It took a while, but now the time has come to promote repair services in Vienna too. The Vienna Repair Voucher was developed by the City of Vienna - Environmental Protection and the Vienna Repair Network with the support of RepaNet and the Austrian Ecology Institute and will make repair services cheaper from September.
The repair bonus has already become a success in many Austrian states. Vienna is now also following the positive example of Styria, Graz, Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Salzburg with the Wiener Reparaturbon. A separate model was developed and RepaNet and its members worked on it in addition to the City of Vienna - environmental protection Repair Network Vienna and Austrian Ecology Institute were significantly involved.
Repairs are funded up to 100 euros
In May there was the relevant council decision (to the minutes of the GR meeting). The funding program "Vienna repairs it - the Vienna repair voucher" was approved for the years 2020 to 2023 with a total cost of 1,6 million euros.
From September you can register on a website of the city of Vienna, download the Vienna repair voucher and get it directly from one of the member companies of the Repair network Vienna redeem. The City of Vienna - Environmental Protection has been supporting the Vienna Repair Network for over 20 years. Strict criteria apply to these companies. Among other things, 50 percent of the jobs must be repair places; a member company must also offer repairs across a wide range of brands.
50 percent of the gross repair costs are covered up to a maximum of 100 euros. If the repair no longer pays off, expenses for cost estimates of up to 45 euros will be covered 100 percent. In addition, the support is independent of the type of object to be repaired or the customer's place of residence. Particularly practical: The amount saved is deducted from the gross invoice directly on site. There are no waiting times for funding. This approach means a significant reduction in effort for customers and it can be expected that the model will therefore be particularly well received.
Corona campaign: Repair voucher for young Viennese
These days there were even two parallel reports in the media regarding the promotion of repairs in Vienna, for example in the press. In some cases, two messages were mixed together. Because the Viennese Greens are also planning a repair grant - for young Viennese between 16 and 30 years of age. The 25 euro voucher is comparable to the Viennese gastro voucher (50 to 25 euros), which is intended to support the catering industry as a post-corona measure. In the case of the repair voucher, it is also a Covid 19 campaign that is intended to motivate young Viennese to have broken objects repaired in a Viennese repair shop. Read more here.
RepaNet is particularly pleased that the permanent form of repair funding is now also making its breakthrough in Vienna, with the least possible bureaucratic effort for customers and businesses and with high quality criteria thanks to the link to the Vienna repair network. We are still committed to a nationwide, uniform model. Because creating incentives for consumers is essential for the decision not to replace a broken item with a new one, but instead to extend its lifespan by repairing it and thus contribute to a sustainable change in behavior. This saves resources and money and creates jobs in the region. In the crisis and beyond.
More info …
Minutes of the municipal council meeting on May 26.5.2020, XNUMX
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