Claire Lichawski, Environmental Lawyer in charge of ATFs at the National Automobile Professions Council (CNPA), provides a current update of the situation in France from COVID to the conversion bonus for recycling old vehicles.
Currently, in France, although in a better situation compared to earlier this year, with regards to the pandemic, in recent days, the number of people testing positive for COVID has been between 3000-5000 a day. Some cities have taken measures by putting restrictions in place and measures when travelling to some European countries are also being adhered to.
For the auto recycling sector, things are looking up and this positivity seems to stem from the government’s introduction of measures to boost the economy. One such measure was a ‘conversion bonus’.
The objective of this new system was for environmental and economical purposes, to help all French people, individuals and professionals, to buy a new or used EV or HEV in exchange for scrapping an old vehicle.
The old scrapped vehicle must be a car or van, which does not exceed 3.5 tonnes and which meets the following criteria:
– Diesel vehicle registered before 2011
– Gasoline vehicle registered before 2006
People could benefit from up to € 3,000 for the purchase of a new or used thermal vehicle and up to € 5,000 for the purchase of a new or used electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle. The amount of the premium depended on the category of vehicle purchased and the reference tax income per share of the applicant.
When it came to scrapping, the applicant required proof that the car was scrapped in an ATF, showing the relevant documents including the certificate of destruction (CoD).
According to Claire, the success of the ‘conversion bonus’ put in place after the lockdown to support the automobile market was immediate with the 200,000 conversion premiums for the purchase of a recent thermal vehicle, an electric or plug-in hybrid car exhausted in a few weeks.
For ATFs, scrap metal prices are still low but with this recent influx of 200,000 vehicles, it has given some relief to vehicle recyclers as business picks up once more.
Visit www.cnpa.fr
