Our goal remains to reach 300 car donations per year. For Guillaume Florenson, the director of Solidarauto 37 and Mobilité Emploi 37, there is still a long way to go before we can meet the demand for vehicles.
The solidarity garage has indeed recorded 188 vehicle donations in 2023, but has only been able to resell 42 of them to precarious beneficiaries. In the first half of 2024, around 100 car donations were recorded. Good figures, but still far from the objective that the association has set for itself.
“There are an infinite number of possible situations”
“We collect all the cars that are given to us for free, taking care of the paperwork and issuing a tax receipt, but not all of them are reusable”says Guillaume Florenson. Buyers of these vehicles are “70% of single women, often with dependent children and on minimum wage, with a family quotient of 450 euros”.
If donations from the Tours court continue, “with 75 vehicles, 45 of which are reusable” In two years, those of individuals are still too weak to meet the demand. The association would also not say no to the arrival of new volunteers.
Solidarauto 37 has therefore launched its workshop truck “fully equipped” which can help out the fleet of rental vehicles offered by Mobilité Emploi 37 (30 cars, 60 scooters and 30 bicycles), but which also aims to help beneficiaries at a lower cost. “But we are always looking for funding to cover travel costs, to make this service cheaper.”
In terms of new developments, the association has joined Tims, a national program that aims to promote sustainable mobility and alternatives to the car. “People come to us to buy, rent or repair cars, but it is the most expensive mode of transport”explains Guillaume Florenson.
This program therefore aims to “to get those who can out of this dependence on the car through other means of transport. We know that this is not possible for everyone, but for some, it is possible to remove the barriers to changing habits.”
Because despite the diversity of means of transport, “They are not all knownthe director emphasizes. The idea is to be aware of all the modes of mobility available and to have human resources to support us. Some people can take the train then the bike, others the bike then the train, still others carpooling… There are an infinite number of possible situations.”
Outside the borders of Joconde and Indre-et-Loire, the Solidarauto garage network (around ten garages in France) will open a new establishment near Orléans, in Loiret, at the start of 2025.
