Scrap scheme boost to car sales

[4me2]

Scrap scheme boost to car sales


The government's scrappage scheme was launched in April

More than 35,000 new cars have been ordered through the UK's scrappage scheme since it was announced in April, government figures show. It equates to one in five motorists who ordered new cars taking advantage of the £2,000 discount available for scrapping vehicles over 10 years old.
Ministers believe those cars would not have been sold had it not been for the financial incentive.
Motor industry figures say it is too early to declare the scheme a success.
Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, acknowledged that the scheme had enjoyed a "very encouraging" start - through increased orders, visits to car showrooms and internet inquiries.
However, he warned it could take a few months to fully assess its impact.
Discounts
Sales of new cars in the UK fell 28.5% in the first four months of this year compared with 2008, as the recession deepened.
In a bid to revive flagging sales, the government set aside £300m for the scheme, which was announced in April's Budget.
That was enough to fund discounts on 300,000 vehicles, with public funds providing £1,000 and manufacturers covering the remainder.
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Facing a bill of several hundred pounds for an MOT I swapped my old gas guzzler for a low carbon Fiat

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Carmakers had lobbied ministers to put in twice that amount, as happens with a similar scheme in Germany.
But despite initial disappointment from the industry and - according to some surveys - a lukewarm reception from motorists, the government believes its plan has already secured extra sales.
The BBC's John Moylan said: "The numbers reflect anecdotal evidence from car salesrooms.
"Makers of small, less expensive vehicles in particular have reported a significant pick-up in interest."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8073115.stm

[4me2]

Personally I don't believe this bollox at all.

When I see that slimey fucker Mandelson on Sky news announcing these figures I start to smell a rat.

The rat being he already knows that lots of people at luton will lose their jobs soon (vauxhall) so uses this announcement as a smoke screen.

The reasons the system isn't working here in my view are :

1. Too many terms and conditions involved.

2. If you have a car thats over ten years old and have owned it for over a year and its MOT'd, why the fuck would you buy a brand new one and to save 2 grand ?

You wouldn't have enough money in the first place because anyone coming in the above criteria would be very very unlikely to be able to afford a new car even at 2K less.

The reason these schemes work in Germany is because their social system is far superior to ours.

All car manufacturers and car component producers can put their staff on 3 day working weeks and the failing 2 days wages are made up by the Govt. The workers see no difference in pay at all.

Those who do lose their jobs get far better redundency payouts than our pathetic efforts in the UK. Typically 4-5 times that the average bod gets here, A few years ago I took redundency in Germany and was paid 3500 Euros per year I had worked there.

Also after being employed for 2 years you are entitled to ( Germany) Dole money.

You get 2/3 of your average months wages paid each month for a period of 12 months.
After 12 months unemployement that drops to 40% which is still a fucking lot more than 60 odd quid a week.

As you can see the German people even the unemployed are far better equpped to ride out a recession than we are.

Why can'y politicians see this and act on it ?

[Over Carl]

Thank you - it's all a big joke. You've also missed out what I reckon is another key reason - you don't get two grand off a new car for trading in your old - you get your old car stolen from you with fa in return.

2 grand off-

Since day dot, you have been able to go to a car dealer and ask for a discount on list price. In times of hardship like these. I would be looking for at least a grand off any list price.

1 Grand left now. However those who've joined the scheme have crept their car prices up by £750-£1500.

Anyone care to show me how the consumer actually benefits as it looks like a big time scam to me?

If they wanna give the car industry money, just give the cash to them direct rather than all this pissing about. However whether the money should be given is worthy of an other thread in itself.

[Little John]

Sales have probably gone up as people are realiseng the credit cruch isnt affecting them as much as it is being reported it is. Those that are tradeing in are probably those with an older 2nd car that has none or little value, used as a run about that are takeing the opertunity to replace it with somthing that is newer and getting a grand or so knocked off. Yes only £1000 knocked off. Last year my sister bought a new corsa 1.2 sxi with a/c back then it was £10495 the same car is now £12360, I looked at the insignia 2.0 CDTI sri a few month ago priced at £19895 it is now £21685 so the prices have all gone up by a shit load especially when you think that your suposed to be getting £2000 knocked off the prices have gone up by almost that. We all know that getting about £1000 knocked off a new car is pretty easy with finance kick backs for the dealerships anyway, so with prices up by £2000 your still not getting much knocked off.

I spent this morning in the local dealership with a freind who is wanting to downsize her 2002 1.8 astra to a corsa 1.4, the dealership was only able to take details and have a look round the car I spent the last 3 days cleaning inside and out with a full machine polish the sales person was really impressed with how good the car looked for its age and only noticed a few of the stone chips I couldn't get perfect on the bonnet and the broken boot logo. They were claiming to be so busy with hand overs and other sales we had to book an apointment for later this afternoon.

[super mike]

This whole scheme is bullshit. Why do they have to scrap the car, it has to be road worthy and possess an MOT, how the fuck is it environmentally friendly to scrap a perfectly good working car? And if you walk into a dealership and pay list price, you're a mug, 1.5-2k off is easily within overheads.

don't car sales always slump around the start of the year?

[Little John]

I have decided that dealerships don't want to sell cars.

We went back down there yesterday afternoon about 4:30pm, when we went in the morning we said what we wanted, a 1.4 club, the test drive was in a 1.2 club A different trim would have been acceptable but the wrong engine was a wate of time but we went out on the same route we did last year with my sister there are a few hills and my freind had problems haveing to change gear for the hills so was put off and wanted the 1.4.
We get back and reitterate what we wanted 1.4 club in royal blue or ultra blue. now the prices come back, trade in value for the 1.8 astra £4270 which I thought was very good probably high. Money isnt an object it can be cash or finance just the lowest over all price is what matters she came back with a 1.2 life (bottom spec in their range) for £164 per month or about £7800 + the trade in on a car that they have listed on offer at just under £11000 which wasnt too bad if it had been the car we asked for. worked out just less than the on the road price I think.
Sent her off again with the car we wanted and this time it was £9800 cash plus the trade in or £204.88 per month over the same 48 month yep £14000+ for a corsa RRP price of £12185 they have the AC version on offer for £11655. the sales girl was insisting as I am a previous customer they want to get us a good deal now does that sound like a good deal?

Looking at the prices she was comming back with I said I was looking for it to come out at about £7000+ the trade in, go in low and work your way up approach she came back with £9500 knocked £300 off. I then started going for the other cars like the sxi and design as they are not much more on their offers than what the clubs. We could have taken either the design or the sxi for trade in + £10000 again £14270 for cars rrp of sxi £13620 (Offer price £12515) or the deign rrp £13830 and on offer at £13215 So where the hell do they get their £14270 from?

The girl tried to convince us it was a good deal and the design is the luxury car but we walked away. They were takign the piss. No discounts at all offered I am thinking they over valued the astra a lot in the hope of shifting the 1.2 life.

On the way out we had a look round the used cars and found a blue which is the prefered colour, 1.3 CDTi club with AC for £9000 on a 58 plate. with the saveings on the £35 roax tax and better fuel economy she will be better going for the 1.3CDTi as she plans to keep the car for a few years, the only downside I can see is its done 15000 miles in what could be 8 month, but its a diesel so not really an issue. Its £13470 worth of car for £9000 which I think is great value and it will hold its value better than the petrol models in the future.

EDIT:
The dealership has called asking for my freind to go down and speak with the sales manager to work on the deal today, I advised her to hold off and let them sweat a little, just tell them she can't get there today its not fair to drag her son down there again anyway. We got away yesterday after 3 hours of their constant bulshit prices.

[Over Carl]

Why do they have to scrap the car, it has to be road worthy and possess an MOT, how the fuck is it environmentally friendly to scrap a perfectly good working car?

Indeed my friend. Someone who I know who actually is fairly well educated on these kind of issues told me the energy cost in creating a vehicle is so immensely monumental, once it's made, the best thing for the envoironment is to run the vehicle into the ground.

Problem is if some green nutter gets behind an idea, it must be right.

@ LJ - Wow, that is truely shocking. Funny thing is these days I've been getting loads of similar service in all sorts of places, but I haven't gone anywhere looking to spend 10k recently. You would think the credit crunch would make people value their customers.

[Little John]

Well the dealership seems to be taking note, letting them sweat seems to be working. They phoned again after we said we couldn't go down and have now managed to discount the Design to trade in + £9000. Aparently she was made aware that we had been over to used car and been speaking to the sales guy who I bought my sisters car off last year. That makes the price just below the on the road RRP opf their offer which isn't too bad but I still think she should consider the 1.3CDTi just the saveing of £4000 should be considered, I think she will get about £2500 trade in for the astra on used.