Romanians can receive 3,000 lei in exchange for a car older than 15 years. When the “Rabla Local” program is launched

The first edition of the “Rabla Local” program, through which citizens will be able to scrap their cars older than 15 years in exchange for a 3,000 lei voucher, will start in mid-October.

The program will be launched for the first time in the context in which Romania has the obligation, through PNRR, to scrap a number of 250,000 vehicles older than 15 years by 2026, according to Agerpres.

“It is a program aimed at citizens who want to scrap cars, but not necessarily buy a new one. We hope they will prefer public transport, because it is a very, very healthy option for the environment”, said the communication director of the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, Mihai Drăgan.

Budget of 50 million lei for “Rabla Local”

“We are launching this program for the first time this year, with a budget of 50 million lei. We will have a scrapping premium of 3,000 lei for citizens who want to scrap their cars, and 80% of the budget will be borne by the Ministry, through the Environmental Fund, and 20% by the local public authority”, said Drăgan, on Thursday, at the opening conference of the Bucharest Auto Show (SAB) & Accessories 2022, from Romexpo.

“The program will be carried out through local public authorities, so willing citizens must go to the town hall and submit there the files for enrollment in the program. We hope to cash in somewhere around 20,000 old cars through this program this year. Certainly, if it proves to be a success, as expected, we hope to repeat the program with larger budgets in future years,” he added.

Rabla Classic and Rabla Plus

In the same context, the representative of the Ministry of Environment mentioned the government programs “Rabla Classic” and “Rabla Plus”.

“The Ministry of the Environment supports clean mobility, green mobility and we want to guide the automotive industry towards this goal. This year, the Ministry offered through the Environment Fund the largest budget in the history of the ‘Rabla’ programs. We are talking about a total of over 1.2 billion lei, allocated in the ‘Rabla Classic’ and ‘Rabla Plus’ budgets for the renewal of the car fleet, the scrapping of old cars and the purchase of less polluting ones and, of course, electric cars and plug-in hybrid,” said the communications director.

“We launched a new financing session for the two programs last Friday, and I can tell you that the budget for ‘Rabla Plus’, at least for legal entities, was exhausted within 20 minutes of the opening of the financing session, and the budget for individuals in less than two hours. So far, this year, more than 5,000 electric vehicles have been purchased, but there will certainly be much more, because, as we know, there are still problems with the delivery component for this type of vehicle”, added Drăgan.

Car exhibition in Bucharest

More than 25 car brands, along with more than 12 unique cars worth over five million euros, as well as 600 companies from the field of equipment, self-service laundries, parts and accessories, exhibit between October 6-16, at the edition from this year of the Bucharest Auto Show (SAB) & Accessories, organized at Romexpo.

Exhibitors’ presentation stands are located in Pavilion B2, as well as in the adjacent outdoor area, on a total surface exceeding 25,000 square meters.

The schedule for visiting the Bucharest Auto Show (SAB) & Accessories 2022 is as follows: on October 6, between 12-8 p.m.; between October 7 and 15, in the time interval 10-20; on October 16, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The price of an entrance ticket is 50 lei. Access for children under seven years old and people with disabilities is free, the latter category having to prove it with a related document.