Is Swappage the new Scrappage ?
15/01/2010
As the UK's old car scrappage scheme draws to a close at the end of February with nearly 400,000 new cars sold under the scheme, some manufacturers are seeking ways to ensure that the flow of new car buyers doesn't suddenly dry up. Welcome to Swappage !
Amongst the first is Toyota's new Swappage scheme, customers can still enjoy up a £2,000 saving on the price of an eligible new Yaris, Auris or Avensis. What’s more, unlike the Scrappage scheme, Swappage is open to owners of vehicle between seven and 10 years old, that is those registered between 1 March 2000 (W-plate) and 28 February 2003 (52-plate).
As the name Swappage implies, the vehicles that are traded will not necessarily be sent for end-of-life recycling. This good as the scappage scheme resulted in the demise of many perfectly usable vehicles, although the vast majority would not have crash performance and occupant survivability of the new cars that replaced them.
The new scheme is available on new cars ordered up to 31 March and registered up to 31 July this year. Trade-in vehicles have to be DVLA registered, insured and have a current MoT certificate, and the person making the purchase must have been the registered keeper of the trade-in vehicle for the last 12 consecutive calendar months.
Of course it's been done before - it's just a fixed price trade-in deal and unsurprisingly Hyundai have been quick to announce their "Trade & Upgrade" scheme to owners of seven to 10 year old cars who can get the same £2,000 allowance previously offered to scrappage customers.
Ther'll be more offers along soon.
