The rental system should allow the most modest households to use a less polluting vehicle.
An electric car at 100 euros per month for the most modest French people. During the presidential campaign, Emmanuel Macron undertook to put in place “leasing mechanisms (rental, Editor’s note) to support the most modest households” to acquire electric vehicles that are much more expensive than their thermal equivalents.
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With the new environmental constraints, polluting vehicles and diesel engines will soon be banned in metropolitan areas. This will force many motorists to change cars.
The new government is now working to put into practice the campaign promise of the President of the Republic. Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the new Minister for the Ecological Transition lifted a corner of the veil Thursday on this “social leasing” in development. “The device is not intended for all French peopleshe recalled on France info. It is aimed at the French people who need it the most. » Two categories of population are already “indisputable” to benefit from it: “Those for whom the vehicle is a work tool, such as private nurses, for exampledetailed the minister, and those who cannot afford to upgrade to a clean vehicle because it is too expensive on the market today. »
100,000 vehicles per year
The contours of this system, which risks being complex to implement, remain unclear. Its entry into force depends on meetings that the Minister must hold with the auto industry and financiers, including banks and the State. This should cover part of the first rent or the initial financial contribution. “It’s probably not for September”warned Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
According to the figures made in March, the measure would finance the rental of 100,000 electric cars per year, with an initial contribution from the State of 500 euros per vehicle. “It was absolutely preliminary work”, however, indicated the minister. The device would be added to a range of existing purchase aids (up to 11,000 euros with the scrapping bonus) which have caused sales of electric cars to explode.
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Some manufacturers, such as Renault, Hyundai and the Chinese MG, have recently launched long-term rental offers that could fit with the government measure. Automobile financing specialists, including the big banks, are also positioning themselves in the new market aimed at less well-off households. BNP Paribas has just launched a rental offer with an option to purchase (LOA) with low monthly payments over ten years. The principle of the LOA is simple: the car belongs to the bank for the duration of the contract, at the end of which the customer can buy it back.
The BNP Paribas offer is made exclusively in dealerships and covers new and recent vehicles. The idea is to encourage low-income households “to buy a car they don’t think they can afford”explains Christophe Michaëli, head of the auto mobility department at BNP Paribas Personal Finance.
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