Two-month extension for car scheme?
After having its request to be allowed to extend its car scrappage program until June rejected by the country’s creditors, the Greek government is now said to be trying to convince them to allow for a two-month extension, up to end-April. The incentive scheme encourages drivers to take their old vehicles off the roads in return for a subsidy to go toward the purchase of a new one.
Sources from the car sales market say that this possibility remains on the negotiating table after all other scenarios, including the end-June extension, have been rejected.
A two-month extension is seen as essential for some 5,000 new car buyers to collect their orders. Having received certificates confirming they had scrapped their old vehicles by December 20, they ordered new cars in line with the scheme, but these were not delivered until after December 31, when the measure expired. Now those vehicles are at the country’s customs offices, but if they clear customs without an extension being granted to the measure, the owners will have to pay the amount of the subsidy they would have received.
