The program for recycling old cars, which in government circles was called an experiment to stimulate sales of new vehicles, has died down. Since the start of this extraordinary event in March 2010, and until the end of 2011, when it ended, the regulatory authorities issued 600 thousand certificates to those wishing to improve their “transport conditions”. This event cost the state a tidy sum - 30 billion rubles.
For those who have not heard what kind of recycling program this is, we will tell you briefly. To the car owner who, having at his disposal a car older than 10 years old, wanted to buy a new vehicle, the state gave a discount of 50,000 rubles for the purchase of a new car, provided that he would hand over the old one to the landfill.
When the media reported that the car recycling program had been launched, motorists on used and very second-hand Zhiguli lined up at car dealerships for the coveted certificate. Moreover, the size of these lines was so large that all the pessimists who predicted the program inglorious death could only shrug their hands, the success was too obvious.
But the topic of success still requires more careful attention. When the recycling program was first introduced to the public, its main objectives were:
- assistance to the Russian automobile industry in general and AvtoVAZ in particular;
- updating the aging fleet of Russia and the elimination of dangerous auto-trash for others.
If the first part turned out to be the best possible, because more than 80% of the certificates were exchanged by AvtoVAZ enterprises for new cars, then the second part did not work out exactly as the drafters of the document planned. Since neither the police nor the Ministry of Industry wanted to take care of recycling, some of the companies that signed up for the "utilizers" received transport from the population and immediately started selling it for a pittance. In the summer of 2011 no more than 10 thousand were asked for old “Zhiguli” documents without documents, and taxi drivers grabbed them like hot cakes: anyway, you couldn’t stand the machine for more than a year, and it was not a pity to throw it away. There were scandals, but where without them. Many motorists across the country, having handed over their "swallow" for disposal to dishonest businessmen, instead of a certificate of the established sample received a slurred paper that no car dealership wanted to accept in exchange for a new car. But when indignant citizens returned back to these (in quotation marks) disposal points, they were met by an empty office. Having seized all the cars handed over by people, businessmen evaporated.
Despite all these shortcomings associated with poor management, the main program for recycling old cars worked. Thanks to her, many motorists were able to replace the hopelessly outdated and crumbling Zhigulenka or Moskvich model with the completely new VAZ Lada or any other model of their choice. And the Ministry of Industry and Trade is still receiving letters requesting the resumption of the program.
At the end of winter, representatives of the Ministry of Industry reported that this year, too, an exchange of old transport for certificates could also be made. The fact is that the ministry considers the tasks of updating the car fleet and stimulating the production of automobile plants as their priorities.
By the way, in addition to the already well-proven method with disposal, other options are being prepared to stimulate the replacement of obsolete equipment. The change in the transport tax system is discussed , in which the environmental class of the car will become an important element in the calculations. This way they go in European countries, and everything works fine there: owners of non-compliant vehicles pay much more than those who have everything in order with the environment. Consequently, they try to get rid of the movable property burdening them with all available means.
But for now, this is all just in the projects, and the recycling program is already working. And if all the “loopholes” and deficiencies identified in the first years of its implementation are eliminated, it is quite capable of becoming a locomotive of positive changes in the country's automotive life.