Cash for Scrap

Motorists could be offered up to £2500 for trading their old car in for a new model. The plan is being backed by ministers in the hope of kick starting the motor industry. The scheme would offer buyers of new cars a cash incentive of £2500 when trading in a car more than nine years old. A figure has yet to be agreed but it would have to be a substantial amount for motorists to be tempted to visit the showrooms.

The German government introduced the scheme in January and this has led to a 21 percent rise in vehicle sales in February, the number in the UK fell by 21 percent in the same month. A similar scheme in France has not been quite so successful but buyers only receive £1000 for vehicles over ten years old.

The introduction of a scrappage scheme could create a demand for up to 250,000 new vehicles and remove an equal number of old and heavily polluted vehicles from our roads which can only be good for the environment.

By Geraldine Ashton-Green, motoring.co.uk