The Transport Ministry will make €3 m available for a new vehicle withdrawal scheme (the so-called scrappage programme) that was approved by the Council of Ministers last week.
The scheme is expected to begin after December 1, when the new road tax regulations for newly registered cars and new emission rules come into force. The programme will be valid for two months from the date of launch, and if the budget is not used up, may be extended.
The project includes two grant schemes – for saloon cars (M1) with conventional engines, as well as for electric saloon cars (M1) and commercial vans (N1).
In both cases there are prerequisites as concerns both the old car beings withdrawn and the new car being registered for the grant to be approved. The old vehicle should be registered in the name of the applicant; the programme applies only to persons and not companies.
For the withdrawal of an old car and replacement with a new saloon car with a conventional engine subsidy is €2,000 and the total amount is €2.5 million which means that the plan will cover up to 1,250 cars.
The old car should be at least 15 years old or older, the age to be calculated from the date when the vehicle was first registered in any country as new up to the first day of the launch of the programme. It should also have been continuously registered (and not struck off due to non-payment of taxes and fees), for the last ten years.
The new car should have a Euro 6AD or newer engine, that does not exceed 1,800 cc.
The subsidy for purchase of an electric car is €5,000 and this instance does not require the withdrawal of an old car. However, if the applicant wishes to give an old vehicle for recycling and replace it with an electric car, the subsidy will rise to €7,000.
The total funding available is €500,000, ie 100 car owners will benefit from the scheme. The basic requirement for the subsidy is that the new car should be a new M1 category electric vehicle, registered in the applicant’s name, provided that the purchase price of the new electric vehicle before VAT doe not exceed €40,000.
Applications must be submitted online only on the website to be launched by the Road Transport Department for this purpose. If you are applying for two cars, only the older one will be considered.
Applications will be reviewed and approved after the two-month period.
The subsidy will be valid for a period of seven months from the date of approval. After this period, applications approved but not submitted for payment will be cancelled.
The subsidy amounts will be transferred to beneficiaries within 30 days after submission of the certificate that the old car can been scrapped.
A scrappage program is a government budget programme to promote the replacement of old vehicles with modern vehicles. Scrappage programmes generally have the dual aim of stimulating the automobile industry and removing inefficient, more polluting vehicles from the road. Many European countries have introduced large-scale scrappage programmes as an economic stimulus to increase market demand in the industrial sector during the global recession that began in 2008.
Source: Philenews
