Buying a vehicle from September will be more expensive check why

Buying a vehicle from September will be more expensive 

Buying a vehicle from September will be more expensive because of the change of rules, which has accelerated the renewal of vehicles

In 2017, 1.23 million cars were registered, 7.7% more than in 2016, according to data from the manufacturers associations (Anfac) . However, the rate of scrapping, down these years, is around 50%: for every 100 new cars, only 50 are discarded.

  This leads to a problem of aging of the vehicle fleet and therefore pollution and safety. But the trend is changing. In the first semester, scrapped cars went up by 20%, from 323,111 units to 388,329. The improvement in the economic situation and the increase in registrations are driven by the emissions standard that, starting in September, will make cars more expensive. In July alone, registrations rose 19.3%.

Scrap installations El Choque, in San Martín de la Vega (Madrid) 


The rate of scrapping -proportion of vehicles that are taken to scrapping with respect to new ones that enter the market- is around 50%. In years in which there were plans of incentives of purchase on the part of the Administrations it was in 100%, that is to say, a car was canceled by each new one that entered the market .

Between January and June of 2018 388,329 units were scrapped and the rate stood at 53%, while in the same period of 2017 it was 48%.

According to Anfac, the percentage increases slowly because the economic situation and confidence are "better than five or six years ago". "During the crisis the time in which people kept the vehicle was greatly extended, going from an average renovation of 8 to 12 years and still maintains that custom of not changing the car so easily," explains Noemi Navas, responsible Communication. The associations denounce that the average age of the vehicles is in the 12 years, the highest data since 2002 , when the statistical series of Anfac begins. "Such a high average age brings problems of contamination and accidents. These risks will continue to increase if they are not squashed at a higher level, "says Arancha García de Anfac.

Raúl Morales, from the Faconauto dealers association, also points out the danger of aging vehicles and explains that the scrapping is "totally insufficient". "By 2020, 62% of vehicles will be more than 10 years old. Now the rate is 30%, "he says. According to Morales, a renovation plan is not requested, but rather a scrapping and ensures that the concessionaires "are selling everything they have to sell". "We have to give an outlet to families who can not afford the cost of changing a vehicle. It does not have to be new, it can be exchanged for a second-hand one with fewer years and encourage the purchase of vehicles of about five years, "he argues. With the new emission regulations, as of September, the agents of the sector calculate that the price of the vehicles will cost between 700 and 1,000 euros.

Between 2015 and 2017, registrations grew, but the number of casualties was lower than before the crisis. "We must take into account economic factors such as average salaries, there is more employment but salaries are lower, family debt and the ability of families to save," said Anfac sources.


The vehicle management says that the low number of scrapping can also be explained by "the confusion" that the population has with the changes in the policies of circulation of cities. "Some people buy but do not get rid of old cars, while another part directly decides not to buy because they do not know what kind of car will be able to drive", Says García. Thus, he assures that there are people who buy electric or hybrid cars to use in the center and day to day and the old vehicle keep it for longer trips.

In Spain there are about 1,300 Authorized Treatment Centers (CAT), that is to say, scrapyards that can scrape and cancel the vehicles. About 850 of them recover parts and replacements, according to calculations of the Spanish Association of Scrapping and Recycling of the Automobile (Aedra). "We estimate that there should be more than 800,000 casualties a year, but they do not exceed 700,000," explains Rafael Pardo, president of Aedra, who adds that they suspect that some 100,000 annual losses are covered in temporary casualties carried out by unauthorized scrapping. Pardo says that fewer cars are being de-enrolled by eliminating plans to help buy a new vehicle that required the delivery of an old one.

In Desguaces El Choque, in Madrid, they assure that in 2017 they smashed "about 10,000 cars" and that so far in 2018 they have "between 20 and 30% more". "If we continue like this, we calculate that we will finish the year between 12,000 and 13,000 vehicles," explains Gonzalo Pinto, general director of the business. Pinto explains that customers are not charged for scrapping the vehicle, but are paid. "We try to value and reuse all the pieces, whether they are a three-year-old car or a 20-year-old car," says Pinto, adding that "there is little demand in Spain".

More expensive cars

As of September , the new emission regulations come into force, known as WLTP and determined by the European Union. It is a standard by which vehicles will have to pass tests more adjusted to reality in terms of the emission of gases into the atmosphere. Instead of conducting tests in laboratories, they will be done outdoors, under conditions similar to those of normal use. This will increase the number of vehicles with registration tax, which is determined by the pollution of the car. The least polluting, that is, those that emit less than 120 grams of CO2 per kilometer, are exempt from this tax.

According to Raúl Morales, of Faconauto, this change will cause the price of vehicles to increase between 700 and 1,000 euros. "Now only 20% of the cars pay the tax, but with the new norm it will happen to be between 70% and 80% of the new vehicles registered", explains Morales. In 2017, the collection of this tax reached 390.2 million euros, according to data from the Tax Agency , and three of every four cars registered, 75%, were exempt from paying this tax because they are considered less polluting.

Faconauto asks the Government to establish "a different scale" so that it does not go to tax such a large number of vehicles. "A tax change is needed in the registration tax, a model that is green and linked to use and not possession , so we thought that the renewal of the park would be promoted," he says.

Due to this, August is a good month to acquire a new vehicle, since the dealers will try to invoice all those cars that have the old NEDC homologation. The units that fail to sell must be self-registered and marketed as Kilometer 0 cars. That is why it is expected that a more aggressive commercial policy will be used and that customers will be able to find the cheapest cars until September. According to the data of ANFAC, in July the registrations shot up 19.3% with respect to the same month of the previous year, up to 131,176 units.