11:53 am, February 16, 2010
THE scrappage scheme is likely to enter the rationing stage in the first week of March, Car Dealer believes.
We have been contacted by several dealers this week who have been told by their manufacturer that the first phase of the exit strategy will begin this week.
The first phase will see 80 per cent of the remaining scrappage funds allocated proportionally between car makers dependent on their total retail sales figures between May and December last year.
However a spokeswoman for BIS – the government department responsible for the scheme – said this was ‘categorically untrue’.
‘The rationing stage will not begin this week,’ said the spokeswoman. ‘As of today 346,826 cars have been sold under the scheme.’
The first stage of the exit strategy will kick in when the 360,000th car has been sold. At the end of last year an incredible 10,000 cars a week were being registered under scrappage, according to the spokeswoman.
That number fell to around 3-5,000 cars a week during Christmas and the snowy weather in January. But last week it shot back up with 8,000 cars registered.
So it’s reasonably safe to say, if that rate continues the rationing part of the exit strategy will kick in during the first week of March, just four weeks before the scheme is set to end.
What do you think of the scrappage scheme exit strategy? Is it fair? Has there been enough information about it from BIS? Let us know your thoughts below.
by JAMES BAGGOTT
