04 September 2017

Car scrappage schemes are becoming so ubiquitous that buyers would benefit from a comparison tool to show which are offering the best value.

Fiat Chrysler is the latest, following hot on the heels of Renault, Nissan, Toyota and Kia and VW Group who joined in this week. Typically, those who trade in their own car are offered in the region of £2,000 towards a new one. But, there are also plenty of variations – Nissan, for example, wants to encourage great take-up of its electric Leaf model, while Toyota is offering up to £4,000 for buyers of a Land Cruiser.

So many different options not only cause confusion, but also make it harder for dealers holding multiple franchises to differentiate and market these schemes.

While the emphasis is on removing the most polluting vehicles from the roads, there is also no doubt that the overall economy is also as big a factor behind the moves as wanting to be greener.

Brexit, stagnant house prices and the fact that many auto-retailers are seeing a worrying tail-off in new car sales mean there needs to be aggressive marketing and incentives to tempt buyers.

Monday sees the latest NFDA Dealer Attitude Survey and this should provide useful insight into market sentiment. Retailer profits are buoyed by their real estate holdings and used car sales together with repairs – however, with costs such as the minimum wage rising, it seems an autumn chill is on the way.

Rachel Gordon
Editor
Auto Retail Agenda

Tags: Blog