Volkswagen, Toyota, Renault-Nissan and Kia are the latest car manufacturers to announce that they will be offering you money off your old car if you buy an newer, more environmentally friendly model.
Previously Ford led the charge by announcing an ambitious scrappage scheme that could net you up to £6,000 off a new car if you traded in your old one.
Well VW seems to have trumped that with its very own version called the Scrappage Upgrade Scheme.
Volkswagen
VW’s scrappage scheme is impressive however it’s limited to just diesel cars.
The car company is offering £1,800-6,000 off a brand-new VW car as long as your current model is a diesel purchased before 31st December 2009 featuring a Euro 1 – 4 emissions standard engine.
What makes the VW deal really impressive is that technically you can actually get even more off if you choose to buy the fully electric e-Golf.
Not only would you get £5,000 off from VW but you would get an additional £4,500 thanks to the government’s electric grant.
Toyota
Toyota’s scrappage scheme is, sadly, smaller in value than VW’s but it does include both diesel and petrol cars. Again the car needs to be seven years or older.
The amount varies from £1,000 for Toyota’s C-HR hybrid, to £2,000 for a Prius. Oddly you can get up to £4,000 for a Land Cruiser.
Kia
Kia’s is very similar to Toyota’s in that it is open to both petrol and diesel cars that are seven years or older.
It’s a flat amount of £2,000 and applies to both the Rio and the Picanto. While Kia don’t have a particular focus on electric or hybrid vehicles the company still believes owners could save well over 1.5 tonnes of carbon with a newer model.
Nissan
Known as the ‘Switch Scheme’ this is a pretty comprehensive offering from Nissan.
This scrappage scheme is open to both petrol and diesel cars and like its rivals requires only that the car be seven years or older.
The company’s offering a flat fee of £2,000 off any Nissan Leaf, which combined with government incentives should reduce the cost by a hefty £6,500.
For the rest of Nissan’s line-up the savings can range from £1,000-5,000.
Renault
Renault have approached their scrappage scheme slightly differently which is that they’ve gone for a flat fee of £2,000 but then added it to their own discounts as well.
It’s also offering something pretty impressive for its ZOE electric car which is a flat £5,000 off in addition to the £4,500 government grant that’s then also available.