Several million motorists are affected by the elimination of this financial assistance in 2025.
Buying a recent, low-polluting car is a dream of all French people. Problem: the high cost of clean vehicles – electric or hybrid – discourages many motorists who cannot afford to invest several tens of thousands of euros in a new vehicle. To help them and encourage them to drive greener, the government established a financial aid system which, since 2015, has enabled millions of French people to change their cars. Unfortunately, according to information from BFM Business, this boost will disappear in 2025.
Although reduced over the years, the conversion bonus, formerly called the scrappage bonus, should in fact be sacrificed by the Barnier government embarked on a huge economy plan. If the ecological bonus – undoubtedly less favorable (from 4,000 to 3,000 euros) – and social leasing will probably be retained next year, aid for the purchase of a clean, new or used vehicle, in exchange for his old polluting car will simply disappear.
This is very bad news for many households since nearly 15 million French people could be impacted by the removal of this system. In 2024, the conversion bonus still allows you to benefit from a rebate of up to 5,000 euros for the most modest households. This significant financial assistance has made it possible for almost ten years to renew the vehicle fleet by injecting more ecological vehicles into the circuit which gradually replaced the most polluting ones (Crit'Air category 3 and beyond).
This decision risks further hindering motorists who were considering changing cars soon. Whether for a new electric or hybrid vehicle, often purchased for more than 20,000 euros, or second-hand, sold much less expensively, including for those that emit relatively little CO2, the bill will be steep. For owners of old vehicles who had planned to get rid of them soon, now is probably the time to speed up the process. There is one and a half months left, until December 31, 2024, to benefit from the conversion bonus. Then it will be too late.
