Scrappage Schemes

The emissions scandal didn't help, a lot of catching up to do?

I've said a few times on here that I'm a Marketing Manager for a Dealer Group that represents 6 New Car Franchises.

Golden Ticket and VIP Events where you receive a very glossy invite are usually the work of 1 or 2 agencies.  You'll find that if you accept the invite you will receive a VIP Lanyard in the post, with a mirror hanger - that's so you feel compelled to attend as it must be something special.

They are more often than not ALL smoke and mirrors where the customer gets caught up in the hiatus.   They are dealership events and despite what they claim don't have any support from the manufacturer beyond that the dealer has available for the quarter, UNLESS it's a car that is fully paid or the manufacturer insists MUST be registered by a certain date.  We've got £15K off a car at the moment that we HAD to register for the manufacturer. 

Scrappage is a different kettle of fish.  We have so far received schemes from 3 of our manufacturers, 2 of which launched yesterday.  The oldest one has been running for a week and is proving popular.    Ultimately these are all about selling cars, the motor trade with Brexit, The Election, Bad Diesel Press is finding it hard going and the manufacturers had to do something.  

The true scrappage schemes concentrate on Euro 4 and older diesels which is where the true problem with emmissions lay.  There is a little bit of a case of Euro 4 and older diesel, but the one thing I don't agree with is where the manufacturer says they won't scrap the car, because that isn't going to help emmissions.   

All our manufacturers are insisting the car is scrapped, one is actually insisting you use 1 company they have partnered with and it has a very slick website for processing the vehicle for scrap.  Others will allow you to scrap with your usual supplier but we will have to send the certificate to them to be re-imbursed the customers saving.  

So there you have it, a quick lesson in the fantastic work of car dealership marketing.

Thank you Catherine for that insight.

I think I shall continue to look at cars two years old with some manufacturers warranty left then....

My mates just bought a 65 plate BMW 520d M Sport Tourer fully loaded with leather, top line satnav/stereo etc...

It was £44k new and he paid £23k from a BMW main dealer....

Sounds like a bit more of a bargain to me then...!

Thanks again....

That's what being part of CMC is all about isn't it.  I'm happy to help anyone with questions with regards to deals they have been offered on New and Used.

If someone can only afford an old car (by definition any EU4 car is not new) probably worth at best £2-3k then how can they truly afford to shell out on a new car that still costs a lot of money even after applying all the incentives? I also find the idea of scrapping a perfectly safe, roadworthy, reliable and legal vehicle on the grounds of saving the environment is a rather stretching my credulity when the manufacturing process of the new car is truly taken into account. It also grieves me to read the previous govt scrapage scheme resulted in the loss of so many rare classics, for example 3 Escort Mexicos and 14 Ur Quattro's!! Don't sales staff have any bl**dy clue about cars? 

However catherinef, on an unrelated note does your group sell Seat? 

Yes we sell SEAT, Flatcoat.

The spellchecker kept over writing the brand name..... pity this forum doesn't have a PM facility like most forums..... we may be in the market for a new Ibiza Xcellence petrol with DSG..... (not for caravan towing.....) 

A nice choice FC, haven't had an Xcellence come into stock as yet.  We have a lovely metallic red FR as our demo car.  

l had an invite to a VIP event in July for what reason l don't know has l have just bought a New Hyundai Santa Fe at Christmas barely 7 months old. Who in their right mind would think l would be in the market for another new Hyundai. l even did a deal for servicing for five years so they know l would not be exchanging until 2021 at the earliest.

That normally happens for a couple of reasons.

1.  Yes they haven't thought properly about their data selection.

2.  Someone has thought, lets send it and they can give it to a friend/family member if they don't want it

3.  You were an existing customer and the data selection they ran was a historic one, but they then haven't checked that against more recent registrations.