Kings Toyota Hedge End Calls The Car Scrappage Scheme ‘A Great Success’

With the car scrappage scheme having been due to finish this February, but now extended for another month, Alex Domone, Sales Manager at Hedge End’s Kings Toyota dealership says, ‘The scheme has undoubtedly been a great success for customers, dealers, manufacturers and the government.’

The scheme enables owners of cars at least ten years old to benefit from a £2,000 discount when trading in for a new and more fuel-efficient model. Officially known as the vehicle discount scheme, participation is voluntary for dealers.

Kings Toyota report that 212 people have taken advantage of the scheme through them to date, and trading in all types of car, from Landrovers to Jaguars – and even a Porsche!

The scheme was introduced in May 2009, with a further £100m allocated in September, to help boost car sales and protect jobs within the motor manufacturing industry hit hard during the recession.

UK figures for January 2010 show sales were up a third to 145,000 on the number of cars sold in January 2009, with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders saying the scheme has accounted for a fifth of new car sales.

The society’s Chief Executive, Paul Everitt, commented, ‘Scrappage continues to successfully lift demand and today's announcement of a continuation of the scheme to the end of March will allow the maximum number of people to benefit from the budget that's still available.’

Figures released last month revealed that across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight nearly 11,000 car owners had used the scheme.

Alex Domone at Kings Toyota: ‘Although the scheme is now fast approaching its conclusion there is still government money to be utilised and this poses a fantastic opportunity for any customers who still are undecided whether to take advantage of the scheme. In addition Toyota have further committed to the UK market by the introduction of "Swappage".

‘Swappage operates in the same way as the scrappage scheme but opens the opportunity to customers who have X,Y, 51, 02 and 52 registered part exchanges. This was introduced by Toyota to further support the UK market, customers and the Toyota Dealer network.’

If you’ve taken advantage of the scrappage scheme to upgrade your car, or perhaps you feel you’ve missed out because your current car’s not old enough to qualify – or if you have views on the scheme generally, we’d love to hear at Hedgeendpeople!

Information about the scrappage scheme can be found on the government website, Directgov.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) was created in 1902 to support and promote the interests of the UK’s motor industry at home and abroad.