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Business secretary Peter Mandelson will reveal the finer detail of the government's scrappage plan next week - and it is possible that there is still room for some negotiation on how it will work.

Chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling announced today that a £2000 incentive will be paid to new car buyers who scrap a car that is ten or more years old. This will be half funded by the government and half by the manufacturer of the car being bought.

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One thing that may need to be looked at is the treatment of cars on SORN.

Everything I've read says that cars currently on SORN qualify but a car that is scrapped must have a current MoT certificate in order for the incentive to be paid. This leaves a lot of people who have a car on SORN in the position where they may have to spend a lot of money to make that car roadworthy and get it MOT'd just in order in order to scrap it. If it really works that way the scheme is even madder than I thought!
 

Prime Minister clears up confusion surrounding scrappage scheme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS37nnFYzZ0&feature=channel

Another problem.

Because the manufacturers have to contribute GBP1,000 per car this makes it difficult for those selling small, cheap cars to join the scheme, as GBP1,000 is a much larger percentage of the selling price of such cars. But it is only if the cars bought under the scheme are economical low-CO2 models that the benefits in terms of reduced emissions from new cars can be maximised. Bonkers.
 

roadtester:

Because the manufacturers have to contribute GBP1,000 per car this makes it difficult for those selling small, cheap cars to join the scheme, as GBP1,000 is a much larger percentage of the selling price of such cars. But it is only if the cars bought under the scheme are economical low-CO2 models that the benefits in terms of reduced emissions from new cars can be maximised. Bonkers.

Manufacturers will all want to qualify, so what will they do to absorb the £1000 they have to put in themselves? Put prices up £1000 obviously. These prices won't go back down once Scrappage ends.

I have two issues with the scheme that need clearing up. The first is vehicles on SORN of which others have commented - they should be included if you comply with the other requirements.

The second relates to vehicles that meet all the requirements concerning age but were not registered in with DVLA but perhaps imported from elsewhere. In my case I have a Toyota Starlett which was first registered in Ireland in 1997. I imported the vehicle into the UK in 2002 when I registered it.

So although I am interested in buying a new car and potentially have 2 cars that could qualify neither of them currently do!

 This is just another barrier to young people trying to get on the road!!