Budget row over 2K payout to scrap a car

ruggedtoast

Graham_Devon wrote: »

The big difference here then, and how succesful it has been in Germany etc is the very fact in Germany they could but one up to a year old, wiping hundreds or thousands off the window price in the first place.

Here, we actually have to buy new.

So here we go. Say I want a Ford Focus. And to be environmentally friendly I go for a 1.6 TDCI.

So I select a 1.6 TDCI Style.

Broadspeed online price: £13,521
Ford Price: £17,430

So, I take my 10 year old car, worth £400 to the dealer, and the price gets taken down to £15,430.

I lose my car worth £400. And pay 2 grand more, for the same car, for going to the dealer.

Or, I buy from broadspeed, save myself £4,000, whack my car on ebay and get 400 quid for it.

THIS is why it won't, or shouldnt work in this country. Of course, if I could have bought a 1 year old 1.6 TDCI focus for 11k, I'd have taken my car along, got it for 9k, and been very very happy.

Broadspeed prices here
Ford prices here (need to download PDF for actual comparison on any of the cars).

Brilliant scheme, then.

Probably the most worrying thing, is that a lepper like me could do that within 5 minutes. Lord Madelson seems utterly incapable of seeing this.

Plus, £17,500 on the road price, for a 1.6 TDCI Focus!?! Have fords prices shot up or soemthing!? Thats insane!

According to Broadspeed's front page they are offering the £2k scrappage scheme as well. So you could get a pretty cheap car no?

sabretoothtigger

Someone find a 2k car for sale brand new and it'd be worth it

A Tatu Nano is £1300 so with change of 700 I'd spec up the best stereo system around :j

Graham_Devon

ruggedtoast wrote: »

According to Broadspeed's front page they are offering the £2k scrappage scheme as well. So you could get a pretty cheap car no?

Are they?

Must be their own, as I believed you had to go straight to a dealer. Even on the broadspeed site it's not quite clear, as they say the dealers do all the paperwork?

Would certainly be interesting if broadspeed did it, as that would mean you could get a brand new Citreon C1 for just over 4k? Now that might be do-able!

mattief

YMMV - Via broadspeed - I find a Hyundai i10 for £6500, was in the dealer earlier today, who had one for £6800

Thanks to Mandy, I can get a brand new car for just over 4.5K (witha 5 year warranty!), which will retain a pretty good residual sale value a few years down the line.

I'd say it will be fairly attractive for entry-level buyers like myself who have chugged along with 8-year-old+ A/B segment cars & who wouldn't normally consider brand new.

But absolutely agree with others it's pretty pointless for anything bigger & it has nothing to do with saving the UK car industry, and everything to do with bumping up the monthly sales figures for a year (which will see payback in dire 2010 sales...).

sabretoothtigger

The details of this scheme wont be finalised or available till next month afaik so any offer of 2k right now will be some home grown discount just like many firms pay over the odds on part exchanges

Graham_Devon

mattief wrote: »

YMMV - Via broadspeed - I find a Hyundai i10 for £6500, was in the dealer earlier today, who had one for £6800

Thanks to Mandy, I can get a brand new car for just over 4.5K (witha 5 year warranty!), which will retain a pretty good residual sale value a few years down the line.

I'd say it will be fairly attractive for entry-level buyers like myself who have chugged along with 8-year-old+ A/B segment cars & who wouldn't normally consider brand new.

But absolutely agree with others it's pretty pointless for anything bigger & it has nothing to do with saving the UK car industry, and everything to do with bumping up the monthly sales figures for a year (which will see payback in dire 2010 sales...).

Yer, might work for you, but if you think a Hyundai is going to have good sales values 5 years down the line, you had better re-think!!!

Less than one year old models of these with less than 1000 miles on the clock are already going for 5k.

lostinrates

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Someone find a 2k car for sale brand new and it'd be worth it

A Tatu Nano is £1300 so with change of 700 I'd spec up the best stereo system around :j

My car cost over two grand to get through its MOT last year. Theoretically I might be better off replacing it next year, assuming it will have similar issues, plus the two grnd handout, plus a bit extra for newness and some years of less repair: I think up to about £6k purchase price on a new car might make it financially prudent.

treliac

Graham_Devon wrote: »

The big difference here then, and how succesful it has been in Germany etc is the very fact in Germany they could but one up to a year old, wiping hundreds or thousands off the window price in the first place.

Here, we actually have to buy new.

So, is the scheme really going to hold much appeal?

Agreed - if you could buy a slightly older car. But how long will it take to wipe out the 2k in depreciation on a new car?

I'd say great, but only if you were planning to buy a new car anyway!

Chris_Howarth

There's a definite conflict of interest here between reviving the economy and protecting the environment. Although I don't have any evidence to hand, it's widely accepted that the pollution generated by an average car during its lifetime is magnitudes less than that produced during its manufacture (if you include the mining of raw materials, manufacturing of parts, assembly, transportation etc...).

I own a 1998 Renault Megane, it's a practical workhorse and I can service it and fix it myself - I choose to spend my money on other things. I do about 20K miles a year and it returns 40mpg. I reckon it's got another 5-6 years of life left in it, so why are the Government providing me with an incentive to scrap a perfectly serviceable vehicle prematurely, before the end of its working life?

Yes, the latest cars may well be more fuel efficient, but offset that against the energy that is required to design, build and sell these new cars and it becomes apparent that, from an environmental perspective at least, the new scheme just doesn't make sense - especially as we're being warned that fossil fuel reserves are running low and that we should be conserving energy wherever possible.

It's all too easy to be a critic, indeed I don't have any answers to the current economic problems myself, but this just smacks of being a rushed, half-baked idea, conjured-up without any consideration to the wider and long-term implications.

Chris

Graham_Devon

treliac wrote: »

So, is the scheme really going to hold much appeal?

Agreed - if you could buy a slightly older car. But how long will it take to wipe out the 2k in depreciation on a new car?

I'd say great, but only if you were planning to buy a new car anyway!

Well looking at the above 2 posters, then yes, it does have some appeal.

I guess I do have slight bias, as I just can't see why anyone driving around in an older car today, would find the lure of 2k off showroom price a good enough incentive to fold themselves into a box with pram wheels to get the most basic of cars a bit cheaper, when buying another car, just a year old, will get them a much better car for the same money.

I can't get my head around that personally.

But if broadspeed are offering it (they don't say they are, only that its happening), then this would definately appeal to me if I had the cash and that 10 year old car that wasn't worth much.