http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7995928.stm

My only question would be, does it have to be used on brand new cars or cars under a certain age. These schemes work elsewhere, where new cars are much cheaper. £2000 wont get you near too many new cars. Near new used cars though are at an all time low.

Hagar wrote on Apr 12^th, 2009 at 5:09pm:


Yes it is based on the German system........Der Abwreckprämie.
Lots of catches though, so you can just imagine how the UK version will work. Your car must be a MINIMUM of 9 years old. You have to have had your name on the owner document for a MINIMUM of 1 year. So no buying a wreck and claiming. Also the 9 year point, a random figure, no. Another part of the catch. The average 9 year old Golf, Passat, Audi A4, BMW 3 or 5 series, Mondeo are worth around €3000 to €4000. So giving your €4000 car up for €2500 (you are not also getting the real value from the dealer because the car has to go directly to the crusher, not after sale for him) is a none starter. It is only really working for cars that are significantly older. Great, a new car maybe.....however, think about it, the vast majority and more likely all of cars in this bracket are bought and paid for. No bank will give you a loan on a car over 5 years old. So your car, although old is costing you nothing outside of annual tax and fuel costs (maybe a part or two, but lets keep it simple). Now you trade it and have a monthly payment of about €250...............in a time when you have a good chance to be unemployed due to the world recession. Still once the forecourts are full of repossessed cars at rock bottom prices, one careful owner and very low mileage, maybe I will trade Mrs-Expats Corsa for something a bit nicer.
Also you know in your heart of hearts if it is done in the UK, you will be given absolute rock bottom price by the Gordon and Alister Show, you will have to be accompanied by both sets of grandparents, your birth certificate, and a chit to show you have never once late paid on your council tax. And then it will take at least 3 months and half of you will still be waiting for the cash 18 months after you have scrapped your car and spent the equivalent amount on the Bus.

Matt  

C wrote on Apr 13^th, 2009 at 6:51am:


Nice idea Charlie, but there is a one per rule

Matt

end of the day if it helps me get a new car then I cant complain. If it comes out of tax payers money then so be it as a tax payer myself at least I'm paying towards it lol. For me the biggest issue in getting a new car is the deposit not the payments. This would fix that, so bye bye beemer thats falling apart hello civic or lancer thats shiny and new.

This is all speculation. Nobody will know the details until the Chancellor announces his Budget on 22 April. As Matt pointed out, I'm sure there will be a lot of conditions attached.

You obviously have more faith in our government than me Craig. If there's a way of messing it up, trust them to find it. The only people likely to benefit are the car retailers. They could do the same thing without involving taxpayers money by reducing the prices on their products.

We'll soon see who's right. I'm wondering how it will work in practice. By rights the new car should fall into the environmentally friendly bracket with low CO2 emissions. This won't suit everyone including the car retailers so I expect they will find a loophole in the regulations thus defeating the whole object of the exercise.

This could easily turn into a fiddler's charter with all sorts of rogues getting a piece of the action. In the meantime, what happens to people who would dearly love a new car but don't comply with the requirements by not having an old banger to get rid of? I don't see how it can possibly help them. At the moment many car retailers are offering deals of £1,000 minimum trade-in. With other allowances this can increase to far more than the £2,000 deposit they're talking about on this government scheme. Here's just one example. http://www.pomphreys.co.uk/pomphreys.co.uk-vauxhall-dealer-new-cars-astra.htm

Well, it's been announced in the budget. Sadly there is a caveat - the car has to be 10 years old (fair enough), and more pertinently the scheme will only run until March 2010 (not exactly looking after the environment long term!). Sadly the car I'd be looking to dispose of is a year too young.

ooops another issue. It'll be up to the manufacturers to decide on whether or not they will participate. Wonderful news as I bet the ones that I'll be interested in wont participate.

Quote:

LMAO

Am I allowed to say "I told you so"?

Sorry Craig.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/EDITORIAL/car_page_content/ford_and_honda_delay_scra...

These are the sort of "I told you so" problems people will pick up on