Scrappage schemes 2018: everything you need to know

Following in the recent steps of Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai and others, Nissan announced that it was joining the effort to put the UK’s drivers into less polluting cars through the incentives, which the brand focuses on used Nissan Leafs - offering up to £2000 off approved used 24kWh examples of the electric supermini, plus trade-in value of traded in cars. 

The brand has now extended its 'Switch' scheme to 31 March, alongside other manufacturers. Nissan’s scheme originally ran for the month of September 2017, and was offered to owners of pre-Euro 5 classification cars, registered before 2010. Nissan was the only car maker to be offering the scheme on used cars; the other manufacturers’ schemes extend only to brand new ones. A Nissan spokesman clarified that the brand will not be scrapping traded in cars.

Seat

Between £1500 (Mii) and £3500 (Leon) is offered off the Seat range, excluding the Ateca. 

Like other Volkswagen Group brands, Seat’s scheme applies only to diesel vehicles being scrapped, of Euro 1-4 classification. Owners must have kept their cars for at least six months and the initiative has been extended until 31 March. 

Dacia

Wallet-friendly brand Dacia represents even more value; the brand offers up to £1000 off the Duster, with the exception of entry-level Access trim, and up to £500 off the Sandero, in return for a Euro 4 or older car of any brand, as long as they were registered before 31 December 2009. 

Those taking advantage of the deal must have owned their old car for more than 90 days, and after trade-in the car will be destroyed. The scheme has been extended to the end of March. 

Hyundai

Hyundai’s scheme pays up to £5000 for a Euro 1-4 car if it is replaced with one of its new models. Vehicles of up to Euro 3 standard will be scrapped, while Euro 4 models will be traded in. For Euro 4 cars, Hyundai will add the trade-in value of the customer’s car to the discount value. The scheme is available until 31 March.

The biggest incentive is offered if the cars are swapped for a new Santa Fe, with Hyundai taking £5000 off its asking price. The smallest discount is with the i10, which has a discount of £1500. The trade-in car can be petrol or diesel.

Toyota

Toyota’s initiative offers savings of up to £4000 when trading in any model more than seven years old and owned by a customer for at least six months. The biggest saving of £4000 can be achieved on a Land Cruiser, while the lowest saving of £1000 is for the C-HR and C-HR Hybrid. Savings of £2500 and £3500 can be made on the Yaris and Auris respectively.

When asked why greener cars such as the Prius and C-HR Hybrid did not offer as the same level of discount as some other models on the scheme, Toyota told Autocar that it had focused its investment on smaller models because “this is where the majority of transactions are likely to be".

The brand's scrappage offer has been extended to the end of January 2018, and has already scrapped more than 3800 cars under the scheme. 

Audi

Audi is offering between £2000 (Q2) and £8000 (Q7 e-tron) off its range, excluding the new A8, Q7 TDI, R8 and RS-badged models. The A3 e-tron is eligible for the Government’s £2500 OLEV grant, so a saving of up to £7500 can be applied. The brand's scrappage scheme has been extended to the end of 31 March, 2018. 

Any Euro 1 to Euro 4 diesel car, from any brand, can be traded in, with traded-in models scrapped. The owner must have owned the trade-in car for at least six months. 

Volkswagen

The scheme covers both the Volkswagen and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brands, and has been extended into 2018, and is now available on orders up until 2 April 2018. A saving of £1000 is on offer for the new Up, while the highest discount is reserved for the Sharan and Passat GTE at £6000. 

A £5500 scrappage scheme discount combined with the Government’s £4500 OLEV grant can result in a total saving of £10,000 on an e-Golf. Adding in the £2500 Government grant for plug-in hybrids, the Golf GTE can have £7500 off and the Passat GTE £8500 off. The Touareg is not included in the scheme. 

Ford

Ford has announced an extension to its scrappage scheme - which is one of the industry's most successful - into early 2018, with the scheme coming to an end on 31 March. Ford’s scrappage deal offers an additional £2000 off any models, in addition to existing deals, meaning £4000 can be shaved off the cost of a new Kuga. 

The incentive applies to Euro 1-4 cars and all traded-in vehicles will be scrapped. The biggest saving available is on the Transit; an existing deal of £5000 off its list price, plus a £2000 scrappage incentive, brings the total saving to £7000. 

Lexus

Lexus launched a scrappage scheme with the aim of getting customers into its range of hybrid models, which make up 99% of its sales.

The brand offered £3500 off the CT or IS, or £4000 off the NX and RX SUVs when a petrol or diesel model of any brand registered before the end of 2009 was traded in. The traded-in car must have been registered to the current owner for more than six months. 

Uber

The controversial mobility scheme and taxi alternative offered £1500 credit usable only on the app, in return for proof of scrappage of a pre-Euro 4 classification diesel car. 

Uber's scrappage scheme only applied to the first 1000 people in London to show proof of scrappage, however, and the scheme began in October 2017.

Peugeot

Peugeot offered as much as £7000 off its range of cars and vans, with the exception of 5008 large SUV. The scheme ran until the end of 2017, starting on 8 September, and applied to all petrol and diesel cars registered before the end of 2010 - a year later than the majority of other manufacturers' schemes. 

The largest saving across the range was £7000 off the Boxer van in 333 spec and above, while in passenger cars, the 508 gets £6000 off, while the smallest saving was on the 108 city car.

Citroën

Citroën's scrappage scheme also covered both cars and commercial vehicles, with a maximum £7000 saving available on the brand's Relay van in 33 spec and above. The largest saving across the Citroën range was £6400 off the soon-to-be-replaced C3 Picasso, which makes way for the C3 Aircross. Customers could get £1600 off the C3 Aircross, but like the C1, C3 and C4 Cactus, Touch trim models are not available with the discount.

Customers must have owned their cars for more than 90 days prior to trading them in, and the scheme ran until 31 December. Like the other PSA Group brands, traded-in cars must have been registered before the end of 2010.

DS

DS, despite offering the most expensive models in the PSA Group, had the lowest scrappage scheme discounts, with up to £5500 off its range, excluding the DS 3 Performance, Performance Black and BRM models, in both hatchback and cabrio forms. A £3500 discount was available on the DS 3, while £5500 could be had off the DS 5. 

Like its PSA Group stablemates, DS offered the discounts to owners of cars registered before the end of 2010, although the car must have been in the owner's name for more than 90 days. Cars bought under the scheme must have be registered before the end of 2017. 

Suzuki

Suzuki's scrappage scheme was considerably shorter than others'; those interested had until the 30th September to take advantage. Owners of pre-Euro 5-classification cars could get up to £2000 off a new car under the scheme, and all traded-in cars were scrapped under the Autogreen recycling programme. 

The largest £2000 saving applied to SZ-T and SZ5-spec Vitara, Swift and Baleno models, while a smaller £1000 saving was given on SZ3 and SZ4-spec Celerios, SZ-T and SZ5-spec Ignis and the SZ-4-spec Jimny. 

Mazda

Mazda offered up to £5000 off a sub-130g/km CO2 model across its range, with the exception of the new CX-5 and MX-5. The smallest saving available was £2500 on the 2, to £5000 off the Skyactiv-D-engined Mazda 6. 

The scrappage scheme - all of the traded-in cars are removed from the road - ran until the 31 December, and applied to all pre-2010 cars, petrol or diesel, of any brand. 

MG

MG's scrappage scheme only applied to its 3 supermini, but the Chinese-owned brand offered at least £1500 off its already budget-friendly titch. 

Any car, petrol or diesel, of any brand could be traded in, and the brand also put no restriction on the Euro classification of the traded-in car.

Fiat 

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles offered up to £5,300 off new models for the month of September 2017 only.

Buyers received the discount when trading in a Fiat, Alfa Romeo or Jeep petrol or diesel model registered before 31st December 2009.

The biggest discount applied to an Alfa Romeo Giulietta, on which a saving of up to £5300 could be made, depending on the variant you chose. Buyers can a discount of up to £2125 on the popular Fiat 500, while there was £3000 off a Fiat Spider 124.

Kia

Kia's scrappage scheme offer applied only to its two smallest models, the Picanto and Rio. Owners of older cars were offered £2000 to trade in for the city car or supermini, after which the traded-in cars were scrapped. When asked why the scheme isn't offered on its hybrid and EV models such as the Optima PHEV, Niro and Soul EV, a Kia spokesman said that the brand considered who would benefit most from the current scheme, and who benefitted from the previous scheme in 2009. Hybrid and EV models, low-emissions-friendly though they are, are too expensive for the majority of Kia's scrappage scheme customers. 

Like most of the other schemes, Kia's ran until the end of 2017 and was eligible on cars built before the start of 2010. The scheme can't be used alongside existing retail offers, though. 

Renault

Renault’s initiative offered up to £5200 off a new car. The incentive is available on both cars and vans, and could be used in combination with Renault’s existing customer offers.

The brand will accept any Euro 4 standard car - petrol or diesel - registered before 31 December 2009. Under the scheme, traded-in vehicles were to be be taken off the roads permanently and must have been in the owner’s name for more than 90 days. 

Skoda

Skoda offered up to £4000 off its range when a Euro 1-4 diesel car is traded in and scrapped. The largest discount was applied to the Superb, the smallest to the Citigo. The Kodiaq was not included in the scheme. 

Traded-in vehicles must have been in the owner’s name for at least six months. As with other Volkswagen Group schemes, it ended on 31 December.

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz launched a diesel scrappage scheme that offers UK customers up to £2000 off a new diesel, hybrid or electric model when a Euro 1-4 car is traded in, as the brand rolls out the initiative scheme across Europe. 

Any Euro 1-4 car can be traded in, regardless of brand, although the discount can only be applied to low-emission Mercedes diesels. Smart Electric Drive models are also eligible, although it comes with a smaller discount of £1000. The scheme will run until 31 December. 

A sum was also awarded to customers based on the car's valuation by the CAP Black Book if the car is of Euro 1-3 classification. If the car is a Euro 4, a trade-in price agreed with the dealer will be awarded to the owner. For all customers, this will be in addition to the £1000 or £2000 trade-in discount. Those taking advantage of the scheme must have owned their traded-in car for more than six months. 

BMW

BMW was the first to offer UK customers an incentive to trade in their cars. Its scheme offered up to £2000 off Euro 6-compliant cars with CO2 outputs of below 130g/km, as well as full-electric cars such as the i3. BMW has said that it launched the scheme to increase the proportion of low-emission vehicles on the road.

Euro 4 and older diesel cars of any brand can be traded in, but BMW has stressed that the initiaitve is not necessarily a scrappage scheme; the fate of traded-in cars will be decided on a case-by-case basis, with only the lowest-value cars being scrapped.

Mini

Mini's scrappage scheme was launched at the same time as BMW's, with £2000 off models emitting below 130g/km CO2, on top of a trade-in price. Unlike other brands' offers, Mini offered the incentive on top of its existing retail offers. 

The same terms and conditions apply as BMW's scrappage scheme, so you'll have to have been the registered owner of the car for at least 12 months; Euro 4 and older diesel cars of any brand eligible to be traded in.