Clearly, if you’ve got a car that qualifies for the “scrappage scheme”, it really is time to get yourself down to your local dealer and scrap your old banger, as you’re old £100 car can return you a healthy £2000 against a modern, green fuel efficient and reliable replacement.
So what impact has the scheme had so far?
Well, Statistics are funny things, you can twist them around and in many cases, make them arrive at the answer you want, however work carried out recently to see just what effect the Governments “scrappage scheme” is having, has revealed some interesting results.
Over 90% of car dealers have reported an increase in enquiries since the scheme was announced.
So who’s been buying these cars? Well the scheme seems to appeal to middle aged drivers more than any other age group, with over 63% of those that have taken up the opportunity being aged between 45 and 60 years old. A further 27% are aged between 31 to 45 years, leaving I guess the remaining 10% to be under 31 years old, or over 60 years old. Obviously, it’s all about circumstances and maybe the 45’s to 60’s are a little better off, have no kids on their hands, yet still enjoy an income.
So what type of cars have they been buying and here’s the really telling stat and that’s that people want to spend as little money as possible to take advantage of the scheme as pretty much half of the people using the scheme bought cars between £6,000 and £8,000, with a further 20%+ buying cars between £8,000 to £10,000, so its clear that if 70% of buyers chose the cheapest car on the block, its all about unloading your 10 year old car against the lowest priced new car you can get hold of and almost 67% of them have picked cars with between a 1.0 and 1.3 engine.
In all honesty, if you’re running around in a 10 year old car, that’s not normally out of choice, it’s because you cant really afford anything better and the take-up of the scheme suggests that most buyers have grabbed what’s got to be one of the best deals and to achieve it, have dug deep into their savings to get the cash together for surprisingly, the majority of dealers that were questioned said less than 25% of the sales they achieved were made using consumer finance (hp to me and you). That said, this is a pretty special offer and whilst off, no one advocates you should borrow money, just maybe these deals are just too good to let slip away, even if it means you have to sign on the dotted line.
There is no denying that new cars are hugely greener than cars used to be and that the fuel consumption these modern cars deliver is phenomenal and if you pick the right car, even the annual road fund tax costs almost nothing so from a wallet perspective, it all makes sense, as keeping a new car on the road is going to cost a fraction of the cost that you’re 10 year old banger will and as most cars come with a 3 year warranty now and are for the main part superbly reliable.
I guess, if you do qualify, it’s a case of balancing everything, but for sure, if you’ve considered getting a new car, this just might be the best and most cost effective opportunity there has ever been.
