REARVIEW:Good riddance to the scrappage scheme. It used Government money to discount new cars for people who already have access to money or credit while getting them to junk a perfectly good car and then buy a new one whose production no doubt caused another small rise global warming.
It should never be repeated. But, I hear you say, it stimulated the car market, saved jobs in the industry and gave hard pressed motoring consumers a boost in the worst recession in a generation. Maybe. Or it was a scheme that gave a few thousand euro to people who could already afford to buy a new car, but only those who drive A and B tax-band cars, thereby allowing the scheme to hide under the guise of an environmentally friendly initiative. It allowed politicians to claim credit for delivering cheaper cars for consumers and increased car-related taxation for the exchequer.
It was an industry stimulus the likes of which in the property sector contributed greatly to our downfall as an economic entity.
Watch how those taxes will plummet now that scrappage has been scrapped. Car dealers must continue to match the discounts offered by the Government scheme if they are to maintain sales, and related taxes. However, one has to wonder if anybody who was going to buy a new car has already done so before the June 30th deadline and if demand will now plummet. Has the scrappage scheme put off the inevitable?
Maybe the next time the Government decides to tinker with VRT or car tax it might consider the person with a couple of children who is buying 10-year-old Hyundai Santa Fe or Renault Espace and how much motor tax they have to pay.