out with the old, in with the new, and subsidised, too

Got an old car in Beijing? You could claim a subsidy for scrapping it and buying a new one, according to this report in 新京报/The Beijing News. Wei Xuezhen reports:

北京启动汽车“以旧换新”

Beijing starts “replacing old cars with new”

24日起将正式受理车主申请，将与黄标车政策同时执行

Applications formally accepted from the 24, to be carried out simultaneously with the “yellow sticker” vehicle elimination policy.

北京市财政局、商务委员会和环保局昨日联合宣布，汽车以旧换新正式启动，从本月24日起将正式受理车主申请。北京环保局有关负责人表示，以旧换新与黄标车淘汰更新补贴政策同时进行，此前的差额部分将进行补贴。

The Beijing municipal Finance Bureau, Commerce Committee, and Environmental Protection Bureau together announced yesterday that the replacing of old cars with new will formally begin, that from the 24 of this month applications from car owners will be formally accepted. The person responsible at the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said that the replacing of old with new and the policy to eliminate and update yellow sticker vehicles would be carried out at the same time, and that previous differences would be subsidised.

Alright, I have no idea what “此前的差额部分将进行补贴” is on about. I would assume that there is some inequity in the two policies and that the authorities might be worried about people who’ve already scrapped their yellow sticker vehicles might be a bit put out to see people claiming these new subsidies getting more money than them. My assumption would seem justified, but:

补差额让车主“不吃亏”

Making up the difference so car owners “don’t lose out”.

按照规定，在2010年5月31日之前，报废使用不到8年的老旧微型载货车、老旧中型出租载客车，使用不到12年的老旧中、轻型载货车、出租车以外的老旧 中型载客车以及提前报废“黄标车”，并换购新车的，根据报废车型可享受3000-6000元不等的补贴。北京市环保局表示，由于今年年初，北京市率先实施 了鼓励黄标车淘汰政策措施，因此目前两项政策将同时进行。

According to the regulations, car owners who scrap and replace before 31 May 2010 old mini commercial vehicles and old minibuses used for up to 8 years, medium and light commercial vehicles and mid-sized passenger vehicles other than taxis used for up to 12 years as well as owners of “yellow sticker vehicles” already scrapped, and who then buy new vehicles can according to the type of vehicle scrapped enjoy subsidies varying from 3000 to 6000 yuan.  The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said that because Beijing took the lead in implementing measures to encourage the scrapping of “yellow sticker vehicles” at the beginning of the year, these two policies would be carried out simultaneously.

北京市环保局副局长杜少中昨日表示，由于黄标车淘汰补助水平总体高于以旧换新的政策，之前淘汰的少数车型补助低于以旧换新补贴，将补齐两项政策的差额，以保证车主“不吃亏”。根据规定，黄标车根据车型最高补助25000元。

Yesterday assistant head of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau Du Shaozhong said that because the overall level of the subsidies to eliminate yellow sticker vehicles was higher than that of the policy to replace old cars with new, and a small number of subsidies for vehicle types eliminated was lower than the subsidies to replace old vehicles with new, differences between the two policies would be patched up so that car owners would not lose out. According to the regulations, yellow sticker vehicles could be subsidised up to 25000 yuan depending on vehicle type.

Two things:

1. I wound up relying on Baidu’s image search to figure out what the different types of vehicles mentioned are exactly, and I couldn’t see a difference between “中型出租载客车” and “出租车以外的老旧 中型载客车”. They all look like minibuses to me.
2. It would seem, but I’m not sure, that some of those who have already scrapped yellow sticker vehicles got 25000 yuan in subsidies, while others got less than the 3000 yuan minimum subsidy under the new policy. I have no idea what the authorities are actually going to do about the differences in subsidies under the two policies, but I would be surprised if the government tried to claim back the difference from those who got more than 6000 yuan under the old policy, and I assume that those who got less under the old policy than the would have under the new one will be given a top-up. Or maybe I’m being too optimistic, I don’t know.

The rest of the article is about how to go about claiming the subsidies. I’m going to assume that those eligible for the subsidies read about them in the original Chinese-language reports and would not be reading anything on this blog (I may be wrong, but the types of vehicle mentioned….). It also says the Environmental Protection Bureau hopes to get an extra 20 or 30 thousand dirty cars off the streets.