Car scrappage scheme expected to revive car market in Q4

Players on the car market expect record-high sales for the last quarter of this year as the scrappage scheme approaches its end, considering that only in two of the first nine months of the year sales exceeded those recorded in the corresponding months of 2009.

Over 33,500 “Rabla” (scrap car) vouchers continue to be traded on the market one month before the completion of the programme meant to encourage the renewal of the car fleet, according to data from the Environmental Fund Administration. The Rabla scheme ends on November 24th. Considering an average of 2.9 vouchers with a nominal value of 3,800 RON used for the acquisition of a new car and taking into account only the vouchers currently available on the market, this is enough to buy more than 11,500 new cars, over 2,000 cars more than the average of the past two months.
If we also consider the 13,300 vouchers that could be added if the total number of scrapped cars reached a maximum of 190,000, they could cover a total of over 16,000 cars, if all of them were used.
Under the circumstances, officials of the Automotive Manufacturers and Importers Association expect a second boom of car sales in October and November. The first one occurred in June and was determined by the announcement of the VAT rise from 19% to 24% as of July 1st.