There’s still life left in the car scrappage scheme announced last November as it has just been extended to cover another 1,000 cars after the first 2,000 cars were scrapped.

The scheme, under which buyers could get up to 15.25 per cent off the cost of a new, greener car up to €2,000 when scrapping their old one, was snapped up in less than six months.

However, some €1 million of the €2.5 million allocated to it were unused so the owners of another 1,000 cars now stand to benefit. They have until November 15 to apply unless the allocation is taken up before.

The scheme was introduced to get more environmentally cleaner cars onto the roads and to boost new car sales. Importers had been lobbying the government for an extension.

Cars are only second to power stations in terms of local emissions. Scrapped cars have to be at least 10 years old to qualify for the scheme.

“The scheme seems to have hit home, as people have been buying smaller cars,” Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said yesterday when announcing the extension.

On average, buyers were getting around €800 to €900 back on their new cars. This has resulted in an increase in the number of new cars coming onto Maltese roads, bucking the trend for second-hand imports when compared to the first six months last year.

Mr Fenech also announced that car buyers who had bought a car in 2008 while the registration reform was underway will be receiving the rest of their tax refund in a cheque instead of having them deducted from road tax, as the €1 million sum which had to be paid was not worth the extra administrative efforts. The payment will cover the remaining balance as of July 1.

The registration reform had taken place after the European Commission started infringement proceedings against Malta for irregularities in VAT charged over registration tax, which was brought to the EU’s attention by Labour MEPs Louis Grech and Joseph Muscat.