6k electric car scrappage scheme

[biggs682]

Been a lot in the press about introducing a £6k min trade in allowance against hybrid and electric cars .

Some qualifying things like 10+ yr old car and min of 12 months ownership .

I would be interested if they weren't so expensive to start with

 

[Slick]

So would I if I'm honest but my vehicles are reasonably new so that plan would be of no interest to me anyway.

I would love electric to be the answer but I'm afraid I'm a long way from convinced that it is.

 

[biggs682]

So would I if I'm honest but my vehicles are reasonably new so that plan would be of no interest to me anyway.

I would love electric to be the answer but I'm afraid I'm a long way from convinced that it is.

i must admit i would be happy to try one for a while

 

[Cycleops]

i saw that in the press too. Couldn’t you sell your newish car, buy an old car, run it fit for twelve months and trade it in for the electric?

 

[Slick]

i must admit i would be happy to try one for a while

I would too but I still think there is a lot of work to be done to convince us and I think there may be something on the horizon that might make us consider it. There are a lot of targets that need hit and what we're currently doing isn't working.

 

[Bazzer]

It's something I have been toying with recently, but the size of new car depreciation puts me off, so had been exploring secondhand hybrids. But even with them the depreciation puts me off. I suspect were we to trade in Mrs B's car, which was bought secondhand, it would have lost more in two years than mine cost more than ten years ago.
Also I can't get out of my head a comment heard on Radio 4 some months back, that the new car industry is sustained by people spending money they can't afford on a product most do not need.

 

[Slick]

It's something I have been toying with recently, but the size of new car depreciation puts me off, so had been exploring secondhand hybrids. But even with them the depreciation puts me off. I suspect were we to trade in Mrs B's car, which was bought secondhand, it would have lost more in two years than mine cost more than ten years ago.
Also I can't get out of my head a comment heard on Radio 4 some months back, that the new car industry is sustained by people spending money they can't afford on a product most do not need.

I like the radio comment, probably quite true. Also, the car industry is reeling like a lot of others and without sounding too mercenary, there's bound to be lots of different incentives in the coming months.

 

[MarkF]

i saw that in the press too. Couldn’t you sell your newish car, buy an old car, run it fit for twelve months and trade it in for the electric?

Cars are so cheap in the UK that I could buy one for £1k and expect it to get me around the world without issues. Why would I trade it in for an electric car whilst simultaneously handing over £k's to own it and immediately losing more £k's in depreciation?

 

[Drago]

The government are still saying "no" though. I was in the very fortunate position of being given a 50 grand motor, so even if the government did do it they'd need a lot more than 6 grand off to tempt me - 26 grand and I might look twice, but I drive so little spending more than a grand or so to buy a car is wasted money.

 

[MarkF]

The government are still saying "no" though. I was in the very fortunate position of being given a 50 grand motor, so even if the government did do it they'd need a lot more than 6 grand off to tempt me - 26 grand and I might look twice, but I drive so little spending more than a grand or so to buy a car is wasted money.

Zactly. I can afford one but what's the point? I spend about £600 per annum on fuel, an electric car is going to cost me money, never save me any. They need to focus on the public sector and business users, reps and the like, to get them more mainstream.

 

[Drago]

I think when my car dies thatll be it for me. The government need to be seizing this historic moment to try and get people out of cars altogether, not allow them to trade one evil for an (arguably) slightly less polluting one. Scrappage for bicycles would be much more interesting and useful right now.

The motor industry have been bleating for a while, but they need to simply admit they they're on borrowed time. You cant go on polluting the planet, congesting the roads, burying the countryside under tarmac and killing the innocent indefinitely, and I really do hope the government dont subsidise them to keep doing so.

 

[wafter]

If they do introduce such a scheme (and I think it's highly likely as they'll grab any excuse for "stimulus") it'll be for all the wrong reasons.

The argument is environmental but the reality will be an excuse to prop up our dead, debt-sustained economy for a few more pitiful months at the expense of writing off perfectly good vehicles to be replaced with unproven tech with (at best) questionable environmental credentials when the whole picture is viewed.

It's a sprat to catch a mackrel; wasting taxpayer's money on inceintivising people "trading up" from decent, older vehicles owned outright to far more expensive vehicles that will probably not last much longer than those they'll have replaced; sucking their owners into a doom-loop of debt-fuelled consumption of new vehicles every 3,5,7yrs as they're up-sold the latest model or the batteries fail and they become uneconomical to repair.

I'd be inclined to go in completely the opposite direction tbh; buy something old, simple, low-mileage (and preferably Jap), look after it and keep it going forever.. keeping me out of the loop almost completely.

Just like the last scrappage scheme this will be a cynical exercise in screwing the taxpayer and consumer on a false environmental argument just to prop the economy up and maintain political cache. 😡

 

[Cavalol]

If they do introduce such a scheme (and I think it's highly likely as they'll grab any excuse for "stimulus") it'll be for all the wrong reasons.

The argument is environmental but the reality will be an excuse to prop up our dead, debt-sustained economy for a few more pitiful months at the expense of writing off perfectly good vehicles to be replaced with unproven tech with (at best) questionable environmental credentials when the whole picture is viewed.

It's a sprat to catch a mackrel; wasting taxpayer's money on inceintivising people "trading up" from decent, older vehicles owned outright to far more expensive vehicles that will probably not last much longer than those they'll have replaced; sucking their owners into a doom-loop of debt-fuelled consumption of new vehicles every 3,5,7yrs as they're up-sold the latest model or the batteries fail and they become uneconomical to repair.

I'd be inclined to go in completely the opposite direction tbh; buy something old, simple, low-mileage (and preferably Jap), look after it and keep it going forever.. keeping me out of the loop almost completely.

Just like the last scrappage scheme this will be a cynical exercise in screwing the taxpayer and consumer on a false environmental argument just to prop the economy up and maintain political cache. 😡

Absolutely on the money.


Fail to see how 'green' it is making new cars in polluting factories, then sending them round the world in polluting ships and polluting lorries. What really is environmentally friendly is going to the scrap yard for parts to keep your 15 year old car on the road.

 

[Bazzer]

We know of course it is isn't green, but if such a scheme is introduced, that will no doubt, be the colour of the cloak it is draped in.
There is now a whole industry, beyond the car manufacturers and their suppliers/subcontractors, dependent upon new cars. The last figures I saw was that over 90% of new cars bought privately were bought on finance, the over whelming majority of which were bought on PCP.
It occurs to me that the Government has PCP drivers over a barrel, so I really don't see any need for any incentive. Very few will be able to afford the balloon payment should they wish to keep the car, so they either hand it back, or take out another finance deal.

 

[Drago]

The longer the motor and financial industries try to prop up the increasingly shaky edifice, the worse it's going to be when it does collapse.