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Chancellor Alistair Darling has confirmed the long-expected news that the government will introduce a ‘cash for crapbox' (OK, that's not the official title, but it helps us remember it) car scrappage scheme, starting next month.
New car buyers will receive a £2,000 discount when they scrap their old car, which must be over 10 years old.
The government will stump up £1,000 of the discount, with the car industry paying the other half. The scheme will run from mid-May, and is scheduled to finish at the end of March next year.
Here's the technical stuff: the car you're scrapping must have been registered in the UK on or before July 31, 1999, and must have been continuously registered to a UK resident for 12 months before being scrapped. It must also have a current MOT certificate. So if you're thinking about hauling out the old Austin Allegro that's been rusting into a heap at the end of your garden for the past 20 years, don't. It won't work.
The £2,000 discount will apply to all new cars, not just low-CO2 or ‘green' vehicles - good news for Jaguar and Land Rover.
Darling also used the Budget to announce that fuel duty would increase by 2p per litre this September, and will rise by 1p per litre over the rate of inflation each April for the next four years. Oh, and some stuff about income tax and stamp duty, though we didn't really pay much attention to that.
The big news, obviously, is the scrappage scheme. What do you reckon? Welcome kick-start to the UK car industry, or a horrible, pointless waste of money? Our Foreman, Paul Horrell, has some pretty strong opinions. Head over to his blog and weigh in with your argument.
Scrappage scheme, Darling?
Chancellor announces £2,000 new car discount when you scrap a 10-year-old banger
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What do you think?
Want to comment on this?
moretti124guy commented on this article
at 07:07 pm on 22 April 2009
At least they did put some restrictions on the program. Here in California for a short time the state would pay you to just turn a car in, it quickly became a cottage industry, with people buying garbage cars for $300 USD and taking them to the state and collecting upto $2,500 to remove the polluter from the roads. They quickly got wise to it, and ended the program. Really though, the only cars you are going to get are the complete junk, or 2nd car that does not see much road use anyways.
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Mistersimon commented on this article
at 12:01 am on 23 April 2009
More fuel duty!!! Do they not realise there is a recession on? Who is going to buy a new car when you will need to re-mortgage (which you cant even do now) just to pay to get to your job that your soon to be fired from. Chimps could run the Govenment and economy better. Although I do quite like the cash for crap scheme. Good job monkey boy.
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yoho commented on this article
at 06:57 am on 23 April 2009
This'll be good for my 14 year old 306!
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JamesC commented on this article
at 10:24 am on 23 April 2009
It's a waste of time. Most people that are driving 10-year old cars do so because they can't afford a new motor. Let's say you're a family man that needs a Mondeo estate of similar. You can't afford the £20,000 needed to buy a new one, so you drive a £2,000 banger. How is a reduction in price to £18,000 going to make a new car attractive? Answer: it isn't. The only people to actually benefit from this will be people that only need tiny cars - £2,000 of the price of a Suzuki Swift (for instance) is a fair old discount. Even then, I'm massively dubious that many people will actually do this.
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marius2 commented on this article
at 12:32 pm on 23 April 2009
It is a wonderful piece of crap.
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