Disclaimer: All articles have official and reliable sources of information, which have been repeated in the article.
Preface
As a means of transportation for modern travel, the automobile has become an indispensable existence for every household.
With the rise in oil prices and the city's number restrictions, many families drive in the city very few times, and generally use public transportation to commute to work.
But we will often hear the saying that no matter how good a car is, as long as it is more than 15 years, it is a pile of scrap metal, which means that the life of a car is only 15 years.
So if it is more than 15 years, does the vehicle have to be scrapped compulsorily?
China.com "How many kilometers is the life of a car" 2021-11-10
The life of the car
In fact, there is no clear, one-size-fits-all legal provision on the "service life" of automobiles in mainland China, which says that all cars must be scrapped at a certain age.
Just as people need regular physical examinations to ensure their health, cars also need to pass annual inspections regularly to ensure that their safety performance and emissions meet the standards, for private cars, the first 6 years of new cars are exempt from online testing, and only need to apply for an inspection mark every 2 years, and after 6 years to 10 years, it needs to be tested online every 2 years; Vehicles that are more than 10 years old need to be tested once a year.
This method is a kind of supervision of the basic condition of the vehicle, if the vehicle is found to have a major safety hazard or emissions do not meet the standard during the annual inspection, it needs to be repaired and rectified until it meets the standard.
Another factor that affects the actual service life of a car is the country's emission standards, which are updated every few years as environmental protection requirements continue to improve, such as from China 1 to China 6.
For example, after the implementation of the China VI standard, in some large cities, vehicles with emission standards of China III and below may be restricted from entering urban areas or encouraged to be scrapped early, in this case, even if the vehicle itself is in good mechanical condition, it may also be "retired early" due to environmental protection requirements.
The so-called more than 15 years is a pile of scrap metal, in fact, there is no explicit provision of this kind of law in the mainland, that is to say, as long as your car can pass the annual inspection, the emission standards are up to standard, and the maintenance is good, theoretically you can continue to use it.
It's not uncommon to see well-maintained vintage Santanas or Jetta cars that are over 20 years old but still able to drive on the road because of the owner's continued maintenance.
Guangming.com "At most 15 years? How long can a car really be driven? 》 2019-02-25
However, although the law does not stipulate the service life of the car, but the market and economic factors have invisibly set an "economic life" for the car, as the vehicle ages, the cost of maintenance will rise, and the cost of insurance may also increase, taking into account the technological progress and the attractiveness of new models, many car owners will choose to change the car after the vehicle reaches a certain age.
As a simple example, if a car has been driven for about 10 years, it may start to have frequent minor problems, and the cost of maintenance will increase year by year.
In addition, in order to promote environmental protection and consumption upgrading, the government sometimes introduces a series of policies to encourage the early scrapping of old vehicles, such as providing certain economic subsidies.
These policies are aimed at accelerating the phase-out of old vehicles with high pollution and high energy consumption, and promoting the development of the automobile industry in a green and low-carbon direction, just like in a certain period of time, if your car belongs to a specific old model, you may receive subsidies ranging from several thousand yuan to voluntarily scrap it in advance and buy a new car.
What should I do if I don't have an annual inspection on time?
As we said earlier, the annual inspection of vehicles is like giving people regular physical examinations, in order to ensure that the vehicle is in a safe and reliable state, reduce the occurrence of traffic accidents, and also to protect the environment, because the annual inspection will check whether the emissions of the vehicle meet the standard.
If we miss the required annual inspection time for some other reason, we need to take certain measures to remedy it.
This is just like a person who is sick but does not go to the hospital for a long time to check, a minor illness may be dragged into a major illness, and the vehicle is not inspected on time, which is the same reason, not only driving on the road has potential safety hazards, but also may face legal punishment.
As a simple example, Zhang San's car was supposed to be inspected in December last year, but because he was too busy with work, he forgot it, and one day in March this year, he was stopped by the traffic police when he drove out, and was not only fined 200 yuan, but also deducted 3 points from his driver's license, which can be said to be worth the loss.
So if we find that our annual inspection of our vehicle is overdue, the first thing we should do is to arrange a make-up inspection as soon as possible, just like we should make an appointment for a medical examination as soon as possible after missing a medical examination.
Under normal circumstances, we can check the address of the nearest inspection station online, make an appointment for a weekend, bring the driving license, ID card and insurance documents, and successfully complete the annual inspection of the vehicle, avoiding possible troubles in the future.
And there is a provision in our country, that is, if the vehicle is not inspected annually for three consecutive inspection cycles, it will be forcibly scrapped, that is, if your car is inspected every two years, then it will be scrapped if it is not inspected for six years, and if it is inspected every year, it will be scrapped if it is not inspected for three years.
Try not to drive the vehicle on the road until it has completed the make-up inspection, because it is illegal to put the vehicle on the road without annual inspection, and once found, in addition to fines and demerit points, the vehicle may also be temporarily impounded.
If we really have special circumstances, such as being in the field for a long time and unable to return to the vehicle registration place for annual inspection on time, there is no need to panic, we can apply for a commissioned inspection and let the vehicle management office where the vehicle is located inspect it on our behalf.
Before arranging the annual inspection, it is best to self-inspect first, such as checking whether the brake lights and turn signals are normal, cleaning up the violation records of the car body, and ensuring that the vehicle insurance is effective, which can improve the pass rate of the annual inspection and avoid running back and forth.
More than 600,000 kilometers of guidance scrapped
In addition to the statement that it is more than 15 years of mandatory scrapping, there is also a saying that it is more than 600,000 kilometers to guide scrapping.
However, we must know that guiding scrapping is not a mandatory requirement, but an incentive measure, the purpose of which is to promote the reasonable withdrawal of old vehicles from the market, optimize the vehicle structure, reduce environmental pollution, and improve road safety.
When the mileage of the vehicle reaches a certain number, such as more than 600,000 kilometers, or the service life is long, the state will adopt a series of policy measures, such as restricting traffic in certain areas and providing scrapping subsidies, to "guide" car owners to consider whether to scrap the vehicle and switch to a more environmentally friendly and safer new vehicle.
A car is like a person, full of energy when young, but with age and "walking the road" more and more, it is inevitable that there will be some "small problems", the same is true for cars, the mileage is long, the parts are seriously worn, not only the fuel consumption increases, the emission may not meet the standard, causing a greater burden on the environment.
In addition, the safety performance of old cars may also decline, and there are potential safety hazards, so for the sake of the environment and safety of the whole society, there is a policy to guide scrapping.
As a simple example, Uncle Li's old Santana has been with him for almost 20 years, and the odometer shows the number of 650,000 kilometers.
Although the car can still be driven, due to the low emission standards, it no longer meets the environmental protection requirements in the city, and it is often restricted from entering certain areas, and due to the age of the car, the insurance cost is rising year by year, and the maintenance cost is also high.
At this time, the government launched the old vehicle scrapping subsidy policy, if Uncle Li chooses to scrap the old car, and buy a new car that meets the latest emission standards, not only can get a subsidy of several thousand yuan, but also enjoy the energy saving, environmental protection and safety performance of the new car, after some weighing, Uncle Li decided to let the old man retire with honor, replaced with a new car, which not only reduces the economic burden, but also contributes to environmental protection.
Although there is no hard and fast rule that 600,000 kilometers must be scrapped, the annual inspection of vehicles is an important basis for judging whether the vehicle is suitable for continuing on the road.
With the increase of vehicle service life and mileage, the frequency and difficulty of annual inspection will also increase accordingly, if the vehicle is seriously aged, many times the annual inspection is unqualified, even if it does not reach 600,000 kilometers, it may also need to be considered scrapped.
Therefore, for car owners, keeping the vehicle in good condition and passing the annual inspection on time is the key to extending the service life of the vehicle.
epilogue
At the end of the day, the key to deciding how long a car will stay with us is the condition of the car itself, and if we take good care of it and are in good condition, it will be almost easy to drive it for 15 years.
On the other hand, if you are usually neglected and the vehicle is not in good condition, then the length of the trip may have to be marked with a big question mark.