Old Car Trade in Cash Back

[mike.perry]

Remember the discussion back in November and at the AGM about the RAC's proposal to give a rebate to people trading in old cars for new?
Well it has happened. Will there be any statistics to show what makes and ages of cars are being traded in?

[Peetee]

Can't help but think the insurance federation have been involved in this. More new cars = higher premiums and less claims.

[IaininTenbury]

There was a guy fromt he SMMT (society of motor manufacturers and traders) on the radio the other day saying how this proposal was a really good idea for enviromental reasons - lets get all the old nasty polluting cars off the road etc etc...

Roughly translated as 'we're really desperate becuase no ones buying any new cars at the moment, and if we really push the so called green angle and get this proposal passed, we may just save our own skins'

The idea has been fairly soundly debunked in the classic car press where its been proved in various reports that its more 'green' to make an old car last as long as possible before recycling it and making a new one (also known as common sense), rather than destroy a perfectly servicable, or easily repairable car unnessaceraly. I also understand that the parts suppliers, motorspares shops and garage industry are less than happy about the idea as it would adversely affect their trade.

However, it appears the idea that the government can stimulate the economy, and help the struggling motor industry and appear to be doing something for the enviroment was too good to resist. Ignoring the facts that older cars (over 10 years) would tend to do less mileage than newer ones, the majority of new cars are manufactered abroad, so the £2000 of taxpayers money that gets used to help someone buy a new car may not really help the UKs economy other than give the dealer a profit, and is it really going to stimulate sales that much? I mean if you can't afford a new car, £2k off the price isn't going to make much difference, and if you can, you just sell your old car for whatever its worth, buy a grotty old heap for say £100 and trade that in and say thankyou very much to the silly government who thought it a good idea...

Phew, rant over! Off to buy and 80/90s car now just to save it. Just think how rare such cars will become after all this nonsense!

[ferret76]

They are looking at a similar scheme in Australia to bring us into line with Europe. Why? I don't know, last time I checked Australia wasn't part of the EU. Apparently you will get $3000 for cars over ten years old. Again, that's not going to go very far in buying a new car. I've been getting very nasty comments from people who are obviously great contributors to the brain surgery and rocket science industries about how happy they'll be when s*@t boxes like mine are off the road, as they drive off in their rusting, smoke belching Toyota Hilux-s. Charming.

[Stig]

If it was genuinely for environmental reasons they should give you a similar discount for trading in your old heating boiler as domestic heating generates more CO2 than road transport.

If it's to stimulate the economy then why just cars, why not get £200 for trading in an old telly?

Still, what's logic got to do with politics?

[Dean]

Cars must have a valid MOT though to qualify for this. I doubt many minors will get traded in. It's the Minors without MOT's that aren't worth much.

[britab1967]

And if you were to trade in your old car for an electric car do you get the £5000 subsidy as well?
Heard on the radio last night that only £1000 is comming from the gov't, the car industry is supposed to stump up the other £1000 so how is that helping them? How long will it take for the car prices to creep up by £1k to account for it?

Personally I can't understand the logic, but it reinforces the throw away culture that we are in, sending glass, paper etc to china for "green" recycling.

[rayofleamington]

The details I saw said you need to be registered keeper for minimum 12 months and it affects cars up to 1999.
Another sad thing is that you can trade in an early T reg very economical car to buy a new gas guzzler if you want to

The price of clapped out 80's and 90's cars will drift up, but not by much. At least my Nissan may eventually go where it deserves.
However as expected, I'm sure it's going to kill off the next generation of classic cars, not to mention drastically reduce the number of future classic car fans (or maybe there'll be a backlash?)

[ASL642]

My translation of this new scheme .So you take your "old car" and scrap it and get the allowance. Trot to a "Eurobox" showroom. Apply for a loan to buy the rest of the £20,000odd needed, get rufused the loan on grounds of ZYX. What do you do then? - Buy a bicycle! or end up buying another second hand car that is probably in worse condition than the one you scrapped. How's that "Green"?

[d_harris]

What worries me about this is that it might actually push up the value of lower end cars (the kind I tend to buy!)

Mr X decides that he wants to sell his 1993 mondeo, in current terms its worth about £300.00 but because of this daft plan he gets the idea that this car might actually be worth 2k to someone so the price gets bumped up to £500.00

also, if this actually works and lots of older cars end up being scrapped, that means that there will be less around, less for sale and therefore prices go up also.

Gone will be the days of a £300.00 banger

[PSL184]

As you have to have the car registered in your name for 12 months I doubt it will push up prices of old cars at retail level. Also, the scheme is only running until the end of 2010 so you might just about have time to buy an old banger, keep it for 12 months then scrap it for you 2K but would it really be worth all the waiting?

[Longdog]

I won't be trading in either my 14 year old Golf or the 39 year old traveller.They can stick that idea where the sun shineth not.

[d_harris]

95 golf, mk4?

[pao7psb]

A little known fact on the subject of electric cars - the G-Wiz is technically classed as a quadricycle rather than a car because it would not pass the safety standards required of it to be sold as a car in the UK

[les]

Lou, the dealer does the scrapping, so you still have the old banger until you've bought the new car or van.

[Longdog]

1995 Golf mk3 GIT, I like it too much to scrap it.In any case Main stealers are so desperate they probably would have given 2K off the price anyway.My recent experiences with several mean I will never buy a new car again.Oh and the best part is that I can fix the Golf myself, now that is beating the credit crunch.

[Longdog]

A quadricycle incurs road tax of £120 a year currently so the 30 mph tupperware wonder is not such a good proposition if that is the case.

[rayofleamington]

that means that there will be less around, less for sale and therefore prices go up also.

that's the idea! The people in their ivory towers think that less old cars around mean people have to upgrade to newer cars. Cars since March 2001 have been classified on their CO2 emmisions therefore some people (with no intelligence) think they must be greener.
However there is no direct correllation between a car's age and it's green-ness.

Don't be fooled by the hype - CO2 is actually just MPG measured with different terms. Better mpg is less fuel burnt. The burnt fuel makes the CO2. A minor is far more fuel efficient than many cars currently for sale but as there's no official CO2 figures it'll be classed as 'polluting' by those in authority.

[dp]

Cars must have a valid MOT though to qualify for this. I doubt many minors will get traded in. It's the Minors without MOT's that aren't worth much.

If the dealer does MOT's this would could be circumvented easily. Drag in the wreck, give a 'clean' MOT and immediately cube it.

Though the MOT principle oddly means working, MOT standard cars are taken out of circulation while dodgy bangers are not. Hmmm

[rayofleamington]

Though the MOT principle oddly means working, MOT standard cars are taken out of circulation while dodgy bangers are not.

The MOT system itself is meant to take dodgy old bangers out of the system. If it can't get an MOT it won't be driving around (in theory anyway)