Toyota’s Yaris was eligible for the rebate while the Nissan Versa and Honda Fit failed by the narrowest of margins.  Honda subsequently paid a $1,000 rebate to Fit buyers to make up for its competitive disadvantage and took pains to point out that excluding the Fit, which has higher safety ratings than comparable cars, forced consumers to choose between the environment and safety.  The EcoAuto feebate program was discontinued in March 2009.

 

The so-called “non-starter” is Retire Your Ride, a $92 million-over-four-years initiative of the federal government to “enable people to get their high-polluting cars off the road and reward them for doing so.”  Retire Your Ride is delivered by the Clean Air Foundation which partners with a network of regional delivery agents across Canada.  On the basis of its stated commitment to improving air quality by responsibly recycling vehicles, the program aims to retire at least 50,000 vehicles per year until March 31, 2011, older vehicles making up one quarter of vehicles driven by Canadians and generating as much as half of the air pollutants caused by personal vehicle use.

 

1995 model year and older vehicles that are in running condition and have been registered and properly insured for the last 6 months are eligible for the Retire Your Ride program.  Participants can choose amongst many rewards including a public transit pass, membership in a car-sharing program, $300 cash or a rebate on the purchase of a 2004 or newer vehicle.  In some regions, participants qualify for a charitable tax receipt.  For more details on Retire Your Ride visit www.retireyourride.ca.

 

Retire Your Ride’s partner in British Columbia is Scrap-It, a non–profit society offering incentives that are subject to change at any time without notice linked as they are to available funding.  Scrap-It offers a qualifying vehicle owner an incentive of up to $1,250 to scrap their older vehicle based on the pollution reduction from the replacement.  In other words, the worst polluters are worth the most to owners who scrap them.  Incentives include rebates towards the purchase of low emission vehicles, transit passes, or bikes.  For more details on Scrap-It visit www.scrapit.ca.

 

Car manufacturers and retailers have been lobbying hard for the Canadian government to adopt a cash for clunkers program similar to the US CARS program described in Road Rules last week.  In early July 2009, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said he was reviewing whether Canada should follow the US and Europe with a program offering $3,500 to Canadians for scrapping their clunkers.