After todays UK budget , it obviously begs the question:

Would you trade in your 10 year old Fiat for a new car (fiat or otherwise) to obtain the £2000 trade in scheme?

a) ..also with the knowledge they will scrap your old car

b) ...scheme apparently used to clear "excess" stock of new cars lying in fields at present.

c)..they seem to think that the new car will be more economical, greener for the environment, and more reliable than the one you have got.......(?)

Membership Number: 10962

The problem is how many people who own a car older than 10 years old can afford to buy a new car. I think not that many.

Prob the case but if i knew i would be buying a new car(little chance of that !)in the next 12 months i would buy a cheep one,reg it,sorn etc then cash it in.im sure there is loads of buyers thinking the same thing with no interest whatever the make or model.Dont think they will be enough new buyers about compared to cheep 100-500 cars about to make any difference in prices of these type of cars,just another labour goverment silly change's thats open to abuse

Membership Number: 11998

I'm pretty sure the scheme only lasts til March 2010 or until the £300m runs out, whichever is sooner. The car you want to trade in must have been registered to you for at least 12 months, so if you don't already own it, it won't qualify

I think the Government need to look at the bigger picture. This £2,000 will in the main serve to line the pockets of foreign car manufactures, as it will be used for the purchase of cheaper, smaller and more economical cars which are generally not produced here in Britain. (This is where the 'discount' will have the greatest benefit).

Also, current figures show that almost half of the total number of cars produced 14 years ago are still on the road. Most of these I suspect are maintained by their owners using cheap or pattern parts and local back street garages and specialists rather than dealers, so if you get rid of these older cars a lot of the smaller, independant garages, repairers and spares people will be forced to close.

Also, if you discount the new car market by a further £2,000 per car surely the secondhand car market will also be hit by the same amount, so in one hit the Chancellor has wiped a huge chunk off of the value of everyone's car as well as forcing the eventual closure of lots of the smaller motor traders/businesses, which he says he's trying to help!

IMHO the scheme is totally self defeating

Rant over.

Membership Number: 4647

This is an email I was sent by someone

"Hi
I have a 1988 Fiat Strada 60 CL MK3. The car is in remarkable condition and has an MOT till next January. Do you know if there is any demand (value) in this model. If not I'm thinking of trading it in under the new government scheme.
Thanks
Barry"

My response was that the £2000 was worth approx 4x the value of his car and in reality it was worth more scrapped as a result unfortunately. What can you say.....shame but true.

Trevor

I was in birmingham today and outside a vw garage near the fort dunlop there was a F reg polo and its a rust free clean car with a sigh "we have given £2000 trade in for this car !"eventhough you could get that sort of discount without if you tried looks like a fue new buyers have been taken in

Membership Number: 11998

The "other" side to this is, the preservation of the older car. If you look on www.autotrader.co.uk sometimes a nice car, in time - warp condition, 1 careful owner , low mileage, comes up, and is available at around £600 or less, as a previous trade in. Ideal for a learner driver, or even perhaps an enthusiast of whichever marque it may be, to grant it the same loving care it has been used to. But now , I presume (correct me if I'm wrong) , there will be no alternative but the car to be scrapped, because the Government wish to rid "old" cars off the road.

Membership Number: 10962

still a fue cheep old cars about,1987 merc 300sl convertible no mot £1000 and a one owner 40k rover 620 1999 v reg taxed and test £500,picked them up this week px's on used not new,would have been a shame if the buyers had bought new and had been scraped the rover is as new and the merc can be easly put back on the road.

fiat themselves are running a advert about trading in your old car, £1000, plus £1500 fiat eco bonus. old fiats? or fords? vauxhalls?

Membership Number: yes