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Bay Area residents with a vehicle made before 1999 can receive up to $1,200 as part of a buyback program to improve local air quality, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced Monday.
The buyback program will pay owners of older cars and small trucks to voluntarily get rid of them. Vehicles made before 1999 often lack modern carbon emission controls and have higher air pollution rates than newer vehicles, according to the air district.
To qualify for the program, vehicles must be the 1998 model year or older, registered in the Bay Area for the last 24 months and currently drivable. Vehicles must also be smog certified.
“Transportation remains the largest source of air pollution in the Bay Area and scrapping older vehicles helps limit harmful tailpipe emissions in the air we breathe,” said Sharon Landers, the air district’s interim executive officer.
The air district has retired more than 90,000 vehicles via its buyback program since 1996, removing an estimated 75 pounds of air pollution per vehicle per year.
Information about the buyback program can be found at baaqmd.gov.
My father-in-law has accumulated a sizable number of pre-1999 gas-powered vehicles.
Can a person turn in more than one car or truck?
If so, he will qualify for over $10K in rebates. Not bad.
The Bureau of Auto Repair (State Agency) offers more, if you’re income qualified — $1500, without needing to pass smog and only required to be driven in the STATE for two years. In other words, not geographically specific.
https://www.bar.ca.gov/consumer/consumer-assistance-program/vehicle-retirement-1500 this is the $1500 incentive
The $1000 state incentive doesn’t have an income requirement and also doesn’t require having been driven or owned in any particular area. https://www.bar.ca.gov/consumer/consumer-assistance-program/vehicle-retirement-1000
I am assuming that this program is primarily targeted towards pre-1999 clunkers with dysfunctional automotive issues as no one in their right mind would turn in a vintage Porsche, Mercedes, or Rolls Royce just because they happen to burn gasoline.
A nephew turned in his old Volvo 240DL under this program years ago and received a $1000.00 check from the junkyard in San Jose that he was instructed to take it to.
The junkyard is then responsible for demolishing the entire vehicle and the residue is then sold as scrap.
Another option would be to round up all of these delapidated cars and then ship them to Mexico or Central America on a freighter for recycling.
Can you turn in more than one car or is there a limit per person/household?
There is nothing new about this program. When you get your yearly DMV registration you also get a notification concerning the state’s program to pay you for your car if it is a certain age. I turned in a 1985 LTD Ford S/W because the system issues were too expensive to fix.
The issue I see is what happens to your license plate? I see newer cars with ancient license numbering systems – the plates still have some time left on the registration date. Once you become familiar with the numbering system relative to the year issued you then start to recognize that new cars have ancient license plates. That questions the origin of the new cars.
There appears to be a underground false license plate business that recovery yards participate in. Then I see ancient cars on the road with new license plates. There is lot more going here than meets the eye. Some of these ancient cars are being sold.