Faconauto Requests Government Aid for Dealerships Affected by DANA

Faconauto has requested "specific aid measures" for the owners of vehicles affected by DANA, which impacted the Valencian Community and other provinces of Spain two weeks ago.

"The vehicle is the most important purchase a family makes after housing. Due to the right to mobility, I believe that the next package of measures, or as soon as possible, should include specific measures for the affected owners, because in the first estimates we are talking about a fleet of 80,000 vehicles and 10,000 trucks, but the figure, as days go by, is being updated and is getting much worse," said the director and general secretary of Faconauto, José Ignacio Moya, in an interview for RTVE collected by Europa Press.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Monday that the Council of Ministers has approved a new royal decree law with 110 additional measures to address the catastrophe caused by DANA, with an aggregate investment of 3.765 billion euros.

According to the President of the Government, more than 2,800 people have requested direct aid for damage to housing or loss of belongings, and about 158,000 claims have been registered with the Insurance Compensation Consortium, dependent on the Ministry of Economy, of which 80% are already being processed and the first ones have started to be paid.

Moya admitted in the interview that although he has not reviewed the Royal Decree in detail, "all sectors are demanding decisive aid so that citizens can return to normal," Moya added.

"What I would like to make absolutely clear is that we are not at any time talking about business, we are here to restore citizens' mobility, which is what matters most to us," he emphasized.

When asked whether the aid could be extended so that those affected can access an electric or low-emission vehicle, the general director of Faconauto mentioned that a system of aid could be established that takes these vehicles more into account, since "one of the problems is the average age of the fleet in Spain, which is around 14.2 years on average."

"We are not talking about an opportunity, but it must be taken into account, and if those aids are established, of course, we should consider that idea," he added.

Similarly, Moya recalled that the Generalitat Valenciana has promoted an aid plan for different types of vehicles affected by the floods. "We are collaborating with the Generalitat and the Government in trying to establish an aid plan. The Generalitat has presented a proposal of 864 million euros for vehicles, cars, and vans, 400 million for trucks, and I think we have to go in that direction."

Regarding the damage that dealerships have directly suffered as a result of the cold drop, the general director of Faconauto recalled that, according to the census carried out by the employers' association, there are about 40 affected dealerships.

"30 are for cars and vans, and approximately 10 dealerships for industrial vehicles. That means there are 18,000 vehicles in stock that are practically unusable and another 500 that are trucks that are also seriously affected. We are talking about losses in stock alone of approximately 490 million euros," Moya emphasized.

The director of the dealership association indicated that the reason behind this is the currently low demand for electric vehicles and their low market penetration.

"What this is causing is that if not many electric vehicles are sold, factories have to cut the production of combustion vehicles, because if we continue selling combustion, logically we do not reach those objectives, a very important gap is created, and the fines are multimillion," he expanded.

Therefore, Moya argued that from Faconauto and the sector, they are asking to bring forward the review of objectives to next year, which was scheduled for two years from now.

"The European Union regulation marks a review of the objectives for the year 2026 or 2027, and what we want is for that review to take place next year, in 2025, before imposing fines on a sector that is working the hardest for decarbonization," he concluded.