Ford's new scrappage scheme...

[The Finance Guy]

Not sure how long it has been on but I see Ford have just started a new scrappage scheme on new cars. £2,000 trade-in. 

I've been considering trading in my wife's Corsa (horrible) to buy another Focus (will be my 3rd...) but I'm concerned that because the Corsa is a diesel I'm going to get offered a terrible TI value. I had been hoping to get up to about £2k for it anyway, but I was going to trade it in against a 67 plate TDCi Focus for about £11k.

Is it a bit of false economy that I'm thinking about buying brand new, paying more as well as paying a fortune in depreciation just so that I can get £2k for the Corsa no questions asked? 

Anyone have any experience of the scheme and things to look out for?

 

Thanks

[TomsFocus]

They were doing a £4k scrappage a couple of years ago (wish I'd had the money to use it then!)...but £2k isn't anywhere near enough to consider buying brand new in my opinion.

Have you actually had any trade in values on the Corsa so far?  Might find it's not as bad as you think depending on the age of the Corsa, diesel is still in demand outside of London, especially small, cheap to run ones.  

 

[The Finance Guy]

Cheers Tom. 

Vauxhall were offering £4k for a vauxhall on a new vauxhall....but I absolutely didn't want to end up with another vauxhall!

I'm going to go up to the dealers today and just ask the question, but I put the details into the Evans Halshaw thing, WBAC and all that and they were all talking £700-£800.

The great thing about scrappage is there's no questions asked...as I know the back box needs replaced. I've just put in a new EGR valve which was a killer job but there was a check engine light because the valve was seized solid so that would have been some money off the trade in. 

[TomsFocus]

Haha, yes I've seen the Vauxhall scheme and thought the same thing!!

Tbh if you can push for ~£1000 for either PX or maybe private sale then you're only saving £1000...you'll lose that in depreciation driving a new Focus off of the forecourt compared to an approved used one.  If you did want to buy new, you could also use one of those websites like CarKeys (I think!) that search for the best brand new price around the country, you can save a lot more than £1000 if you're willing to travel.

Unless the backbox is literally hanging off they probably won't care, main dealers just go on book figures for PX and chuck the old cars into auction so aren't particularly fussed.  A private buyer or WBAC might try to knock a little off...but max £100 I'd say.  

If you can afford to buy brand new and want the peace of mind of the warranty and the 'feel' of a brand new car, then by all means go for it.  I just don't personally see that's it's worth spending so much extra than you were intending to just because of the scrappage incentive. 

 

[The Finance Guy]

Appreciate it Tom. Managed to push them to £1,236 so I've just put a deposit down on my 3rd Focus! 

Exciting.