Has anyone spotted in the news recently there is a push from the motor trade for the government to introduce a subsidy scheme to boost the sales of new cars. There is apparently a scheme like this operating in Germany at the moment. The idea is that if you trade in a car more than 9 years old for your new eurobox the government will guarantee you a part exchange value of (I think) EUR 2,500 in exchange for scrapping your old banger.
The theory behind this is that it is a green measure as well as boosting car sales. Industry hype is that new cars are much better for the environment - lower CO2 emissions, recyclable etc etc. Therefore there is an overall benefit to planet earth.
There are a few problems with this.
First, the basic green premise is plain wrong. If you look at whole life CO2 emissions (ie cradle to grave) there is a huge percentage made up of the emissions generated by making all that steel and plastic, paint, assembly etc in the first place(anyone know precisely how big - my recollection is it is 30 - 40%?). Therfore you will actually drive up CO2 emissions because of the reduced overall age of the car population - ie you've had to make more cars (with the associated upfront CO2 cost) to achieve the same number on the road.
Second, 9 year old cars tend to do very low mileages cos they've reached the sort of owners who only have a car to pop the kids to the doctors etc, whereas new cars have a much higher chance of being high mileage motorway hackers. So there is much lower total emissions from an old car even if the per mile rate is poor. Hence poor overall benefit to the environment.
This is a directly anti poor people measure. If you drive up the floor price of old cars, you are bound to make it impossible for numbers of low income groups to own a car at all.
Finally, and most relevantly to us, it will decimate the number of classic cars. Who amongst us with an old P6 sat on the drive in poor nick could resist the idea of selling it to a yuppy for three times plus its true value for him to trade in for his next new motor? And don't think a lack of MoT will inhibit things! If it was a deal maker, how many garages could resist slapping a bent MoT on an old wreck, certain in the knowledge it was a one trip to the crusher?
Anybody any idea what we ought to do about this. Anybody know how to get a Downing Street web site petition going? Got an email address to lobby Meddlesome (I mean Mandlesohn of course)? Any idea how to get representation from the classic car clubs off the mark?
Chris
The theory behind this is that it is a green measure as well as boosting car sales. Industry hype is that new cars are much better for the environment - lower CO2 emissions, recyclable etc etc. Therefore there is an overall benefit to planet earth.
There are a few problems with this.
First, the basic green premise is plain wrong. If you look at whole life CO2 emissions (ie cradle to grave) there is a huge percentage made up of the emissions generated by making all that steel and plastic, paint, assembly etc in the first place(anyone know precisely how big - my recollection is it is 30 - 40%?). Therfore you will actually drive up CO2 emissions because of the reduced overall age of the car population - ie you've had to make more cars (with the associated upfront CO2 cost) to achieve the same number on the road.
Second, 9 year old cars tend to do very low mileages cos they've reached the sort of owners who only have a car to pop the kids to the doctors etc, whereas new cars have a much higher chance of being high mileage motorway hackers. So there is much lower total emissions from an old car even if the per mile rate is poor. Hence poor overall benefit to the environment.
This is a directly anti poor people measure. If you drive up the floor price of old cars, you are bound to make it impossible for numbers of low income groups to own a car at all.
Finally, and most relevantly to us, it will decimate the number of classic cars. Who amongst us with an old P6 sat on the drive in poor nick could resist the idea of selling it to a yuppy for three times plus its true value for him to trade in for his next new motor? And don't think a lack of MoT will inhibit things! If it was a deal maker, how many garages could resist slapping a bent MoT on an old wreck, certain in the knowledge it was a one trip to the crusher?
Anybody any idea what we ought to do about this. Anybody know how to get a Downing Street web site petition going? Got an email address to lobby Meddlesome (I mean Mandlesohn of course)? Any idea how to get representation from the classic car clubs off the mark?
Chris
