Stuffing about the ban of old cars - a classic provocation

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The flashy news took over the top lines of news aggregators on Wednesday August 14th. The State Duma Committee on Economic Policy and Industry raised the issue of "a legislative ban on the use of motor vehicles that have reached their maximum service life." What kind of cars we are talking about and what sanctions will be applied has not yet been specified; "Kommersant", in fact, gave a weak stuffing.

But this stuffing itself, given how old the car fleet in the regions and rural areas is, is undoubtedly socially dangerous. What will an ordinary Russian think after reading this news? That the authorities want to rob him again

Moreover, this information sabotage was carried out with particular cynicism: the face of the bill was the deputy chairman of the aforementioned United Russia committee, Alfiya Kogogina, who was elected in the Naberezhno-Chelninsky single-mandate constituency No. 29. interested in banning old commercial vehicles. But who else could benefit from such a step?

Banks and car manufacturers

Lobbyists of all kinds of prohibitions are like filth in our country. Back in 2013, the Ministry of Industry pushed through a bill, which, however, did not reach the State Duma. There it was proposed to limit the age of commercial vehicles to 7-15 years. Now the Ministry of Industry and Trade has changed the rhetoric: they say that it is necessary not to prohibit the old, dangerous and non-environmentally friendly, but to “stimulate” and support the purchase of a new environmentally friendly and reliable one. The basis for such incentives is called preferential car loans, that is, the pumping of budget funds into the banking system.

Its essence is that a private or quasi-state bank issues a loan at its full cost (say, 13%), and the state budget compensates for part of the interest: say, the buyer pays only 5% plus the actual body of the debt, and the budget - 8%. For at 13% per annum, the buyer most likely simply would not have made a purchase. The option to help banks simply reduce the interest rate by cutting the key rate of the Central Bank, if it is considered by the government, then it is very slow

What is KamAZ? This is the money of Rostec (a state corporation headed by Sergei Chemezov, a German colleague of the guarantor), multiplied by the profits of murky offshore companies from the Panama List (yes, the Leningrad friend of the guarantor, Sergei Roldugin, is also present). And the classic married couple: one sits in business, the other provides support in power. More often, however, it is the other way around: our officials have incredibly talented wives in business. But to put Mrs. Kogogin at the head of KamAZ would be an overkill.

The second major beneficiary of the possible law is the GAZ Group, which belongs mainly to the "unfairly offended by the West" lover of stale fish Oleg Deripaska, whom the Russian authorities really want to help.

Well, if it comes to cars, then, of course, the leader of this market in Russia AvtoVAZ, owned by Alliance Rostec Auto B. V - the commonwealth of Renault (senior partner) and Rostec (the honorary right to allocate funds) will spread its nonexistent wings

All of them need to sell their products that are not competitive on the world level, the only merit of which is the relatively modest price. We, in fact, understood all this and so.

The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Industry and Trade admitted that they had received and are considering the initiative. Nevertheless, the exact text of it is unknown, so there are questions to Kommersant as well: the editorial staff could not but understand that they were throwing in a scandalous news story and actually discrediting the State Duma. And yet they did it. Therefore, it should be mentioned that Kommersant Publishing House is controlled by Alisher Usmanov, and the ridiculous myth that the founders do not interfere in editorial policy should be left on the conscience of those who smuggled it into the Law on Mass Media.

Trash is not to blame

Apparently, the project still exists only in the form of a crude idea. We do not have any deadlines for the operation of a car, that is, this concept still needs to be introduced into laws and regulations. But if this is done, it will only confirm the existence of the phenomenon that "Russian Planet" considered quite recently: property is consistently confiscated from people, replacing it with a service. After all, if a car - it doesn't matter at all, personal or commercial - can only be used for a certain time, then what kind of property is it? A typical service, a kind of leasing from a caring state and entrepreneurs close to it.

It is clear that "auto-trash" confuses decent people who temporarily drive on Russian roads. Here, for example, is the fleet of the Kogogins' spouses (according to the declaration): Mercedes-Benz CLS-class, BMW X6, Land Rover Defender, Yamaha VX700 jet ski. It is embarrassing, however, that this set has been repeated in declarations since 2012, that is, it will come under its own prohibition. But we still hope that the spouses regularly update their cars, they just remain faithful to the same brands

But are the 20-year-old G8s as scary as they are portrayed? Even the corrupt girl of the Russian authorities, statistics indicate that due to technical malfunction of cars, only 3, 8% of accidents occur - ten times less than due to poor quality of roads! But even here it is not at all a matter of old age. Of this relatively small number, the causes of accidents were:

• 5, 3% - installation of both studded and non-studded rubber or tires with different tread patterns;
• 10, 2% - "bald" rubber;
• 18, 5% - unauthorized changes in the design of the car;

etc.

That is, age-related wear and tear of the car is not a problem at all from the point of view of statistics! Old cars "live" in small settlements with moderate traffic, and serious accidents there are mainly arranged by new owners of life or passing rushes.

As for the big cities, the decision has already been made - signs have been introduced in traffic rules restricting the movement of cars below a certain environmental class. They are about to start operating in Moscow (for the city center - 4th grade and higher), a little later St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg will join

If residents allow, they are there more actively defending their interests than Muscovites, no matter how impressive the videos from the rallies may look.

* * *

Thus, we have before us an outright informational provocation of Chemezov - Usmanov, adding oil to the fire, eroding the already shaky trust of people in the authorities. Therefore, the main conclusion from the irresponsible stuffing from Mrs. Kogogina is that Russia needs to return to the laws the procedure for recalling State Duma deputies by voters. On whom this procedure can be tested is well known in Naberezhnye Chelny, a modest city with a large share of old cars.