allowed to enter Malaysia. 

The Malaysian government had previously said that motorists who fail to install VEP may be fined up to RM2,000 (US$447) or jailed for up to six months.

The VEP was first announced in 2017 with the aim of tackling car theft and cloning syndicates, and to prevent vehicles from leaving the country without paying fines for traffic offences.

Full enforcement was initially set for 2019 but it was delayed multiple times.