Ivan Vicario Martin
It may be a probe balloon, one more, to see how citizens react to a possible measure by the European Commission. The truth is that, since the beginning of the year, the rumor has been getting stronger and stronger: The EU is planning to ban major repairs on older vehicles. From LA ESCUDERÍA we wonder what they mean by major repairs and from what age it would be prohibited to do them. Even worse, Will the measure affect our beloved classics?
The truth is that, once again, Europe is trying by all means to rejuvenate a vehicle fleet whose age has only grown in recent years. And not only in Spain, but in all the countries around us. The reasons seem clear: the successive crises, runaway inflation, the rise in car prices and the harsh imposition of electric mobility. On the issue of ecology and the automobile we have wanted to be more papist than the Pope and we are paying for it.
For this reason, the European Commission formulated a proposal last July 13 which establishes that, when an owner wants to sell his second-hand car, he will have to determine if the car is at the end of its useful life. If so, it could not be repaired, since it would be considered a “residual vehicle.” Let's see below what this concept refers to.
WHAT THE COMMISSION PROPOSES
As we have already anticipated, new regulation being prepared by the European Commission would include the concept of “waste vehicle”. This would refer to a car of a certain age - the figure of 15 years is being considered - and with high mileage, that is, one that is considered to be near the end of its useful life. In order to prevent it from continuing to circulate, major repairs would be prohibited. We are talking about operations such as replacing the engine, the gearbox, some parts of the body and, in general, anything that exceeds the value of the car.
The rule would also affect dismantled cars, victims of fires, that have suffered a flood, with serious corrosion problems, in the suspensions or brakes. In short, a caustic so large that it almost seems made on purpose to include as many vehicles as possible. For the European Commission, some of these reparations would mean “a loss of the vehicle's original identity”, which would justify its scrapping.
Of course, The Commission has rushed to deny the rumor, stating on Twitter that “The proposal will not prevent repairing or changing car engines when necessary.” He later clarified that “it would only apply to a very small minority of cars whose specificity is a specific engine. Of course, this is not the case with standard cars.” That is, something that is being cooked, although before it is applied, the new regulation would have to be approved in the European Parliament and the Council.
HOW IT COULD AFFECT THE CLASSICS
Here we come to the crux of the matter, because It is not difficult to think that this rule could affect some classic cars.. Furthermore, it “attacks” squarely all the preclassical or youngtimers, since the Commission's denial is so ambiguous that no one knows what it means by “specificity is a specific engine” or “standard cars.” In any case, if we pay attention to the fact that the value of the vehicle can be one of the scales, The regulation would especially harm popular classics.
However, it seems highly unlikely that a regulation will be approved that prohibits haphazard repair of vehicles over 15 years old. One of the reasons would be security, since surely home repairs would end up becoming widespread and even some clandestine workshops. Besides, The workshop and dealership sector would also be greatly affected., beyond the impact that they will already suffer from the imposition of electric mobility.
Logic dictates that Commercial and industrial vehicles will be the ones who suffer from said regulations., although we will have to see it, because the same mischief that we mentioned before could occur. There may also be problems when rescuing a classic long abandoned or of which only parts remain on which we want to reconstruct a unit. It would be necessary to look at it case by case, but it is clear that the regulations would affect them unless a certain time interval was taken (for example, between 15 and 30 years old, which would only affect preclassical children). Be that as it may, the probe balloon is launched and we better be attentive to what may arrive.
Cover photograph by Jesús María Izquierdo.
