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Scrappage Scam Extended
- Thread starter [TW]Fox
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Caporegime
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I'd rather see an E34 on the road than ANOTHER Grey Golf
That's super and I'm sure all grey Golf drivers around the world would be devastated to hear you say that, but the car in question wasn't really the important part. The important part is that any sentimentality for an average car whether it be a Golf, BMW, Vauxhall, Ford, whatever...is in my opinion, misplaced.
Scrappage scheme is a pointless exercise, all it has done is slightly slow down the ever falling new car sales figures.
People are not buying new cars, because they dont all of a sudden have access to tens of thousands of pounds of cheap re-mortgaged cash from their massively overvalued houses and, more importantly, jobs.
I've just bought an 11 year old festa to go to work in, its just cost me £700, genuine 36k on the clock, full service history flawless paint, new tyres, and a years MOT.
If the woman I've just bought it off had been gullable enough to take up the scrappage offer on it, I would currently be being crushed, for no valid reason what so ever, and I would still be getting wet on my motorbike on the way to work.
People are not buying new cars, because they dont all of a sudden have access to tens of thousands of pounds of cheap re-mortgaged cash from their massively overvalued houses and, more importantly, jobs.
I've just bought an 11 year old festa to go to work in, its just cost me £700, genuine 36k on the clock, full service history flawless paint, new tyres, and a years MOT.
If the woman I've just bought it off had been gullable enough to take up the scrappage offer on it, I would currently be being crushed, for no valid reason what so ever, and I would still be getting wet on my motorbike on the way to work.
It's not misplaced, many people LIKE older cars more than newer cars. I'm very guilty of this. The premium that some old cars fetch shows that I am not alone.
Caporegime
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Old classics, I can understand it. But yet another 90s rep mobile? I just can't see it.
Soldato
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My attitude is not sentimental - merely practical - because, like a lot of other cars traded in, they are well equipped, extremely competent cars that are in good order (and sometimes better specced, more powerful and higher level than that they are traded in against) and still have many thousands and thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of miles of life in them - and scrapping them is utterly, utterly futile.
It is, in many cases, an appalling waste of a perfectly serviceable vehicle. That 5 series was just a case in point.
Pictures of said vehicle (was a 525 even, not a 520...):
Yes, a lot of certified trash no doubt gets scrapped - but an awful lot of usable, excellent quality vehicles do too.
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I suspect that there is a bit more to the particular car you are describing than that it is really a two owner 1993 BMW 525i in Lazer blue with light silver grey leather, 89,000 miles on the clock with a full service history, superb panels with factory paint and mechanically perfect.
How come you happened to stumble across it and glean all this information but apparently not the motivation of the seller in deciding to dispose of this wonderful car?
Is it perhaps that despite being "mechanically perfect", it cost a fortune to maintain?
Maybe the owner couldn't find anyone prepared to buy it and the person in the dealership failed to spot an opportunity to make a few hundred by doing a private deal?
A few people seem to think that there is some evil conspiracy (scam) afoot here; there isn't, it is just market forces at work; most people really aren't that keen to own any 16 year old car, not even a BMW 525i with hundreds of thousands of miles of trouble-free life in it, no matter how "mint" it appears.
My attitude is not sentimental - merely practical - because, like a lot of other cars traded in, they are well equipped, extremely competent cars that are in good order (and sometimes better specced, more powerful and higher level than that they are traded in against) and still have many thousands and thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of miles of life in them - and scrapping them is utterly, utterly futile.
It is, in many cases, an appalling waste of a perfectly serviceable vehicle. That 5 series was just a case in point.
Pictures of said vehicle (was a 525 even, not a 520...):
Yes, a lot of certified trash no doubt gets scrapped - but an awful lot of usable, excellent quality vehicles do too.
I'd have that!
Soldato
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Show me one person who has a new Jaguar or a Land Rover AND as 10yr old banger and Ill show you 2 sacked JLR engineering contractors (1 is already here to see > me)
Soldato
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Imagine turning up with £15k cash and then seeing what they would say?
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
You have no idea. That car even as a minter is worth less, trade, than 2k. This is why it was traded in as sccrappage. Not because it was broken. Not because it cost a 'fortune' to run, but because financially it was best for its owner. This bit is fine.
However once it is traded under scrappage it MUST be scrapped, end of. This is where the tragedy is.
Not that I would expect the happy owner of a new i20 to ever understand.
Why continue to insist people would only use scrappage if the car they own was uneconomical to continue to own? It just isnt true, most car changes are because owners get bored, change needs or simply fancy something new not because the existing car was faulty.
I don't drive it to work and I don't play Golf anymore. Why would I spend thousands of pounds (sorry, borrow thousands of pounds in some peoples cases) just to impress people you don't even know?
Anyone who really knows me knows I do ok for myself, girls prefer the Golf to the VX most of the time. No one to impress, I'm not that vacuous.
Why shouldn't the government give me money towards a new TV? (Yes I realise the irony, they do, it's called the welfare state!)
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Aint that the truth.[TW]Fox;14991525 said:
I was under the impression that this is not in fact true; someone earlier seemed to suggest that the car as a whole must not be put back on the road but there is nothing to prevent it being broken up for scrap . . . or to be used as part of a metalwork or retro art class[TW]Fox;14991525 said:
Partly true. I accept and have mentioned earlier that with some people, all reason appears to fly out of the window when it comes to cars or other fashion accessories; I am not so sure that this is the case with most people as you have suggested.[TW]Fox;14991525 said:
The cost of running a ten year old car is certainly one factor but I have repeatedly said that reliability and safety are also significant influencing factors in replacing an old car. As you sagley mention, changing circumstances can also play a part, either having young children or when grown-up children leave home.
There is a vast range of reasons why people might want to replace a ten year old car with a modern car with the improved safety features, reliability and economy; in the present economic climate I very much doubt that boredom and simply fancying something new are the most common reasons.
[TW]Fox;14991525 said:
Its not a tradgedy tho, because it leaves good quality parts available for people who do need to keep their '93 525 on the road and cant afford the rest for a new car, maybe the only new car they could afford doesnt suit them.
I dont applaud the scheme, but forcing these cars to be broken down and sold as parts is way better than just selling on another 2nd hand car on ebay!