With London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) expanding in August 2023, and costing drivers with non-compliant vehicles up to £3,000 a year, Sadiq Khan recently announced a £110 million scrappage scheme that aims to provide financial support to low-income individuals who need to get rid of their vehicle.
While Khan’s new scheme offers £2,000 to scrap your non-compliant car (or up to £5,000 for wheelchair users), online automotive marketplace Auto Trader has revealed that the same cars in London are currently selling for an average price of £8,400, with the average price of a non-compliant petrol car reaching £3,999 and non-compliant diesel vehicles going for £8,400.
According to Google, searches in London for ‘ULEZ Scrappage Scheme’ increased by 2,500% by the end of 2022, with searches for ‘scrap my car’ rising by 23% and ‘sell my car’ dropping by 33% – despite Londoners being able to make potentially double, or quadruple, what they could gain from the scrappage scheme, were they to sell their vehicles instead.
A spokesperson for Auto Trader commented: “Whether selling or scrapping your car is going to be better for the environment or not is hard to assess, and comes down to a number of factors like the embodied energy of the vehicle, how well the car is still performing (and will continue to perform) and how often it’s being driven. Despite this, there are also many arguments for keeping a perfectly good vehicle on the road, rather than scrapping it.
“In some cases, giving that vehicle a new lease of life, for example, reselling it if it no longer fits the efficiency requirements of your borough, could be more beneficial for the environment than scrapping it entirely. And certainly at the moment, while in the grips of a cost of living crisis, opting to re-sell your car will not only make Londoners more of their money back in comparison to using the new ULEZ scrappage scheme, but can also help provide cheaper vehicles to others outside of London, who may not be in a position to purchase a brand new, first-hand car at this point in their lives.
“If your car is on its last legs, and you’re eligible for the scheme, then sending it to the scrap heap may well be your best option. But if your car is still operating effectively, and has life left in it, it is certainly worth looking into how much you could gain from selling it to a new owner instead.”
