Get paid to buy a new car?
22nd April 2009
The government has announced today that it will pay you £2000 to scrap your car in exchange for a brand new one, providing your car is 10 years old or older. Yay - that must mean we’ll see more new cars on the road and this will boost everybody’s standard of living, right? Well er, no. There’s a major problem with this.
First of all it’s clear that not one person involved with the planning and design of this scheme knew a single thing about the motoring world in the UK. The government see this as a really attractive and brilliant thing for us unwashed public because we’d love nothing better than a brand new car and have the government essentially pay us to buy one. It also appears that we can buy newer, better cars that won’t cost us very much money.
But anyone who has ever bought a second hand car and really looked hard for one will know this is actually quite a clever farce.
Let me put it to you this way - i’ve been browsing car markets for a while now and i’m currently looking at a low mileage, perfect condition convertible C4 Corvette for £6000. Meanwhile Mr Alistair Darling is waving a £2000 incentive in front of me, so I have the option of spending £6k plus the extra £2k on a new car, meaning I have a budget of £8k to spend on a new car. All very nice.
But what new cars can you get for £8k? Well you’re looking at Peugeots. And the good Peugeots cost more than £8k. Nissan Micra is another option. Ford Ka maybe? And then there are cheapo electric boxes such as… shiver… the G-Wiz. And that really is getting desperate.
So basically Peugeot, Nissan Micra, or Ford Ka. It’s either one of those, or flick the V’s to Mr Darling and buy a Corvette instead. Now you see my point.
Of course the silver lining in all this is that small, economical, base-model hatchbacks are getting quite cheap now. Even the basic of the base-models for the new Alfa Romeo MiTo is a fraction under £9k, and Alfa Romeos are really nice cars in terms of quality, style and design. So if you’re interested in a cheap, economical runabout you’ll be jumping at this new idea.
I think it’ll split the country down the middle in terms of the car industry. Petrolheads like me will keep our older cars and buy them at bargain prices and own them brimming with pride. Those who don’t care much for cars will love this new initiative and Mr Darling will be seen as a hero.
Well, at least it’ll get rid of the Nissan Sunnys and Ford Orions.
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I have been looking at this for a while, i am a serious Petrol Head.
Why have i been looking into this, well i have some cars and van which are only worth £250 to £500, all been owned over 12months etc… to comply with the Government Scheme requirements.
I have a few new cars in mind, so far been unable to get a discount on them, hard to believe in these times, But these are selling and they Maximise there profit.
Now this scrap scheme will enable me to get one with the discount i want. It helps with the initial Depreciation. Otherwise you’d never ever see me buying a new car, done that once 20 years ago. Still hurts my wallet’s feelings.
It has got me to go and buy, and maybe a few more will do the same?
cheers………….Ken
[Reply]
Ash Reply:
April 25th, 2009 at 8:19 am
This is one of the biggest fears about the scheme. Britain’s car industry involves a lot of cheap second-hand cars that you can pick up for a few hundred quid. Ask any learner driver how much they spent on their first car; they’ll tell you the same. This is bad news because it means in order for a second-hand sale to be viable, people will be bumping their prices up to at least 2k. Good news if you’re selling, not so good if you’re buying.
Also dealerships seem to be passing the buck. Go to a forecourt and you used to be able to get all sorts of goodies and discounts from the salesman. Leather interior at no extra cost, for example. Or a free upgrade from a standard model to a GT or Sport model. But dealership reps have now said that they’ll be scrapping all those extra incentives in light of Mr Darling’s scheme.
So at the end of the day, not only is there still no free lunch, but things might well get worse than they were!
[Reply]
NickH Reply:
April 28th, 2009 at 8:36 am
The 11 month period for the scheme and the requirement to have owned the car for 12 months means that it does not affect anyone buying a second hand car. There will be some hoping to sell older cars to people who haven’t realised that, for inflated prices, but that shouldn’t last. It may even push the prices of older secondhand cars down, if people who used to buy runabouts and keep them till they failed an MOT, decide to get a new car which they will now keep for years.
[Reply]
Comment by RSescorts — April 24, 2009 @ 10:43 pm