In the Budget.. Cash for bangers to boost car sales?

Homer J

From what i can make of it if i trade in my old banger for a new one i'll get £2000 for it?
If i don't have an old banger i can go and buy one out of the local rag for less than £100 and then get £2000 for it on a trade in??
:?
Or Start buying old bangers coz they are going to sky rocket.
Clearly there must be some small print?

gkerr4

yes - you must have been the registered owner for 12 months - and the scheme ends next march so can't be done.

TheBoyBilly

Yet another gimmick from this poor excuse for a government. Still, their client state is rubbing it's greedy hands...........

Gavin Gilbert

TheBoyBilly wrote:

Yet another gimmick from this poor excuse for a government. Still, their client state is rubbing it's greedy hands...........

That's funny. 'cos a few weeks ago you were promoting the very same scheme over in Soapbox

nwallace

This scheme is amusing

Encourage the small number of people in the UK with a vehicle over 10 years old to purchase a new vehicle.

New sales have collapsed because people aren't replacing 6 month old cars, not 10 year old cars.

And a well maintained 10 year old car could be more efficient and cleaner emissions wise than a poorly maintained 1 year old car.

gkerr4

it's not really about emissions though - the production of a new car far outweighs the emissions it will produce over it's lifecycle anyway so the replacement of cars from a 'green' perspective doesn't always stack up.

the move is to try and get people to buy cars and prop up the auto industry - even though we don't make as many cars as we used to the auto-industry still employs thousands of people in the UK

spen666

how many people driving 10 year old or more cars are going to be able to afford to buy a new car - even wih an alleged £2k discount?

The reason most of the owners of old cars have them is cos they can't afford newer cars (apart from vintage car owners)

cougie

I'm with spen on this.

There really arent gonna be a huge amount of people driving round in bangers who will buy a brand new car - even with 2 grand off it.

10 year old car is worth buttons.
Brand new car - say Fiat 500 - thats 8 grand or so - and thats pretty much the cheapest end. So they still have to find a minimum of 6 grand.

6 grand now would buy you a very decent family car a couple of years old - they could have done that already - had they the cash.

2 grand off say a new family car - its pretty inconsequential isnt it ?

SteveR_100Milers

Strangely it's worked well in Germany, where the scheme has meant that the domestic market has not seen quite the same drop in sales that the UK has, which incidentally is ont of the worst in Europe along with Spain to suffer. As a lifelong employee in the auto supplier industry I am relieved that this scheme has been introduced because frankly even a 5% boost in sales means the difference between more redundencies or even insolvency amongst the supply base. Remember, some car manufacturers have stopped production for four months this year..4 months having a massive overhead cost siting idle, if that doesnt tell you that the industry is on its knees then nothing will, so every possible avenue to boost sales is going to help. Whether you/we as cyclists like cars or not (and I unashemdly love them as much as cycling) the sector empoyes probably globally more poeple in an interdependant way than any other industry, even banking. There is a reason why the world will not let GM die...

Homer J

Come to think of it, it don't work well for me. my van cost me £600 a new one is about £10000!! The govenment aint got a clue about the real world!
A pointless gesture :roll:

dilemna

+1. As already stated a pretty pointless scheme. Why don't car manufacturers diversify or die........ produce something really revolutionary like…… a bicycle . The car industry has been over supplying for years the credit crunch has only brought this to a head. The next Labour step will be to legislate all cars over ten years old off the road so owners who rely solely on their older vehicle will be forced to buy new or nearly new if they want to continue owning their own vehicle. I know many regular cyclists who choose to maintain an older car for when they need it as having a newer car just does not make economic sense when you take into account depreciation and servicing costs. This Government are a bunch of fools. They might be succeeding in bankrupting the country but they're not going to bankrupt me by getting me to subsidise the car industry.

Sirius631

Homer J wrote:

From what i can make of it if i trade in my old banger for a new one i'll get £2000 for it?
If i don't have an old banger i can go and buy one out of the local rag for less than £100 and then get £2000 for it on a trade in??
:?
Or Start buying old bangers coz they are going to sky rocket.
Clearly there must be some small print?

You're right about the small print. You have to own the car for at least 12 months and it must have an MOT. This means that it can't actually be 'an old banger'.

I'm nowhere near ready to replace my 8 year old Rover at 92000 miles, not whilst it's still capable of 40mpg. My last one stretched to 140000 miles at 14 yo before I broke the cam belt, and then that wasn't the end of it.

I think the main point of this is that the Government need to be seen to be doing something, and this is something even if it's not the right thing.

beverick

Homer J wrote:

From what i can make of it if i trade in my old banger for a new one i'll get £2000 for it?
If i don't have an old banger i can go and buy one out of the local rag for less than £100 and then get £2000 for it on a trade in??
:?
Or Start buying old bangers coz they are going to sky rocket.
Clearly there must be some small print?

That's what I intend to do in September. I've already offered a mate of mine £1000 for his 1995 Fiat which is currently worth nothing. In fact he'd have to pay £300 to have it scrapped.

Bob

mrushton

Strange that if the industry is really struggling, I don't see dealers with cars on the forecourt that are reduced by eg 50%. If I walk into Audi/BMW?Volvo etc today do you think they are going to cut me a deal. I actually know someone who went to Volvo to by the AC70 (the 4x4 thing) and was trading in his Jag. X-type. The dealer offered him buttons for the Jag and nothing off the screen price on the Volvo. He went to Nissan and got a better deal

gkerr4

mrushton wrote:

Strange that if the industry is really struggling, I don't see dealers with cars on the forecourt that are reduced by eg 50%. If I walk into Audi/BMW?Volvo etc today do you think they are going to cut me a deal. I actually know someone who went to Volvo to by the AC70 (the 4x4 thing) and was trading in his Jag. X-type. The dealer offered him buttons for the Jag and nothing off the screen price on the Volvo. He went to Nissan and got a better deal

yeah but - he ended up with a Nissan!! - who lost out there?

It depends on a lot of factors - are there fields of unsold models? (as there will be with the nissans) or is it a made to order model? (I'm not sure on the XC70 - can't imagine they build a lot of them and certainly at it's launch there was a long waiting list on the XC models)

also - the deals aren't advertised but they are there if you go looking. BMW/Audi are bad examples as they are generally made-to-order models - you will get good deals on the showroom cars but not 50% as there simply isn't that sort of margin in cars

sadly your own car is likely to be worth, as you say, buttons.

phearnde

mrushton wrote:

Strange that if the industry is really struggling, I don't see dealers with cars on the forecourt that are reduced by eg 50%. If I walk into Audi/BMW?Volvo etc today do you think they are going to cut me a deal. I actually know someone who went to Volvo to by the AC70 (the 4x4 thing) and was trading in his Jag. X-type. The dealer offered him buttons for the Jag and nothing off the screen price on the Volvo. He went to Nissan and got a better deal

Off topic, perhaps, but when I expressed an interest in buyiing a new Volvo, the dealer told me they don't need to discount their cars as they so great, he lost out cos two weeks later I picked up a brand new Audi A4, which I got a great deal on. Lesson learnt, Volvo's might be good cars, but their dealer network is staffed by over paid, stuck, arrogant ......

I'm not convinced that this £2k cashback scheme will work, but as the car worker said even the smallest of improvement in sales would be good for the industry.

TheBoyBilly

Gavin Gilbert wrote:

TheBoyBilly wrote:

Yet another gimmick from this poor excuse for a government. Still, their client state is rubbing it's greedy hands...........

That's funny. 'cos a few weeks ago you were promoting the very same scheme over in Soapbox

Was I? I don't think so, Gavster. I can only think of my post to those against the aid to Land Rover, Jaguar etc. But this scheme isn't about that.....surely even you can see that.
(Interestingly I was in a dealers' just today looking at a new S-Max, and I said that I had my missus' old VW Golf that might be worth throwing in the deal for the £2k being touted.....oh how they laughed. As it is, the deals/discounts from Ford themselves are of much more use)
Happily, your old mate Gordon has invested all that money he got for our discounted gold in the Euro (his words)......you know, the currency that isn't expected to see it's 20th birthday? (oops, that's four times I've brought that up)

gkerr4

this is interesting actually - and I was going to mention earlier - the £2000 discount is only 1/2 funded by the government - and the auto manufacturers must be laughing at 'only' having to provide a £1k discount. I have heard of top-end focus 'ghia' models discounted from £17k to just under £12k at the moment!

SteveR_100Milers

mrushton wrote:

Strange that if the industry is really struggling, I don't see dealers with cars on the forecourt that are reduced by eg 50%. If I walk into Audi/BMW?Volvo etc today do you think they are going to cut me a deal. I actually know someone who went to Volvo to by the AC70 (the 4x4 thing) and was trading in his Jag. X-type. The dealer offered him buttons for the Jag and nothing off the screen price on the Volvo. He went to Nissan and got a better deal

50%?? You are joking right? And why would you expect to sell at such a huge loss even if you are struggling, thats about the most risky thing to do because of its negative impact on cashflow. OK, offer some discount maybe to increase footfall, but burning piles of cash wont benefit anyone other than the first few buyers through the door.....

The biggest problem for retailers at the moment, or ceratinly was at the beginning of the year, was the lack of finance, not the number of buyers.

shogunsteve

Just visit the website broadspeed and get the discount without all the conditions

sylvestermorgan

Seems an ill thought out scheme to me. Most cars in this country are imported so a large chunk of the money will go overseas (okay, the dealer will make a cut). What is a much bigger industry in this country is those producing spare parts for older cars, not to mention the garages. A cull of 10 year plus cars is going to have serious implications for these guys.

Also, as someone else mentioned, the environmental cost of producing a new car is much higher than the environmental cost of running the old car for the duration of its design life (14-16 years). So surely better that we maintain our older cars if they are so keen on the environment. Obviously, this is about shifting stock but even with a £2k subsidy the economics don't make sense to me. I have a 10 year old car which i've had from new and its well maintained, in good condition and capable of another 5 years. Sure there's a few wear and tear items each year but these are nothing when compared with the depreciation cost associated with a new car, and subsequent depreciation costs in the next 2-3 years. I've saved up the money for the replacement already, but I'm economically happy with what I have so I'll keep on to it for as long as it makes sense to. Someone asked me the other day when I would be getting a new car, I replied hopefully no time soon!

That said, If i could get £2k off a nearly new car I might be interested but i haven't heard anything to this effect.

As for making a quick buck, the scrap dealer (or govt) won't be giving you £2k in cash, they'll be giving you a voucher which is only valid against a new car.

gkerr4

Actually - BBC news were quoting that the scheme provided the discount on "new or nearly new" cars - but I haven't seen anything in Black & White to that effect.

dilemna

sylvestermorgan wrote:

Seems an ill thought out scheme to me. Most cars in this country are imported so a large chunk of the money will go overseas (okay, the dealer will make a cut). What is a much bigger industry in this country is those producing spare parts for older cars, not to mention the garages. A cull of 10 year plus cars is going to have serious implications for these guys.

Also, as someone else mentioned, the environmental cost of producing a new car is much higher than the environmental cost of running the old car for the duration of its design life (14-16 years). So surely better that we maintain our older cars if they are so keen on the environment. Obviously, this is about shifting stock but even with a £2k subsidy the economics don't make sense to me. I have a 10 year old car which i've had from new and its well maintained, in good condition and capable of another 5 years. Sure there's a few wear and tear items each year but these are nothing when compared with the depreciation cost associated with a new car, and subsequent depreciation costs in the next 2-3 years. I've saved up the money for the replacement already, but I'm economically happy with what I have so I'll keep on to it for as long as it makes sense to. Someone asked me the other day when I would be getting a new car, I replied hopefully no time soon!

That said, If i could get £2k off a nearly new car I might be interested but i haven't heard anything to this effect.

As for making a quick buck, the scrap dealer (or govt) won't be giving you £2k in cash, they'll be giving you a voucher which is only valid against a new car.

Many car manufacturers have put their prices up by £1,500-2000 in the last few months anticipating the scrappage scheme. You would have to have rocks in your head to buy a new car and certifiably insane in this current economic climate to trade in your reliable, worthless and depreciation proof "old banger".

I'm sure there will be scams involving organised crime gangs, motor salvage or srappers claiming the £2000 subsidy.

majikman

i'm not sure,but, i think you have to own the banger for a year .