Wednesday 31st March

THE Government's "cash for bangers" £400 million car-scrappage scheme has ended having considerably boosted the sale of new motors.

The vehicle discount or 'scrappage' scheme is a voluntary scheme for motor dealers. If a dealer joins they’ll give you £2,000 off a new vehicle if you let them scrap your old one. The scheme ran from May 2009 to February 2010

With the £2,000 grant being split between the Government and the motor industry, the scheme had an immediate effect on new car sales which had been in the doldrums at the beginning of 2009.

By July last year, monthly sales had improved year-on-year for the first time in 15 months. Sales have continued to rise each month since. And then in September last year, the government announced plans for a further £100 million funding for the scrappage scheme. This meant that the scheme covered over 400,000 vehicles.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: "The scheme was always time limited and today as it closes I am pleased to see scrappage has delivered the results we aimed for - not just for manufacturers, but for the whole industry and its supply chain "The figures show that this scheme gave vital support, boosting demand when the industry needed it most, helping to position the auto sector to meet the challenges of building a strong low-carbon future.

The Business Department said:

- Latest figures show that scrappage contributed to about 20% of all new car registrations since the scheme started
- Half (54%) of scrappage buyers surveyed had never bought a new car before
- More than half (56%) said they would not have bought any vehicle at this time if the scrappage scheme had not been introduced
- Cars bought through scrappage had average CO2 emissions of 133g per one kilometre 27% lower than the average CO2 of scrapped cars
- The average age of cars scrapped under the scheme was just over 13 years
- Government data estimates that there may have been as many as 4,000 jobs supported by the scheme at manufacturers and suppliers across the UK
- Of those surveyed 60% of car owners who bought a new vehicle under the scheme were more than 60 years old.

Thanks to the guys at MSN who provided this info: http://cars.uk.msn.com