Scrapping your older car is being suggested as a way to ease the burden of a fuel tax.

It'd be through a vehicle scrapping programme that'd encourage owners of less fuel-efficient cars to upgrade to something more economical.

New Zealand's car fleet is on average 14.4 years old.

A similar scheme exists in Norway and has already eliminated 136,000 cars from their roads.

Collision Repair Association general manager Neil Pritchard told Mike Hosking he sees merit in the idea but questions the agenda of the model.

"I'm not entirely sure if it's just revenue gathering or are they supposed to be incentivising people towards more fuel-efficient vehicles."

Pritchard says electric and hybrid vehicles would need to be cheaper to encourage people to make the change.

"The Government in conjunction with motor vehicle manufacturers would need to go some way to make that capital cost a bit easier for the general public to look at trading up."

 

LISTEN TO NEIL PRITCHARD TALK WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOVE