Well, Mr darling has decided to offer owners of cars over 10 years old £2000 towards a new or one year old motor. Personally I cannot understand why he is encouraging more debt - there is no motor worth having these days in that age bracket under 7-10k. Older cars are cheap to service, cheap to run (no depreciation) and to swap that for flashy metal and debt is not my idea of fun.

What do you think?

there is no motor worth having these days in that age bracket under 7-10k.

Would have to disagree with you there.

Older cars are cheap to service, cheap to run (no depreciation) and to swap that for flashy metal and debt is not my idea of fun.

Then don't do it - they're not forcing people to buy new cars, they're just offering an incentive. Which is rather strange for the Labour government, who traditionally have worked more with the stick (bans, fines, etc.) rather than the carrot.

Suspect it's to try and support the ailing car industry, and to also try and hit clean-air targets.

Personally would be surprised if it makes that much difference to people's buying patterns - if someone does bangernomics, this probably won't change that. If someone buys a car new and keeps it for 10 years+, this won't make them change this habit. If someone buys a (nearly) new car every 3 years, this won't affect that either...

Rob.

I for one won't be doing this even if my car is over 10 years old. I've read that 1k will be a govt contribution (ie. from tax payers) and the other 1k from the manufacturers. So the question is, will dealers provide additional discounts on top?

I don't think I've EVER bought a car less than 3 years old...

First immediate thought - what's not in ten year old cars that couldn't be used for some control purpose ?

Thinking along lines of speed control etc .( as we all know this lot are control freaks)

"4.16 To give a boost to the car industry during the current downturn, the Government

announces the introduction of a vehicle scrappage scheme. A discount of £2,000 will be

offered to consumers buying a new vehicle to replace a vehicle more than ten years old which

they have owned for more than twelve months. The Government will set aside £300 million for

this scheme with funding matched by manufacturers participating in the scheme. The

Government will work with industry to introduce the scheme next month. The scheme will

end by the start of March 2010, or when funding for the scheme has been used if earlier."

So unless you already own a 10 year old car and are going to have enough money or be able to get the finance on a new car in the next 11 months it's not a lot of benifit really.

As most new cars bought in this country aren't even made here it's not going to do a huge amount for the ecconomy is it?

As it happens if this scheme was in place last year I could have benifited from this as we traded in my wifes 10 year old car she has owned from new for a brand new one - it was my redundancy money paid for it though

So the question is, will dealers provide additional discounts on top?

Will be interesting to see...I would have thought if it works by the manufacturer reimbursing the dealer £1k for the trade-in then there should be room for negotiation on the dealer's margin still.

However...it might just be move the squeeze - if manufacturers are having to find £1k out of the price of a car, the sales incentives they offer to dealers for hitting certain targets will probably diminish...along with the room to negotiate hard when dealers are focussed on hitting these targets.

In my experience, a lot of dealers would probably just claim that the £1k they're discounting is their margin, and they won't be able to discount further - whether it's true or not!

Rob.

I just hope it doesn't cost the tax payer a FORTUNE. A dodgy garage with a few dozen £50 scrap heaps round the back, claiming £1k off the government for every car he sells without taking a trade in, by palming one of his own off. Will the 1 years ownership be checked against the name of the purchaser or just that the car hasn't changed hands in the last 12 months?

"The Government will set aside £300 million for

this scheme with funding matched by manufacturers participating in the scheme.

This bit is interesting. So the govt will effectively be subsidising the purchase of 300,000 cars. Wonder which manufacturers will participate in it.

This bit is interesting. So the govt will effectively be subsidising the purchase of 300,000 cars. Wonder which manufacturers will participate in it.

Certainly won't be British -none left .

Though ,there's a lot of foreigners -so effectively ,the UK is subsidising overseas car production - ain't that against EEC rules??:confused::confused: (or is that only when one gov. subsidises it's own makers)

I wonder if Caterham will participate!!

I just hope it doesn't cost the tax payer a FORTUNE. A dodgy garage with a few dozen £50 scrap heaps round the back, claiming £1k off the government for every car he sells without taking a trade in, by palming one of his own off. Will the 1 years ownership be checked against the name of the purchaser or just that the car hasn't changed hands in the last 12 months?

I've been in Bristol Street Motors before when they've offered to let my friend use a car they had 'out the back' as the minimum £1200 trade in offer they were running at the time!

This bit is interesting. So the govt will effectively be subsidising the purchase of 300,000 cars. Wonder which manufacturers will participate in it.

Ford have declared their interest in the scheme for ages. They now have info about the scheme on their website, and they'll even sort out the scrapping of the car and claiming the incentive from the government. You just hand them the keys to your banger.

UK Scrappage scheme | Ford and the UK Government Scrappage Incentive

- it was my redundancy money paid for it though

Possibly what he has in mind, given the state of UK business today .

Glad I kept the 328

Wonder how much all the fancy bits are worth

Quite fancy a Mini Cooper D

This bit is interesting. So the govt will effectively be subsidising the purchase of 300,000 cars. Wonder which manufacturers will participate in it.

You'll probably find that about 60% of the £300 million goes on administration and promotion of the scheme. These figures never really mean a lot.

I for on would be tempted but am not going to be conned if dealers raise prices.

Well thats just great.....my car is ten years old on last day of Feb 2010 , and the scheme is finished the next day! That sounds like my usual luck! Ah well , its probably far too good to scrap anyways??

There are so many T&Cs for the scheme, that not a lot of people running older cars will even qualify. Then it relies on the manufacturers to opt in to the scheme.

Most manufacturers have just increased their new prices in anticipation of the scheme, so at the end of the day you will save little. The cost to change will still be the same as if you had been given £500 for the car.

How many people do you know running around in 10 year old cars, that have the intention of buying a new one with a cost to change of thousands. All the scheme will do is put those who decide to risk it into major debt they most likely cannot afford, if they could even get the finance given the current climate.

dmac1969 - your fabia looks too good to scrap so don't do it!

I would agree with what everyone is saying - no-one is going to jump from an old car into a new one, besides won't you loose all of the benefits of £2000 off by driving it out of the showroom (in taxes!) !?

The government is waving an imaginary carrot at us!

Most people running around in 10 year old cars do it because they can afford to run a 10 year old car. What difference does it make if the new car is £13k instead of £15k...

Ford are offering a whopping £5000 off a new Ford.

But I think ths might be model dependent.

It is model dependant as read here

If the Government are wanting to use this scheme to get old cars off the road then they should scrap the ownership for 1 year part of it. That would make far more sense because then the buyer looking to purchase a new car could by a £250 banger from ebay or autotrader and then use that under the scheme to get £2000 towards a new car. That then gets the banger off the road. As others have already pointed out, people that are already running a 10+yr old car are unlikely to trade it in for a new or nearly new car, so the scheme as it stands isn't really going to reduce the number of old cars on the road!

If the Government are wanting to use this scheme to get old cars off the road then they should scrap the ownership for 1 year part of it. That would make far more sense because then the buyer looking to purchase a new car could by a £250 banger from ebay or autotrader and then use that under the scheme to get £2000 towards a new car. That then gets the banger off the road. As others have already pointed out, people that are already running a 10+yr old car are unlikely to trade it in for a new or nearly new car, so the scheme as it stands isn't really going to reduce the number of old cars on the road!

Using that arguement and taking it a step further then why accept just 1 car in px, Go out and buy 15 £250 bangers and swap them for a nice BM or Merc.......... after all its 15 cars off the road IMHO the scheme is ludicrous and a waste of tax payers money when the government borrowing is already at a record high :(

dmac1969 - your fabia looks too good to scrap so don't do it!!

No Im not going to! Its only got 41K on the clock , never been smoked in and the back seats have hardly been sat on , it would seem a real waste to 'kill' it when its got years of life left in it really. It always aces the emissions part of the MOT by lots as well so its not really damaging the environment any more then a much newer car would.

If your old car got stolen/written off, would the insurance co. stump up £2000 if you claimed that you where about to trade it it for a new one under this scheme?

Andy

If your old car got stolen/written off, would the insurance co. stump up £2000 if you claimed that you where about to trade it it for a new one under this scheme?

Andy

Good question but I suspect the answer is prob no

The Government and manufacturers contribute up to a decided amount for a vehicle.