Romania's Cash-for-Bangers (Rabla) program has been supplemented by over 3,500 vouchers that are worth over EUR 5 million and are exclusively for individuals.

The deadline for registering and submitting files was extended to December 10, said representatives of the Environment Ministry yesterday.

The program has been supplemented three times this year. In total, the number of beneficiaries could exceed 25,000 until the end of the year, said Cristiana Pasca Palmer, Environment Minister. The new supplementation confirms the program’s “historical success”, she added.

Some 4,000 vouchers were distributed in July and about 2,000 in October. Last year, about 25,000 vouchers were issued through the Rabla program, 20,000 of them for individuals and 5,000 for companies.

In exchange for discarding an old car, people get a discount of RON 6,500 (EUR 1,500) for buying a new car. The program has been the main support for the local car market. New passenger car sales in Romania went up by 17% in the first ten months of this year, reaching 93,380 units.

editor@romania-insider.com