A Multi-Year Program for Scrapping Polluting and Unsafe Vehicles

 While the green taxation regulations encourage the entry of new and 
non-polluting vehicles onto Israeli roads, there is currently no incentive system for removing old 
vehicles from the Israeli car parc. This type of incentive is the order of the day, due to the mix 
of vehicles in the Israeli vehicle fleet, which is characterized by a large number of very mature 
vehicles, and to the fact that mature vehicles have, already now, significantly inferior levels of 
pollution and safety. Beyond that, the gap between older vehicles and newer vehicles is expected 
to worsen exponentially.
Today, the median age of vehicles being scrapped in Israel is one of the highest in the world, 
standing at 15.5 years, while in other countries it is only 13-14 years, and in some even 11 years. 
Israel’s being a transportation island, combined with high taxation, makes the export of used 
vehicles uneconomical, and they age on Israeli roads. In the final stages of a vehicle’s life, 
pollutant emissions increase dramatically, and the chances of being involved in an accident 
increase up to three fold. Old, polluting vehicles with a poor safety level can be a real obstacle 
on the way to roads free of pollution and accidents, a national goal that Israel, as a developed 
country, is striving to achieve in the foreseeable future.