UK old car scrappage scheme

The UK Government's scrappage scheme finished at the end of March 2010 with over 320,000 new vehicles registered under the scheme. It's been replaced by various manufacturers swappage-, discount- or special offer- schemes

The basics of the scheme were that if you traded in an old car, then you'd get £2000 off the price of a new one. In reality it was more complicated than that....

You had to have owned the car for more than 12 months.
The car had to have an current MOT
It must have been first registered in the UK on or before 29th March 2000 (V-registration or earlier)

Which effectively ruled out first-time buyers - unless of course somebody in your family had a car that qualified and the new car was registered in their name.

The funding for the scheme was split beween the UK Government and the car manufacturers - which was a bit of surprise to the latter as it was different to other European schemes. The net effect was that discounts disappeared from cheap, low-margin models.

Green Benefits

One of the aims of the scheme was to remove 'polluting bangers' from our roads and if you look at just the CO2 output, then you might be convinced. Older vehicles will be in the range 160g/km and above and new, small cars are generally in the range 140g/km and below. If you take into account the number of vehicles being replaced the overall effect will be in the region of a 2% overall reduction in passenger car CO2 output.

You have to take into account the energy used to produce these 'still running' cars in the first place, which is reckoned to be about 15% of the total energy used in the vehicle's whole life. Due to the amount of energy required to build a car, the new car only starts to be a benefit on overall CO2 output after 8 years of use.

Safety

There's no doubt that new cars are safer than those over 10 years old. Not only have new technologies like airbags and ABS become more widely available but vehicle's crash structures have improved dramatically.

This sceme didn't necessarily remove 'unsafe' cars from the road as the trade-in had to have a vaild MOT certificate but a lot can happen in 12 months to cars that are not looked after properly.

Now that Scrappage has ended...

Several manufacturers have announced 'swappage' schemes or other schemes. These may just save you the haggling but it'll still be worth doing it as you could get an even better deal, especially if your trade-in car is half-decent. The rules about age of vehicle and how long you've owned it are likely to be different from the Government scheme.

Schemes announced so far are :-

Nissan

The British Built Trade-in Scheme guarantees a £2,000 minimum trade-in against any new British built Nissan for trade-in vehicles over 7 years old – previously the offer only applied to models aged 8-10 years old.

New Nissans eligible for the improved offer, which will commence on 1 April and run until 30 June 2010, include the Micra and Note, both of which are produced at Nissan’s Sunderland Plant.

Toyota

Toyota are offering the choice of either extended warranty or a 3-year free service plan with all new cars purchased.

The five-year warranty builds on the three-year/60,000-mile warranty that applies to all new Toyota models. The fourth and fifth year UK cover are provided by Toyota GB PLC and require that owners’ cars undergo servicing at an official Toyota service centre.

The free three-year service plan covers all routine servicing costs during the first three years of the car’s life, that is three scheduled annual services, or at 10,000, 20,000 and 30,000 miles if those mileages are reached sooner.

Skoda

Skoda UK has introduced its ‘Happy Swapping’ initiative for those who missed out on the car scrappage scheme, Skoda is offering drivers who own a vehicle with a 52 registration or older, the chance to swap their old vehicle no matter the make or model. In return, the consumer will receive a minimum of £2,000 off their brand new Skoda, which means they could be driving home a Fabia from as little as £7,340.

Mazda

Mazda say they have decided to make their post-scrappage offers "simple to understand, fair and equitable for all". Adding "It does not depend on having an aged car and is open to all customers, ensuring anyone who wants to buy a new Mazda can get a great deal and purchase their perfect car at a fair price.” That probably means they'll give you a discount whether you have a trade in or not but Mazda UK website mentions nothing about this.... better ask you local dealer then.

Chevrolet

Chevrolet UK have announced their 'Swap & Save' scheme under which you'll get at least a £2000 trade-in against a new Chevrolet - as long as you don't want a Matiz or a Spark, as they're both excluded from this scheme. Your trade-in has to be between 6- and 10-years old and you have to have owned it before January 1st 2010. The scheme runs until June 30th 2010.

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