Yahoo Finance Car scrappage schemes: as VW and Toyota join the fray, how do all the offers compare?
Carmakers VW and Toyota are the latest big names in motoring to launch vehicle scrappage schemes.
They join a raft of competitors promising to knock thousands of pounds off the price of a new, clean car when you trade in your older, polluting model.
It’s one way the motor industry is trying to fight back the malaise in sales, which many blame on the Brexit effect that has seen inflation rising, wages squeezed and consumer confidence hit.
So, how to all the various schemes compare. We give you the low down…
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VW: Offering up to £6,000 to trade in old diesel cars for a new vehicle – petrol vehicles are not part of the deal. All VW brands – which include Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles – are part of the scheme.
The UK version offers considerably less than German customers have been receiving – over there, there are discounts of about £9,000.
VW was engulfed by an emissions cheating scandal two years ago, with some 11 million vehicles affected.
Incentives range from £1,800 off a new VW Up! to £6,000 off a Sharan people carrier. Electric and hybrid vehicles, which attract UK government grants, will be included, meaning an e-Golf, which gets a £4,500 grant, will also have VW trade-in saving of £5,500, adding up to £10,000 off in total. It applies to all new cars ordered before December 31.
Toyota: Savings of up to £4,000 are being offered in the scheme which runs until the end of December. It is open to any vehicle more than seven years old, petrol or diesel, in customer ownership for a minimum of six months
The offer covers almost the entire Toyota passenger car and light commercial range, from the Aygo city car to Land Cruiser and Hilux.
The Toyota Prius is one of the most recognisable hybrid vehicles on the road today (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)
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Ford: Announced in August, the Ford scheme will see consumers given £2,000 off new models ranging in price from about £12,000 to more than £20,000.
Ford said that by combining the scrappage incentive with other standard offers, customers could receive up to £4,000 off a car or £7,000 off the cost of a van.
Under Ford’s scheme old cars, from any manufacturer, can be exchanged until the end of December.
Any car or van, both petrol and diesel, that took the roads before 2010 are eligible.
BMW/Mini: Again, launched in August, BMW is offering about £2,000 off a new vehicle when you trade in your “dirty diesel”. Vehicles have to have been registered before 2009 and have been owned for more than a year.
The replacement car must be an all-electric car, a plug-in hybrid or a Euro 6 compliant model with CO2 emissions of less than 130g/km. The scheme runs until the end of the year.
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Mercedes: Any diesels made between 1992 and 2010 are eligible for trade-in as long as you’ve owned the car – regardless of brand – for longer than six months.
The scheme runs until December 31, while registration and estimated delivery of the new model must be between August 2 2017 and March 31 2018.
Owners of Euro 4 diesels will receive a straight trade-in price – up to £2,000 – while those with older Euro 1, 2 and 3 diesels will be offered compensation for it to be scrapped after its value is assessed
Vauxhall: One of the first major manufacturers to launch a scrappage scheme, it was initially intended to run from May until June but has been extended to the end of September following a rise in sales.
Some 20,000 customers have taken advantage of the scheme. Vauxhall says any car registered to its current owner for 90 days or more is eligible for the payment, and that vehicles from other brands had accounted for 63% of the vehicles traded-in.
Drivers can choose from ADAM, Corsa, Meriva, Astra and Mokka X models. For example, you can get up to £4,400 support towards a new Mokka X SUV, including the £2,000 for scrapping your vehicle.
Hyundai: Launched in late August, those tempted to trade in old for new can get up to £5,000 off a new Hyundai.
It will apply to all petrol and diesel cars with Euro 1-4 engines registered before 31 December 2009 and runs until the end of the year.
Under the terms of the scheme, Euro 1-3 engine cars will be scrapped, while owners of a Euro 4 model do not have to scrap their car but can trade it for any model across the Hyundai range.
