Budget row over 2K payout to scrap a car

sabretoothtigger

I doubt they would be offering 2k off a 5k car normally, theres probably someone who'll get something from this

denvore

phunkeymonkey wrote: »

Hopefully there will be something in place to stop them from doing this, as it makes many of the models I've been looking at cheaper than second-hand ones currently on sale.

Could be interesting to see what effect this will have on the used car market. It might finally force prices down.

KennyVader

matbe wrote: »

But this will remove a lot of secondhand cars and vans from circulation.

And screw the people who provide parts or mechanic services to older vehicles.

Nice one Mandy!

Typhoon2000

So those £250 old bangers are now worth £2000? I can see them selling for £1000-£1500 to those after a new car without one to scrap.

denvore

Typhoon2000 wrote: »

So those £250 old bangers are now worth £2000? I can see them selling for £1000-£1500 to those after a new car without one to scrap.

You have to have been the registered owner for at least a year to qualify.

Sponge

LizzieS wrote: »

If Mr Darling was offering to scrap my old car for a brand new replacement at a cost of 2K, I would be interested. As it stands, it's no better a deal than could be got in the current climate anyway.

Exactly. All I see happening is dealers increasing their prices to cover the scheme (or simply not participating, by the looks of the small print), or denying real discounts on the grounds that, 'Sir is already getting a £2000 discount.' :rolleyes:

Now, if you could first negotiate a good price with a dealer, then give them a £2000 voucher from the Government, that would be tempting.

KennyVader

The small print says that you take the old car to the dealer and they handle the scrapping of it (I think in the German scheme, the end user takes the car to an approved scrapper and collects a voucher in exchange, which they take to the car dealer to get their €2500 or whatever it is off)

What does that mean in the UK? The dealer takes the car off the buyer and they handle the scrapping. Do they just take it to any scrapper they like? Who pays the fee that the scrapper will charge? Can't scrap cars for free any more. What if there is still some life in the motor, what's to stop the scrapper putting it back on the road?

Seems really poorly thought out (as usual).

seven-day-weekend

Graham_Devon wrote: »

The main problem with this is basically people who run these older cars, are less likely to have the cash in the bank, or the affordability to take on a loan for a few grand. It's like telling a first time buyer with no deposit on a house, they will pay 20% of their mortgage if they go buy a house. Thats fine, but they wouldnt be able to get the mortgage in the first place! This is no different.

Out of all the people I know, I think there is one person who runs around in an M reg BMW, simply because he lways runs his cars into the ground, and he hasn't had that many. He's a GP and really is extremely tight in every single way possible, apart from going on holiday where he does spend a lot of money to enjoy the time.

The rest of the people I can see and know run the car they can afford to run, or, on the other hand, are indebted up to the eyeballs with car payments. I really don't know anyone else apart from that one GP who runs an old car around when they can afford something better, and more importantly, someone who runs an old car around, who wants a new car, can afford this new car, but simply hasn't bought this new car!

My best mate runnnig a V reg car would qualify for this. The reason he runs a V reg car is because he doesnt have the money or the means to get a loan to get something better. So he would qualify, thats great, but doesnt have the means to get another 5k on top to buy a new car.

Add to that the fact that he ejoys a bigger car and he wouldn't buy a super mini anyway, it's just not suitable, so he would need to find say 9k to get an 11k saloon, which is at the bottom of the saloon market.

The only people this will actually suit is people like the GP above, people who have cash in the bank but run their cars for a lot longer and has no interest at all in cars. Therefore, their lack of interest means they aint bothered really as to what they drive, which means they are highly unlikely to go buy a new one and spend a load of cash to "save" 2k.

Personally, I hope it goes through. Only so that it's another stupid labour policy shown as just that.

I find it seriously amusing however that in March 2008 people were flocking to get rid of their cars because the government were pricing us out through road tax and forecourt tax. Now, they are trying to give us money to buy new cars.

We have enough savings to buy a new car, just consider that it would be a complete waste of money and resources to spend them this way and would not consider taking out a loan either. We haven't had a loan for a vehicle since the late 1970s.

Our eleven-year-old ultra-reliable Seat Alhambra will be sticking around until it dies, it still has plenty of life in it as it enters its third age ( a bit like its owners really). When it does die, we will not spend more than £5k on something else. We would not even begin to consider a new car (unless it was at least half price). We paid £5k cash for it in 2004 - at the time it was the newest car we had ever had - so much so that our son thought we had borrowed it and would have to take it back!

Just as an aside, I don't see how it's any 'greener' to buy a new car. The raw materials used to manufacture our car were used up eleven years ago so now all it uses is fuel; why use another lot of raw materials AND fuel on a new car??

cookie_monster

I can see my road getting jammed packed with people buying cars that are over 10 years old and just parking them up for a year in order to get the discount when they trade-up.

Another half-baked idea from Groucho Marx and the looney squad.

Arcaine

cookie_monster wrote: »

I can see my road getting jammed packed with people buying cars that are over 10 years old and just parking them up for a year in order to get the discount when they trade-up.

Another half-baked idea from Groucho Marx and the looney squad.

I have read the scheme is only going to run until next March.