Car scrappage scheme takes 5,000 cars off the roads

Charles Muscat

Oct 18th 2012, 05:30

What a waste of money. Once a car is checked for road worthy and not passed is enough to be off roads.

Peter spiteri

Oct 17th 2012, 13:58

They should scrap a lot more than just old cars.Air pollution comes from other outdated sources. It is good to stop pollution,however air quality will never be the same again,unfortunately.And to make the situation worse not many trees left to help purify the air we breath.

John Benjamin Vincenti

Oct 17th 2012, 07:29

The scappage scheme is a scam that only benifits the Government's coffers and Car dealer pockets. If there was a sincere intentions to get old cars off the road, one would expect the removal of the "Illegal Registration Tax" and also the curtailing of exagerated profit margins by car dealers. Only then would we see the meagre 2000 old car per 2 year jump to more realistic proportions.

John Benjamin Vincenti

Oct 17th 2012, 07:27

The scappage scheme is a scam that only benifits the Government's coffers and Car dealer pockets. If there was a sincere intention to get old cars off the road, one would expect the removal of the "Illegal Registration Tax" and also curtailing the exagerated profit margins of sellers. Only then we would see the meagre 2000 old car per 2 year jump to more realistic proportions.

Amanda Scott

Oct 17th 2012, 07:14

should it say (replaced) and not taken away cars.. ? Just a curious question maybe someone knows how to answer me as i'm ignorant on the subject. Why is GPL (Gas) not available in Malta and it available in other countries such as Italy.. Thank you.

Mario Camilleri

Oct 17th 2012, 00:55

Kevin Mercieca, unit manager, said energy generation and cars were the two biggest polluters.
Very intelligent, indeed!! You are supposed to provide alternatives and solutions not statements!!
Dr de Marco with respect please stick to your lawyer career since you know nothing about cars and engines. So all these 20, 23, 25, 30, 35 and more big engines are producing less emissions???

Edward Mallia

Oct 17th 2012, 00:00

I like the smooth final sentence. A lquick look: of the 4 fixed sites, three have short sections of 'real time' data, the fourth Attard has a short section of August data showing only some horrifically high levels of ozone. That apart, what about the MEPA stations at Marsaxlokk and B'bugia local council premises watching Delimara emissions? The public has not heard anything on those, Dr. Demarco.

David Pace

Oct 16th 2012, 22:55

Laws regarding all types of polution in Malta need to be enforced, enforcment educates the population and generates a revenue, this revenue goes to the govt to spend wisely, if enforced correctly polution both air and noise and also safety in general can be greatly improved and then the govt could reduce taxes especially the ridiculas registration tax...........yeah right, its a nice thought.....

Chris Agius

Oct 16th 2012, 22:13

"Bring down pollution and air quality?'" May I ask if it's true that the engines of these "scrapped" cars are being sold?

Simon Fenech

Oct 16th 2012, 21:40

My opinion is to tax diesel powered cars out of the market. Since Maltese will always tamper with engines this is the only option. I have yet to see a VW TDI or a BMW diesel smoking abroad like they do in Malta! Petrol is by far cleaner for the country and the quality of air. And those with no ACTIVE VAT numbers should pay full road tax on commercial vehicles.

Peter Murray

Oct 16th 2012, 21:10

what nonsense claims !For this scheme hasn't taken any cars off the road whatsoever.

Michelle Sullivan

Oct 16th 2012, 20:49

If Malta is serious about cutting down on pollution, some of their politicians should try closing their mouths.. that'd cut down on a lot of polluted hot air...

Seriously though... my car is a 10 year old Mini Cooper, worth about 8K - last year I put a brand new engine in it, the pollution out of it is that of a new car... Why would I scrap it? Why do I have to pay more registration tax?

David Pace

Oct 16th 2012, 20:29

..........should the motorist in Malta be educated and the enforcing authorities do what they are supposed to do which is enforce the countries laws then the Maltese motorist would look after his or her vehicle, these are standards that other european countries are used to but unfortunatly not over here.

David Pace

Oct 16th 2012, 20:27

..........i also run a comapny that recycles used office equipment, not a car i know but can you imagine how much energy is saved by making full use of a product, any product including a vehicle, the real problem with vehicle polution is maintanence, most people would rather spend money on a spoiler or even a straight through big bore exhaust that increases polution in the air as well as noise....

David Pace

Oct 16th 2012, 20:21

.........however there are people out there who love older cars and maintain these to a higher standard than people with newer cars who would usuall only use these newer cars to get from A to B, i own an older car and my vehicle produces less than 1% of co2 which is acceptable by modern standards so taxing people who own older cars just wouldnt be the right way to go about reducing polution......

David Pace

Oct 16th 2012, 20:19

In responce to Jeffrey Mallia's comment, i agree with part of what he has written and that is to remove the amount of tax which is a complete and utter rip off that the Maltese people have allowed over the years, this will make newer cars much more affordable and then we may have newer less poluting cars on the roads.......

Mario H Calleja

Oct 16th 2012, 19:21

I think that the road licence should be proportional to the miles clocked by the respective vehicle. This would give an incentive to share transport to work and generally reduce traffic on our roads. Less cars on our roads equals less pollution, less traffic jams and better journey times for public transport. Commercial vehicles may have different rates that family cars.

Saviour Fenech

Oct 16th 2012, 19:14

Can the Minister or MEPA advise us on what is being done with these thousands of scrapped cars. Are they being recycled as should be or just dumped in scrap yards (licensed or not) or in the countryside? What controls are in place and actioned so that no land pollution results from this scrappage. Otherwise, it would be just as if we are going out of the pan and into the fire.

Clive Caruana

Oct 16th 2012, 18:59

If the government is really interested in putting down emissions he should have already introduced the famous GPL to Malta imma it teatrini kulhadd jaf jaghmilhom. Other countries have been running cars on GPL for years.

Jeffrey Mallia

Oct 16th 2012, 18:39

Dr Demarco if you want to reduce pollution from old cars, I can give you a simple free advise..........Lower the extravagant registration TAX on modern vehicles, and increase same on the old ones......And not the other way round, like it is today !!

John Attard

Oct 16th 2012, 18:22

Well done , Keep it up ..let s get more old cars of the road by keeping the scrappage scheme going on without limitations

Reuben D. Spiteri

Oct 16th 2012, 18:19

The principle is good. Heck it's great.

But some retard decided that new cars are to have a road license which, while being good because it varies depending on CO2 emissions, eventually it goes up, up and UP!

A 100-110g car's license starts at a €100-ish, only to skyrocket after 5 years. Even the starting cost is higher than I'll ever pay for my 1988 Fiat Uno!

Chris Debono

Oct 16th 2012, 18:18

Don't people notice that most of these newer cars are diesel, a fuel which the WHO declared the exhaust gases produced to be a lung carcinogen. And for those who say newer cars pollute less: please consider how much CO2 is released when building a new car (casting a new engine block etc). Also, newer car's don't get THAT much better economy as you expect, for safety, newer cars are very heavy.

GL Calleja

Oct 16th 2012, 18:09

5,000 old cars off the road in two years,and how many cars were imported in those same two years?Have you had the opportunity to be stuck behind one of the buses or trucks going up from Ghadira to top of Main Street Mellieha (Aka GBO St). Do that Mr DeMarco and then decide what pure air is all about. I wonder if Leo Brincat has anything to say about that?That is what I call pollution in the making

Chris Borg

Oct 16th 2012, 17:56

It's a good way to help dealers sell their new cars

Dennis Zammit

Oct 16th 2012, 17:35

So, Dr De Marco, please explain . . . . if this scheme is mainly aimed to bring down pollution and improve the air quality, WHY cannot old 'commercial' but privately owned vehicles be included in the scheme?

Surely that an old DIESEL van, jeep or pickup pollutes MUCH MORE than an ordinary vehicle.

So WHY not these as well? Wouldn't it nice to clean up the roads of this scrap?

Martin Xuereb

Oct 16th 2012, 17:30

Prosit now we have 5 times as much crap cars from uk including buses! What about commercial vehicles???

anthony sultana

Oct 16th 2012, 17:25

Cars doesn't have to be old to pollute, and if old cars are well cared for, they don't pollute.I hope you get it.