Nice New Vauxhalls

The UK government scrappage scheme has provided a welcome boost for car sales across the country as drivers benefit the £2000 part exchange value for their 10-year old (or over) car.

The increase in sales has been dramatic, with sales of new cars up by around 11% over the same time period in 2008. Recognising the success of the scheme, the government has recently announced its extension, providing funds to cover an extra 100,000 vehicles.

This scheme is proving to be one of the most successful subsidies in the car industry in recent years. It seems that both sellers and buyers are in a winning position. The car manufacturers claim the boost in sales has safeguarded jobs and the car buyers benefit from a £2000 part exchange value that without the subsidy they would never have achieved.

According to WhatCar? Vauxhall has been one of the real winners of this scheme and is the only manufacturer to have two models in the top ten best sellers list for September 2009. The Vauxhall Cosra is number two in the list with sales of 16,379. The Vauxhall Astra is two places behind in fourth place with September sales recorded at 13,190 cars.

The sales figures will be welcome news to the workers at the two UK Vauxhall plants in Ellesmere Port and Luton, although the future of both sites remains uncertain following the take over by Canadian parts manufacturer Magna from US car giant GM.

The UK scrappage scheme funding is available when trading in any 10 year old or over used car as part exchange for a new car. It is not limited to Vauxhall. The scheme will not be available forever so to take advantage of it you need to act quickly.

Author Mark Woodcock

The UK government scrappage scheme has provided a welcome boost for car sales across the country as drivers benefit the £2000 part exchange value for their 10-year old (or over) car.

The increase in sales has been dramatic, with sales of new cars up by around 11% over the same time period in 2008. Recognising the success of the scheme, the government has recently announced its extension, providing funds to cover an extra 100,000 vehicles.

This scheme is proving to be one of the most successful subsidies in the car industry in recent years. It seems that both sellers and buyers are in a winning position. The car manufacturers claim the boost in sales has safeguarded jobs and the car buyers benefit from a £2000 part exchange value that without the subsidy they would never have achieved.

According to WhatCar? Vauxhall has been one of the real winners of this scheme and is the only manufacturer to have two models in the top ten best sellers list for September 2009. The Vauxhall Cosra is number two in the list with sales of 16,379. The Vauxhall Astra is two places behind in fourth place with September sales recorded at 13,190 cars.

The sales figures will be welcome news to the workers at the two UK Vauxhall plants in Ellesmere Port and Luton, although the future of both sites remains uncertain following the take over by Canadian parts manufacturer Magna from US car giant GM.

The UK scrappage scheme funding is available when trading in any 10 year old or over used car as part exchange for a new car. It is not limited to Vauxhall. The scheme will not be available forever so to take advantage of it you need to act quickly.

Author Mark Woodcock

Look on used car websites and you begin to notice a trend. There is a shortage in the number of used cars on the market which has led to dramatic price hikes. In fact, the price of a used car has increased by a colossal 30% over the past year. This change in the market has occurred because of the government-funded Scrappage Scheme.

In an effort to kick-start the failing new car market the government decided to inject some much needed funds into this industry The Scrappage Scheme got underway in May and has been since hailed as a success.

The scheme not only increased new car sales, but also helped to get old, dirty cars off the road. So the scheme has also benefited the environment as old gas-guzzlers have been replaced by new fuel-efficient cars.

The Scheme has been so successful that it has even been extended until next year. Ford and Vauxhall have benefited the most during the scheme, in particular they saw great sales figures during the all important 59′ plate launch month.

However, although the scheme has helped local car dealers – and the larger manufacturers in particular, it certainly hasn’t benefited used car hunters.

The Scrappage Scheme made the prices of brand new cars seem so appealing that people rushed to scrap there old cars in return for a shiny new one. Therefore, those that would have otherwise sold on their older cars to fund the purchase of their one vehicle have decided to have them scrapped – meaning that the used car market has been severely depleted.

Inevitably, because of the lack of supply, the demand has increased and therefore prices have seen a significant rise.

In some cases, because of the great deals available on the Scrappage Scheme, some people have been able to buy a brand new car for less money than the same model a year old.

This has meant that people looking for a bargain first car are really struggling to find one. The likes of the used Vauxhall Corsa and the little Ford Ka have been scrapped in their thousands – both of these cars have always been a firm favourite among young first-time drivers as they are cheap to insure and run.

As the Scrappage Scheme has been extended the used car market won’t really change until next Spring at least. Once all funds have been exhausted then we will be able if the market returns to it usual state…but then perhaps new car sales will fall once again…

Lucy Penn