California Air Resources Board

The Voluntary Accelerated Vehicle Retirement (VAVR) program, also known as a car scrappage or old vehicle buy back program, provides monetary or other incentives to vehicle owners to voluntarily retire their older, more polluting vehicle. A primary goal of the VAVR program is to encourage a more timely removal of older, more polluting vehicles from California roadways to be replaced with newer, cleaner vehicles or alternative transportation options.

State law allows the use of air district motor vehicle funds to be used for light-duty vehicle VAVR programs. VAVR programs are optional for local air districts that may choose to administer them. Therefore, not all local air districts administer VAVR programs. Many VAVR programs are funded through the Carl Moyer Program as defined in the Carl Moyer Program Guidelines.The California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted revisions to the VAVR regulation in December 2006 that incorporate the use of remote sensing devices and other technologies to identify high emitting vehicles as possible candidates for voluntary retirement to generate extra emission reductions.