It’s the £400m initiative designed to breathe life into the UK car industry. Tonight investigates whether the Government’s car scrappage scheme really is value for money for the consumer and the British taxpayer.
Since its introduction, the scheme has provided a much needed boost in car sales, which is excellent news for car dealerships - this time last year they faced redundancy and closures, however for them business is now booming.
The Government also say two thousand pounds off the list price of a new car is a great deal for the customer.
But with the majority of cars sold under the scheme being made abroad, some industry experts say that while foreign car makers have benefitted from British taxpayers’ money, it does little to help manufacturers in the UK.
Meanwhile environmentalists feel that taking perfectly good second hand cars with low mileage and low emissions off the road is a bad move. They argue that the amount of CO2 released during the production and lifetime of a new car exceeds that of keeping an old car on the road for a few more years.
And finally, classic car enthusiasts have also voiced their concerns. Every car traded in under the scheme can never go back on the road because a certificate of destruction must be issued. For them it’s a race against time to save many British classics from the crusher.
For more information:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/sectors/automotive/scrappage/page51068.html - links to the most frequently asked questions about the scheme.
www.rileyrmclub.org.uk - Riley fan club
