I am currently looking to change our 11 year old Mazda 3 (owned since new but really beginning to sag) and am looking at options. I got a price from CarWow on a new Seat Ibiza and I can get £2,500 ‘saving’ on new if I buy outright.

However if they take the car they will give us £2,500 as ‘scrappage’ but they won’t discount the new price so either way the new car would cost us £12,000.

So what is the point of the scheme as there is no incentive – if I don’t trade it in I can sell it on (probably get around £1,200 for it) and it will continue to pollute which surely goes completely against the point of the scheme?

Unless it’s government funded, then yes, it’s a con.

Its just another way of offering a non negotiable discount. Best to check how much you could actually sell your car on for elsewhere, because thats what they’ll be doing.

If it’s government funded it’s still a con, you just aren’t being directly conned.
I’ve got my grumpy hat on this morning 😆

It’s an icentive to trade in your diesel but no dearler is going to offer you £2.5k off a car and then another £2.5k off a car they’re not to trade on.

Just had a quick Google, seem some manufacturers will stack deals on hybrids.

Sell it.

Even if they really are scrapping it, it’s not to help the environment.

The SEAT page says the car will be scrapped.

Broadspeed offers over £3k of a new Ibiza, depending on model, mid price picked for example

Braodspeed

If it’s government funded it’s still a con, you just aren’t being directly conned.

Yep, we’re all being conned.

However if they take the car they will give us £2,500 as ‘scrappage’ but they won’t discount the new price so either way the new car would cost us £12,000.

Ford are offering £4k scrappage on the new car I’m buying but there’s already a big ‘discount’ on the car so scrappage allowance is knocked down to £1500. Still £800 more than I would get selling the car.

I’m under no illusion that I’m getting some amazing deal though, I’m buying the car for what it’s worth though.

And just to add – we were looking at buying a new car anyway as our current one will need a fair bit spent on it to get through its mot in December, if I do that I’m still left with a 12 year old 170k car that’s seen better days and could have a major malfunction at any point.

Less second-hand cars on the market, more people will turn to new ones, profit. 😉

it will continue to pollute which surely goes completely against the point of the scheme?

A well maintained 11yr old car will not pollute noticeably more than a more modern offering. Burning fuel releases nasties. You can fudge one for t’other but you still create pollution.

Building a whole new car creates shedloads of pollution and uses up even more resources.

Just a thought. 🙂

A well maintained 11yr old car will not pollute noticeably more than a more modern offering.

Other than it is bloody thirsty compared to the equivalent new Mazda3 (probably some 40% more uneconomical). On a run we are lucky to get >35mpg. And it can eat a set of front tyres in around 12,000 miles (most of the driving is urban and with kids in the car so no silly driving).

@john it’s a bit of a con, obviously on some cars the discount you can get will be less than the £2,500 but Insuspect not much in many cases. It’s a neat bit of marketing ot oeast as most people buying a new car will have an existing one worth more than £2,500

To do it properly surely the Government should ‘pay’ the scrappee directly in the form of a voucher that can be used against the negotiated price with the dealer.

I suspect you’ll find it’s worth considerably less than that by the time you get it home 😉

I suspect you’ll find it’s worth considerably less than that by the time you get it home

I’m not bothered about depreciation, I’ll be keeping it a long time.

There have been big discounts available on new cars for years, mostly in the form of finance incentives (“deposit contribution” and the like) and really it’s just offset the big increases in list prices.

This isn’t a government scheme this time around, it’s just marketing from the car manufacturers as sales are slowing down. They’ve got a good chunk of the car-buying public on the PCP finance train, now they’re aiming at those who usually either keep for ages or just buy older cars to start with.

A lot of the “scrappage” discount comes out of this discount margin, although depending on brand some dealers may be able to still offer big (finance-backed) discounts and combine with a manufacturer scrappage offer.

Have been looking at Golf GTE and between government grant and VW discount you can get down to about £24700 – if you then have a 09 or earlier diesel to scrap you get another £4000 off that. Not bad given a £30k+ list price. Even more generous on the e-Golf, you could get in one of those for just over £20k if you had an old diesel to scrap.

Check with drivethedeal, broadspeed, carwow – they have good summaries of discount pre-scrappage and how those are affected if you do use these offers combined.

…goes to check golf gte price on drivethedeal

…no gte estate and 6.9% apr, I’m oot 🙂

I’m not bothered about depreciation, I’ll be keeping it a long time.

I have just done a very quick calculation on our car cost over the last 10 years:

Original purchase price: £16,000
MOTs/servicing: £2,500
One off bills (tyres, breakdowns, batteries etc): £1,200
VED: £2,200

So over 10 years that’s £2,190 PA or £182.50 per month.

Stack that up against the cost of a PCP deal (I often see Golfs etc for around £150 a month) then I find it difficult to see the point in buying a car and keeping it a long time. Yes, some of the costs we have incurred (ie tyres, but VED likely too be much lower as our car does have high emissions) may still be a cost to factor on a PCP deal but it is tempting to go down that route.

I find it difficult to see the point in buying a car and keeping it a long time

Each to their own I guess. Where are you seeing a golf for £150 a month without a big deposit and a low interest rate.

I’m paying just under £150 a month with a £5k deposit and interest free.

Your calculation also excludes the £50 monthly payment for the maintenance/ved you’ve listed.

I’m paying just under £150 a month with a £5k deposit and interest free.

Over how long and how long do you expect to keep the car?

Best way by far is to have the money anyway, take the combined finance/scrapage deal then clear the finance within 14 days so there’s zero costs to you.
Plenty of guys have done this recently on the baby bmw forum.
The savings can be in excess of £10k

Over how long and how long do you expect to keep the car?

38 months, then £7k to pay at the end. Kept the current car 12 years so probably do the same.

Best way by far is to have the money anyway, take the combined finance/scrapage deal then clear the finance within 14 days so there’s zero costs to you.

The best way is getting 0% finance

Original purchase price: £16,000
MOTs/servicing: £2,500
One off bills (tyres, breakdowns, batteries etc): £1,200
VED: £2,200

So over 10 years that’s £2,190 PA or £182.50 per month.

Stack that up against the cost of a PCP deal (I often see Golfs etc for around £150 a month) then I find it difficult to see the point in buying a car and keeping it a long time. Yes, some of the costs we have incurred (ie tyres) may still be a cost to factor on a PCP deal but it is tempting to go down that route.

I just did mine (starting with a s/h Focus which had done 30,000 miles), it’s cost me £110/month over the last 7 years including deprectiation, it would be less but I think I paid far too much for it but needed a car right there and then so walked into the dealers with an envelope of cash[i]debit card burning a hole in my pocket[/i] and picked the biggest car I could drive away that day!

And as noted by others, you can’t actually get a golf for £150/month.

..goes to check golf gte price on drivethedeal

…no gte estate and 6.9% apr, I’m oot

Yeah, it’s a shame, they showed a GTE estate concept at one of the German shows, enough underbody space to double the electric range. No plans for production, sadly – would have been about the perfect family car for us.

We have a Golf estate now, but I always put bikes on the roof and I figure we can make the hatchback boot work 95% of the time. Roofbox for the rest. There are decent lease deals which made more sense for us.

38 months, then £7k to pay at the end. Kept the current car 12 years so probably do the same.

So that’s £123 a month + MOTs, maintenance (which becomes more expensive as a car gets older) for a car that will have no real value in 12 years time. Not saying you are wrong (we have an 11 year old car ourselves, owned from new) but I find it hard to justify this approach anymore personally.

The best way is getting 0% finance

You are deluding yourself – get 0% finance and you simply won’t get as good a discount on the RRP in the first place.

And the wonders of compound interest means than its all much of a much Ness. Only the car dealer wins I’m afraid.

You are deluding yourself – get 0% finance and you simply won’t get as good a discount on the RRP in the first place.

I’m happy paying £18k for a top of the range ford focus, seems a decent deal to me.

I find it hard to justify this approach anymore personally.

I guess it depends on your outlook. I’m happy paying the car off in 3 years then nothing to pay except servicing etc for the next 9 years. I’d rather do that than pay approx £200 per month for ever.

I’d rather do that than pay approx £200 per month for ever.

But in 12 years time (or whenever it reaches the end of its life) you will have to go through it all again anyway. However you cut it, you are paying £18k, whether that’s in one lump sum or monthly or whatever.

Zzzzzzzz

anyway back on topic

Currently looking at a new Transit Custom as we have a van to scrap. “Scrappage” is obviously just another discount from the manufacturer to boost flagging sales, not going to complain though as the best quote I’ve received so far knocks about £9.5k off list price which just about makes it more attractive than buying s/h

However you cut it, you are paying £18k, whether that’s in one lump sum or monthly or whatever.

I know.

The pcp treadmill wouldn’t work for me even if I did want to be on it. Over the past 12 years I’ve averaged 14k a year in the current car.

Do you think the price of a focus will drop to 16k next month when they pull interest free?

Had my Cayman 10 years, lost £30k in depreciation. That’s £250 a month and a fraction of equivalent lease cost which did not include servicing etc.

The most environmentslly friendly thing you can do is run the car into the ground and then scrap it with the slight caveat that if it becomes really polluting it should be kept off the road via MOT test.

I’ve just bought a 13 year old ‘new’ car, while selling my 17 year old car on the bay.
The difference to change was £800.
I’m a disgusting low life polluter and a cheapskate.

Jambalaya if the engines maintained properly there’s no reason a car should become anymore poulutting over its lift time unless it’s majorly broken.

If your talking about the government’s shifting goalposts……well never mind we will have our bicycle licenses and number plates shortly

Do you think the price of a focus will drop to 16k next month when they pull interest free?

I wouldn’t be surprised if you could negotiate that – Carwow says that the Focus attracts, on average, a £5,194 saving. At the end of the day a Focus costs X, the manufacturer sells it for Y and the dealer needs to clear a Z profit on the sale. They simply package up deals that attract different buyers at different times using some very sophisticated marketing plans. If anyone truly believes they have got one over them then they are mad. Yes people buy out their finance deals but the dealer doesn’t lose out, the finance company does (unless they have terms) but dealers and finance companies know that a % of all finance sales will be terminated early and that will be factored into their profit calculations.

‘Saving’ on mine is £8093.55, and interest free credit. I’d be very surprised if you could get the car for just over £16k

Well as long as you are happy with your deal Gary, that’s all that matters.

I just did mine (starting with a s/h Focus which had done 30,000 miles), it’s cost me £110/month over the last 7 years including deprectiation

Our 3yr old 40k Focus worked out at £120 for 6 years all in, including sale price and repairs and all that. Reliability was near perfect.

Our 11yr old 70k Golf worked out at £80 for 6 years all in. Reliability was generally good (barring the freak explosion of second gear cog).

Our 10yr old 70k CRV is standing at £150 for 3 years and we still have it so no resale to factor in yet. Reliability is fine so far. Aiming to keep for a couple more years. I’d expect around £120 average when we do flog it.

Right now I’d rather do ownership than the £200+ finance route.

Obviously it works less well for a brand new motor, YMMV.

And as noted by others, you can’t actually get a golf for £150/month.

You can get pretty close

https://www.contracthireandleasing.com/independent-brokers/chl-contracts/volkswagen/golf/233276399/

(Yes, I know it amortises to £235 per month over the term)