Pocheon City Begins Accepting Early Scrapping Applications for Old Diesel Vehicles...Additional Subsidies Up to 200%

Pocheon City in Gyeonggi Province will accept applications for the “2026 In-Use Vehicle Emissions Reduction Project (Early Scrapping)” for one month starting on the 23rd, in order to reduce air pollutants emitted from old vehicles.

View of Pocheon City Hall. Provided by Pocheon City.

The early scrapping project targets certain construction machinery, including dump trucks, concrete mixer trucks, and concrete pump trucks, as well as vehicles with high emissions such as Grade 4 and Grade 5 vehicles under the emissions rating system. In addition, forklifts and excavators manufactured before 2004 are also eligible for support, while government-owned vehicles are excluded. Since Grade 5 vehicles include not only diesel but also vehicles using other types of fuel, applicants must check both the emissions grade and the fuel type of their vehicle before applying.

Eligible vehicles must have been continuously registered in Pocheon City for at least six months and must be in normal operating condition. They must also have no history of having a diesel particulate filter (DPF) installed or of being retrofitted with a low-emission engine, and there must be no arrears in local taxes or environmental improvement charges. Support is limited to one vehicle per person.

Applications can be submitted through the Vehicle Emissions Grade System website (Integrated Automobile Emissions Information System, https://www.mecar.or.kr/main.do), and the required documents may also be sent by registered mail to the Korea Automobile Environment Association (Early Scrapping Team, 6F, Daehan Smart Tower, 317 Simin-daero, Dongan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Postal code 14055).

After applying, applicants will receive a “Subsidy Eligibility Confirmation” via KakaoTalk or text message. Once the vehicle’s condition and operability have been verified and an Eligible Vehicle Confirmation has been issued, applicants can then apply for the subsidy payment. Further details are available on the Pocheon City Hall website.

If a new vehicle (including used vehicles) is purchased after early scrapping, an additional subsidy of 100% to 200% will be provided. However, starting this year, no additional subsidy will be paid for early scrapping Grade 5 vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of less than 3.5 tons. Additional support is available if a Grade 4 vehicle is scrapped early and an electric, hybrid, or hydrogen vehicle is purchased as a new vehicle.

Since 2016, Pocheon City has invested a total of 38.6 billion won to promote the early scrapping of 13,633 vehicles, contributing to the reduction of air pollutants. Vehicles with emissions Grades 4 and 5 are known to emit more than five times as much fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and more than twice as much nitrogen oxides as cleaner vehicles, so early scrapping is assessed to have a significant reduction effect.

This year, the city has allocated a total of 1.15 billion won and plans to support 531 vehicles.

An official from Pocheon City said, “The subsidy program for diesel particulate filter (DPF) installation will only run until this year, so we ask for active participation from owners of eligible vehicles.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.