SIMI Director General Alan Nolan with SIMI Press Officer Suzanne Sheridan at the launch of ‘Swappage’
If your car is causing more trouble than it’s worth and your patience is running dry (along with your wallet from maintenance bills) you may be interested in a new proposal for a “swappage” scheme writes Suzanne Keane
So what is it?
The SIMI (Society of the Irish Motor Industry) launched its proposal for Budget 2014, ‘Swappage.
The proposal is that if your current car is 2008 reg or older you will receive a €2000 discount on a new car – this saving will be made on the VRT payable but unlike the scrappage scheme your old car won’t have to be destroyed and can be sold on again.
Apparently the taxes on a new car average more than €8000 so with this new proposal the government would lose out on €2000 of this tax per car but as it would increase the number of new cars sold in the year it should increase the overall tax intake along with giving the motor trade a much needed boost and reducing CO2 emissions by 11,500 tonnes each year.
Apart from saving €2000 on the purchase price you could save even more if your car is 2007 or older as the emissions based tax rates (2008 on) can be significantly cheaper on a new car with low emissions.
Why do we need it?
Car sales have been falling steadily for the past five years and in that time 150 car dealerships have closed
Who would the impact be?
The SIMI reckon that 2,200 new jobs would be created and €129 million would be generated for the Exchequer
Suzanne Keane
16th September, 2013
