Saturday, Apr 11, 2009
Taxpayer funded bribe to scrap old cars
Thisismoney: A £2,500 handout to scrap your old car
Sorry if this has been posted before, just saw something in a newpaper headline at the supermarket this morning.
Carmakers have been lobbying the gov to adopt a scheme similar to that in Germany, where motorists are paid to scrap older cars, to stimulate the carmaking industry and save the planet by reducing emissions.
And our gov -always ready to bail out their mates with taxpayer money - are actually thinking about it.
Unbef**kinglievable, the utter waste....
Posted by a saver @ 05:10 PM (1353 views) Add Comment
13 Comments
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1. a saver said...
Can there be any possible sense in bribing people to scrap a perfectly good car -like my ten-year-old Mondeo that still looks good and gets 500 miles to the tankful -and buy a new one, the manufacturing of which will have created a whole lot more emissions? I should think that crushing old cars creates a whole lot of emissions too, presumably the taxpayer foots the bill for that too.
Well this government are all about encouraging waste, profligacy, unnecessary job creation and debt at the expense of sensible people. Think this harebrained scheme could annoy a lot of older voters as well as the Greens.
2. Maihem said...
This is equivalent to the taxpayer buying old cars for their fair market value and paying you to see to it that it is destroyed for them with the difference. The government is actually buying cars it doesn't need. and taxing us to fund the policy.
3. mark wadsworth said...
The German experience shows quite clearly that this is a negative sum game, as A Saver and Maihem suggest.
4. alan said...
My mates at Ford have been offered voluntary redundancy. If few accept, then its compulsory. I went last Christmas, as a contractor.
If the whole enterprise goes over, nobody pays PAYE tax. The government (taxpayer) pays benefits instead.
Wouldn't you like to be a diversity manager or equalities executive with local or central government, the NHS or the police? - nice index linked pension too...BUT who is going to pay?
The UK doesn't make anything anymore. The Chinese don't want to buy our Eastenders programmes either!
5. drewster said...
At least they're giving money to the people, rather than to the bankers...
6. enuii said...
Just remember that once stocks of surplus motors have been cleared that your £2500 will not go very far on an imported motor once manufacturers have adjusted their production volumes and pricing to sustainable levels, plus most people driving around in ten year old cars are either too frugal or too broke to be sucked in by the scheme.
Another cheap headline grabbing scheme from a government full of wind and little else.
7. Maihem said...
@drewster,
But the people have to pay the tax that funds the payment to the people! They're taking money off the people and returning it only on the condition that they destroy some hard earned wealth! They should just cut out the middle man and make it illegal to own an old car. Obligatory wealth destruction is stupid.
8. headmelter said...
Does this mean my old banger will be worth £2k more than it is now?
9. paul said...
I'm ambivalent on this one. Can't see it being of massive overall help, but I agree with drewster.
At least this is funding productive assets. If you work in the NHS, public sector or are a lawyer, doctor, management consultant or tax advisor you are not actually creating any wealth - you are requiring other people to earn the money and require your services.
If you're not digging it out of the ground and making something with it, you're essentially parasitical in the equation.
And I include myself there ...
10. Sulavaca said...
Production of new cars increases emissions and consumption of fossil fuels a disproportionate amount when compared to the emissions produced by keeping an older car on the road. Germany banned new car production after the second world war to improve the local economy relying on mechanics and technicians as well as local spares production to keep older cars on the road. It also reduced its demand on oil imports because they new car plants were not consuming which sped up its economic recovery.
The talk of newer cars being more economical and eco friendly is absolute TOSH as well as a blatant lie.
11. a saver said...
headmelter @7. Yes, if they do adopt this scheme. My car isn't worth £2500 either but it seems all wrong to scrap it.
People who were going to buy a new car anyway could theoretically buy a car for £500 and use it to get the £2000/2500 voucher from the government. Hey presto, a ready market for old bangers! But as ennui implies, people would need to bargain shop to get a good deal.
12. robh said...
Parasitical is a bit hard. The system needs its components. If you have people making cars its best to have rules of how to operate them and so on. There does seem to be a point where people are just creaming off without contributing anything at all though; I think there must be some link to the net benefit to society as a whole
If you believe that oil production is peaking and that cars last 15 years or so, there are probably enough cars to see us through now. Production should be gradually reduced
Its time to make something new. Thats why you need to have education to provide the next step. Education being another thing that doesn't really make anything solid
13. a saver said...
sulavaca @ 10, nice to see an environmental comment. I am quite aghast at the thought of tens of thousands of old cars being crushed and the nonrecyclable bits going into landfill.