Letter to my MP

[IBM]

I am going to go out, buy hundreds of cars eligible for the discount, then buy up a large number of new cars with the £2000 + whatever additional discount I can get for buying in bulk + current discounts already in place.

And then I'm going to open up a dealership selling those cars as new at a considerable amount below current dealer prices.

Or I would if the new car market didn't terrify me right now.

[how1]

Be good to find a proper way to rid our streets of all the old, un-road-worthy bangers etc.

[Kumagoro]

gheeTsar, there isnt a tax on Japanese cars as far as I know however
the MOT is much more expensive.

MOTs (Shakken) are done every two years and it costs about 500 or
1000 pounds or at least it did in 2003. This cost isnt as bad as it seems
as it includes 3rd party insruance.

Also if you have a kei car (660 cc) its like 200 to 400 pounds.

As such there are not many really cheap cars.

[badass]

There's also a good article here about how old "bangers" can be just as environmentally friendly as new cars, and why old cars should be saved
http://www.great-cars.co.uk/images/s...escrappage.pdf

Shame that article's entire premise is completely based on a wrong assumption.

Approximately 10% of the lifetime energy of a car used for appx 100,000 miles/10 years is used for manufacture. The rest if fuel and maintenance.
Unfortunately the links to back this up are no longer available but were at the site www.ilea.org
A search on google for "lifecycle energy analysis" will probably bring up a few useful publications based upon actual data rather than supposition from classic car enthusiasts.

I for one am for a silly figure being offered to scrap cars. It will keep untaxed, uninsured bangers off the roads. Those that can't afford cars will be forced to use public transport putting it higher on the political agenda and hopefully improving it for everyone.
I do believe however that this should be a phased introduction and shouldn't be as much as £2000 and should be a tax rebate rather than offset against a new car purchase. That means that only people that pay income tax, no matter how little will eventaully get the money.
It should start at £100. That will mean every car is worth at least £100.
It should go up in £100 increments every 6 months till it hits £1000
Other possible benefits are:
Reduced congestion. Lower road/transport tax as the roads will be less used requiring les maintenance. That in turn will reduce roadworks further reducing congestion.
Better response times for energency services due to less congestion.
Less road rage. Less congestion means less mad people (not proportionally though. Some people are just looking for a fight etc)

[how1]

How about anybody with badly maintained 'old' car has to have it either scrapped or they have to be made to carry out certain works on it!

[pauldarkside]

How about anybody with badly maintained 'old' car has to have it either scrapped or they have to be made to carry out certain works on it!

That's what the MOT is for