Plan PIVE relaunched: Great deals for car-buyers as Spanish motor industry flourishes

The Plan PIVE, which has run three times now and allows owners to trade old cars in against brand-new models for a generous scrap value giving them a sizeable reduction on the purchase price, has proven to be highly successful in giving Spain's flagging motor trade a boost and getting very old and potentially unsafe cars off the road.

Piloted in 2012, the Plan PIVE is now in its fourth campaign and is expected to continue until the end of this year.

As a result, a total of 200,000 people have been able to trade in their old cars for new ones in the last year and a half.

Although the government has paid out 220 million euros on the four versions of the Plan PIVE, it has earned back 3.4 billion euros through better results in the motor industry – taxes paid by the companies and by the employees they have been able to keep on or even take on, taxes on new car registrations, on change of ownership transactions and off-road scrapping duties, as well as indirectly through consumer spending by dealership owners and their staff who have greater buying power as a result of more business.

Tax minister Cristóbal Montoro says the motor industry is one which should be promoted by the government as much as possible because it is currently generating huge returns on the tax breaks and public funding thrown at it.

He praised the sector for its 'shrewd strategic decisions' which, with the help it has requested and received from the government, has been able to pull itself out of the financial crisis and become one of the most buoyant in Spain.

Further tax incentives on vehicle registration, change of ownership and road tax are likely in the near future to keep the momentum going, Montoro reveals.