Are Scrappage Schemes Really Environmentally Motivated?
Scrappage is a relatively new scheme which has been introduced by several governments on both sides of the Atlantic. Under the scheme citizens of each country involved are offered several thousand units of currency toward the purchase price of a brand new car. In exchange for this money they must trade in their old car which has to be at least 10 years old. The old car is then immediately crushed.
These Scrappage schemes have all been hailed for addressing environmental concerns. Some regions even state emissions requirements for the new vehicles being bought.
This environmental angle has also been pushed by the motor trade. For example the chief executive of the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Ltd has been quoted as saying “smaller, lower CO2-emitting cars are taking the lion’s share of registrations, which will have a positive impact in reducing emissions…”
Sounds good doesn’t it? But there’s a problem. In reality building one brand new car uses more energy, creates more pollution and generally does far more environmental damage than running an ‘old banger’ for an additional 100,000 miles.
The thing is our governments know this perfectly well. They just don’t think it’s as important as rebuilding our flagging economies and I’m not about to start a debate about which *is* more important either. All I am trying to say is that you are being sold a lie if you believe that taking part in a Scrappage scheme will benefit the environment. It isn’t a green option, it’s simply about the money.
So what then about the disgusting smoke-belching wrecks we sometimes get stuck behind in traffic jams? Surely it’s a good idea to have few less of those on our streets? Of course it is but Scrappage schemes don’t address this problem at all. Does anyone honestly believe that the kind of person who runs old scrap on a shoe-string budget is the target market of such schemes? Even if they were the target do you really believe that knocking ten to fifteen percent off the asking price of a new car is enough to persuade someone to spend the *total* cost of their existing car every single month for the next 5 years?!!? It’s a bit of a leap of faith don’t you think?
The people who will take part in, and benefit from, Scrappage schemes are middle income, middle class professionals. They are the group of society most likely to be considering the purchase of a brand new car and also, coincidentally, the same group of people most likely to be persuaded by a cleverly worded advertising campaign about saving the environment. Unfortunately they are also the drivers of the older but perfectly serviceable vehicles which we should be encouraging the continued use of rather than buying new.
If you’re still not convinced might I suggest you take a trip to your nearest new car lot and ask them about the quality of cars they have had to scrap under the scheme. I think you may be surprised by the answers you get.
