New Car, Old Car or Hire a Car

New Money for Old Cars

With the current furore about UK MP expenses the team at Shooping Information are a tad sceptical about the governments latest ploy to kick start the economy.

Following their enormously successful reduction in VAT - boy that 2.5% reduction really did have us all out spending like crazy - this new incentive to encourage us to get our wallets out is the recently announced car scrappage scheme.

£2000 to scrap your old car!

The headline cannot be ignored - two thousand pounds for any car over ten years old - don't get caught in the stampede. What's the catch?

However it turns out that not only is the scrappage scheme more likely to boost the sales of overseas manufacturers but the complience and requirements to qualify for this scrappage bonus is very much in the hands of dealerships - and we all have absolute trust in car salesmen.

Alternantives to buying a new car

The BBC reports that two carmakers are already delaying their involvement in the scrappage scheme so if you are running a clapped out old car but would like to drive a new car from Ford or Honda consider hiring a car until they are ready to offer the scrappage incentive.

There is unexpected side effect of the reduction of cars being produced.

Travel operators are suggesting a shortage of hire cars this summer with the most popular holiday locations being "in a state of car rental crisis".

Seaching for car hire in spain resorts and airports I was amazed by just how few cars are expected to be available according the the rental agencies who all urge us to book early and avoid disppointment - hmm we smell a rat and hope that people aren't duped into booking unecessarily well in advance and paying over the odds just to secure a vehicle for their holiday.