|
SPAIN's Plan
VIVE, the details.
Those who
follow my column will recognise the name PLAN VIVE as it has been previously
reported in this column as well as the previous Plan Prever, the latter
system only now just being instigated in the UK with some mixed feelings
from the citizens there.
To recap,
Plan Prever, which has been replaced in Spain by VIVE, was where a lump sum
of cash, just under €500 in Spain, was effectively given by Trafico to
buyers of new and semi-new vehicles where the old one was scrapped if it met
certain parameters these being mainly high pollution factors and old age.
Plan VIVE
has replaced Prever (just as a similar plan is starting in the UK, but with
£2.000 at time of writing being offered), so the UK is now belatedly
following Germany and Spain with the encouragement not only for pollution
reasons but to also get the various car factory production lines moving
again. A complaint in the UK has been that many tax-payers especially
those who do not own cars have been saying that they object to paying
subsidies with their taxes for others to replace their old vehicles, but in
Spain this is not that case, for with Plan VIVE, which is based on
assistance with the financing of the new or nearly new vehicle
purchase, the taxes are raised by charging more to those who buy the higher
polluting new vehicles as these do not qualify for any subsidy and, in fact,
the taxes have been increased on the higher polluters. This to me is a
good idea as it does not arbitrarily ban vehicles with big, powerful
engines, merely makes sure that if you wish to buy one, you can if you are
prepared to pay. Here in Spain as ever we are encouraged to comply with
such new offers, not forced to under pain of heavy fines.
How does
Plan VIVE work? The overall intention is to remove the higher polluting
vehicles from Spain’s’ roads and the deal must include the scrapping of an
old vehicle as described below. Suffice to say that there will be a
shortage of so-called “classic” vehicles from the current period in about 25
years time, but as most 25 year old cars were rust buckets and not very
exciting, the main attraction being that they can, if in good order, be sold
for a good price in future years to someone else who values such memories,
and many older drivers relive their youth when they rode around with their
parents in such cars. I know that feeling for I have it for old motorcycles
such as my old 1950s Vincent-HRD 1.000 cc motos (three of) that I used to
ride on the roads and race for fun on tracks in the UK and South Africa in
the 1960s to the 1990s often (very often) leaving many frustrated modern
bike riders behind. But of course, having raced (Cadwell Park, Kyalami,
etc) and used mine a lot even in mid-Winter, I had an advantage over those
who only took their bikes out at weekends. I knew what mine could safely
really do.
So what is involved in
Plan VIVE?
The old
car that can be scrapped to qualify;
1.
Must be at least 10 years old (see below) or have
completed a genuine, checkable 250.000km.
2.
Must be Spanish registered.
3.
Must be currently owned by the person buying the
newer vehicle. So now you know why there are adverts for cheaper, old, any
condition cars in the local press. They are to be used for this plan.
The
newer car that can be bought using the plan:
- Must be
either new or if used, a late model as noted below (e.g. “coche occasion”
or 0Km, etc) and have the latest anti-pollution devices fitted such as (if
diesel) an exhaust particle filter, commonly referred to as a DPF and this
will be to the “Euro 4 standard”: and a catalytic converter if a gasoline
engine.
- Have a
pollution factor of not more than 120 Gm/Km to 160 Gm/Km. The new vehicle
must have certain safety devices described here fitted if more than 120
Gm/Km.
- Sensors
in the seats, including the rear ones where if a seat-belt is not being
worn a sound is emitted by the car’s warning system. Readers may react in
horror at this need but it is a fact that nearly 50% of those killed in
car accidents in recent years, including passengers, were not wearing seat
belts as required by law.
- Must
have an electronic stability device fitted. This is where a sensor that
can tell if you have gone out of control while e.g. cornering too fast and
tries to bring the car back to a stable state by automatically braking on
individual wheels as required as well as backing off the accelerator.
This is now a standard extra now on all normal vehicles with a poll-factor
of 120 Gm/km plus, by law, to try to reduce further the accident rates on
Europe’s roads. But, for expert drivers, it can be switched off. Some
even newer vehicles may well not have this fitted at this time as they
were, until this year, an option, not a standard fitment as they are now.
This effectively is covered also by the rule that vehicles that are to be
bought cannot be older than 5 years. Before 5 years some of the required
devices were not available on cars then anyway.
- The
used vehicle to be bought that qualifies under the scheme must be sold
within five years since manufacture or have completed 250.000 Km.
- The
scheme only applies to vehicles with a maximum authorised mass or MAM of
3, 5 tonnes. Readers of my book, and knowledgeable others, will know what
MAM is.
- If
buying a used vehicle, the scrapped vehicle must be older than 15 years.
If new, ten years or 250.000 Km total mileage.
What is the VIVE deal?
Plan Prever had a flaw in that most people use bank
finance when especially buying a new car so not many people took advantage
of it as it involved obtaining finance which at this time with the credit
crisis is not easy, but major car dealers have the means and connections.
Plan VIVE discounts the finance interest rates as follows:
·
The first €10,000 is interest-free for the buyer.
The balance up to € €30.000 (i.e. €€20.00 to 30.000) is financed at the
Euribor interest rate plus 2, 5%. Euribor (E/R) is
short for Euro Interbank Offered Rate. The Euribor rates are based on
the average interest rates at which a panel of more than 50 European banks
borrow funds from one another and they change regularly according to market
demands. See
http://www.euribor-rates.eu/
for more information but at present the E/R is under 2% and they are changed
daily. The Plan VIVE is not specific about how long the rate lasts but I
would assume that it is the rate at the time of sale. A car salesman at a
decent dealership can advise you in writing when you look for such a
vehicle. As I receive more information I will update all this information
on my web-site.
·
The maximum finance period is five years.
·
The vehicle to be scrapped as the trade-in must be
disposed of through a Trafico approved scrap yard (desguaces) within 30 days
but the dealer will attend to that for you but you need to be aware so you
can obtain the scrapping receipt to avoid any potential future
problems as I advise in my book. This is important. TRUST NOBODY.
All in
all, it is a good deal, and no doubt the UK will follow if their scheme of a
lump sum does not work, but I can forecast much potential fraud with any
such schemes. |
|