Scrappage scheme working?

Stevie Dakota

It may be anecdotal but having spoken to couple of dealers, and bought a car from one it seems that the scrappage scheme has really got things moving again. One dealer I spoke to was over the moon with the turnaround and is taking orders every day. Can't help thinking it may be something of a false dawn if things don't pick up, I would say that there will be some intensive lobbying to get the scheme extended.

oxegen85

good news to hear but now time for the dealers to change back to good auld times where they will try get away with anything again

-Chris-

My experience is that things are jumping too. I'd say it may be specific to certain brands though, but getting through to a salesperson at the moment is proving quite difficult at times...

Car sales are all about momentum and consumer confidence - I wonder if this little nudge will be enough to carry through to the end of the year and beyond the removal of the scheme.

Stevie Dakota

-Chris- wrote: »

Car sales are all about momentum and consumer confidence.

Not just car sales Chris! Any confidence in any sector is welcome news, as you say, lets hope the momentum builds.

bazz26

I think I've seen more 10 reg cars in the last 3 weeks than 09 cars last year. Seen a 10 LK xxx reg Jaguar XF today, hardly bought with the scrappage scheme though.

MagicMarker

What would people say is the best deal when it comes to the scrappage scheme?

VolvoMan

I've actually seen a lot more '10 cars than I did '09 at this period last year.

This is the first time I've said it, but I actually don't mind the scrappage scheme as long as nothing silly is being traded in under it. The likes of 12 year old Avensis' and other dull rubbish doesn't bother me as long as it's not mint.

R.O.R

-Chris- wrote: »

My experience is that things are jumping too. I'd say it may be specific to certain brands though, but getting through to a salesperson at the moment is proving quite difficult at times...

Car sales are all about momentum and consumer confidence - I wonder if this little nudge will be enough to carry through to the end of the year and beyond the removal of the scheme.

Most of my contacts are flat out as well at the moment, which is good to hear. Means they'll probably still be there next time I call (which was a worry all last year).

My BMW dealer sold 13 cars the Saturday before last which I thought was pretty impressive for BMW.

bazz26

Have the banks loosened the purse strings a bit as I cannot imagine many people suddenly coming into alot of cash?

Scruff

Well so far i've had 4 dealers not ring me back to confirm test drives on cars i was interested in that they didnt have available on the day when i called into their show rooms. 3 more were supposed to get back to me with confirmation on some questions on cars i had test driven but i had to chase up myself as they never rang back and it took 3 or 4 attempts to talk to them they were so busy. Another asked if he could ring me back in a few days to talk about the quote he gave me but never did and 1 who did ring back even put up the price! Id say this time last year they would have been scrambling over each other to get my €20k budget, they definitely dont seem too bothered by it this year.
All dealers i talked to were delighted with how the year has gone so far. From a buyer point of view i'm not! I'm left wondering if the after sales service is a poor as the pre sales experience...

flamegrill

Figures are still down on last year. I think (recalling from memory here) that there was 16k 09's registered in Jan last year. As of the 24th of Jan 2010 there's just 9360 cars registered.

It could well be a case of lots of cars being bought, but that delivery times are 6-8 weeks on custom builds and perhaps we should compare the first quarter of 09 to 10 once March ends to see what the real deal is?

Stevie Dakota

The dealer I bought from said nearly all his orders were factory, so I suppose March/April onwards we will see a surge in registrations.

bladespin

I've only seen 1 10 reg car so far, could be Meath is more of a financial basket case than most counties though.

PaddyFagan

Yeah,

I was in a VW garage last Monday week, for about an hour (waiting for a minor issue on my Golf to be sorted) - 3 people bought cars while I was standing around.....

Paddy

Scruff

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

The dealer I bought from said nearly all his orders were factory, so I suppose March/April onwards we will see a surge in registrations.

Yeah thats what dealers have been telling me too. There are only a few standard specs coming through from the manufacturers and you have a 8-10 week wait even for for a standard spec in the colour you want. Some dont even have show cars as they have been sold.

FutureGuy

No exageration, but I've seen 5 times as many 10's than I did 09's at this time last year (Limerick City). Lots of Fords (Fiesta and Focus mainly).

R.O.R

Scruff wrote: »

Yeah thats what dealers have been telling me too. There are only a few standard specs coming through from the manufacturers and you have a 8-10 week wait even for for a standard spec in the colour you want. Some dont even have show cars as they have been sold.

Non of the manufacturer's are stocking cars this year. In the past Opel, VW, Ford and a few others held their own stock. Ford in particular got stung to a big degree in 08 and 09 with stock cars they couldn't sell, so now they've finally got rid of them, they aren't doing that again.

It's now down to the dealers to order vehicles for stock, and not many are either prepared to take the risk, or can afford to take the risk, so majority of cars are factory order.

It's been slower for us this year so far than last year, but I have a load of motors due around the middle / end of March.

Scruff

I can undestand why dealers are doing it alright but it leaves me in a bit of a pickle though as next month my car is in for it NCT (which it will 99% positive fail) and tax and insurance are up too. Didnt want to have to repair and tax and insure a car i'm trying to scrap!

furtzy

While waiting to pick my new motor up last week the garage had 3 enquiries on the scrappage whilst I was there with 2 deals done so it certainly does seem to be helping....a 207 and a Ce'ed

Think you'll see a surge in February regs as people didn't pick their cars up during the start of January due to the weather and are waiting until feb 1st to reg and tax them

biko

Seen maybe four 10G so far.

Cionád

flamegrill wrote: »

Figures are still down on last year. I think (recalling from memory here) that there was 16k 09's registered in Jan last year. As of the 24th of Jan 2010 there's just 9360 cars registered.

Motorcheck.ie say 11,400 new car registrations as of January 23rd.
http://www.motorcheck.ie/blog/stats/?y=2010&cat=1

15,887 was Jan 2009, they'll beat that, should be the best month since March 2008 (22k)

Pyridine

Well I was thinking that I'd seen far fewer new cars than previous years. Am in Dublin and have only seen 3!

As for the scrappage scheme, if it's working and some people stay in their jobs that's fine but I think there'll be more people like Scruff around.

Also it annoys me a bit that the motor industry was going to the wall a few months ago, calling on the government to introduce a scrappage scheme. Once it's here there seems, anecdotely, to be a pick-up, which leads to my question:

Why didn't the dealers and manufacturers price their cars to the market before instead of ripping people off? All it needed was a €1500 discount.

Colonel Sanders

Are people paying cash of using finance mostly? I'll be accused of being a doom and gloomer but if its mostly finance I reckon we could see a glut of repos.

furtzy

Colonel Sanders wrote: »

Are people paying cash of using finance mostly? I'll be accused of being a doom and gloomer but if its mostly finance I reckon we could see a glut of repos.

The criteria for getting finance seems to have changed greatly. They're certainly not throwing cash at anyone these days...also looking for substantial deposits as well so hopefully we won't see as many repos in the future

rameire

furtzy wrote: »

The criteria for getting finance seems to have changed greatly. They're certainly not throwing cash at anyone these days...also looking for substantial deposits as well so hopefully we won't see as many repos in the future

i was asked for roughly 20% deposit, no real checks were done for the finance though, and it wont be going down the repo route.
most of the cars in the dealers i was interested in were sold, but people couldnt make it in due to the weather so they were not registering them until the day of or day before the customer said they would be in.
And ive seen a load of 10 XX XXXX cars, mainly because i get to pass alot due to driving a bike during the week.

jimmycrackcorm

It's not just the government scrappage scheme though, some of the manufacturer discounts are very attractive on top. e.g. the Renault scheme which brings the inclusive scrappage price of a Megane down to €14k has pushed them up the league of sales this year.

-Chris-

Pyridine wrote: »

Also it annoys me a bit that the motor industry was going to the wall a few months ago, calling on the government to introduce a scrappage scheme. Once it's here there seems, anecdotely, to be a pick-up, which leads to my question:

Why didn't the dealers and manufacturers price their cars to the market before instead of ripping people off? All it needed was a €1500 discount.

Most cars have seen pretty hefty price decreases or discounts, well beyond €1,500.

furtzy

-Chris- wrote: »

Most cars have seen pretty hefty price decreases or discounts, well beyond €1,500.

Certainly have. I only bought the new Outlander because Mitsubishi knocked €13k off the price. I had no intention of buying a new car but couldn't resist a discount like that. All 140 Outlanders were sold in 11 days.....just shows theres a market if the price is right.

gears

Another +1 for more 10 reg cars and not just scrappage models. I've seen 5 series, E and C Class plus a Range Rover and a 5 series GT and the last 2 were being by "yummie mummie" types, didn't notice any ugg boots or pyjamas though

bf

Spoke to a Ford dealer the other day who has already sold 50% of the total cars they sold in 2009

RedorDead

As of close of business yesterday 11970 new cars reg'd so far vs 12510 at same stage last year. The gap is narrowing every day though. For commercials we are at 1529 so far this month vs 1170 from same period last year. So commercials which are usually seen as the the true barometer test of the economy are well ahead.

dizzydiesel

I think the market cannot keep up with demand. I was quoted 8 weeks delivery from Renault & 8-12 weeks from Skoda.

ianobrien

I was in a Nissan Dealer in Cork last week (getting some spares). While there, I noticed that there was one new car in the showroom. I asked (half joking) what happened all the new cars. The reply was "They sold, Thank God - Even the Tiida's selling!"

I'm afraid that the scrappage scheme is robbing sales from next year. I know of some people who are buying this year because of the scrappage scheme.

dizzydiesel

ianobrien wrote: »

I asked (half joking) what happened all the new cars. The reply was "They sold, Thank God - Even the Tiida's selling!"

"Even the Tiida" - That's hilarious.

flamegrill

Cionád wrote: »

Motorcheck.ie say 11,400 new car registrations as of January 23rd.
http://www.motorcheck.ie/blog/stats/?y=2010&cat=1

15,887 was Jan 2009, they'll beat that, should be the best month since March 2008 (22k)

I was purely going by http://www.mywheels.ie/VehicleStatistics.aspx that's all... One of them is wrong

ShadowHearth

they dont do any scrapadge deals on 08/09 cars?

what abotu second hand cars? Are those selling prety good? Or dealers now cannot be arsed with them, as new car sales just unreal?

Cionád

flamegrill wrote: »

I was purely going by http://www.mywheels.ie/VehicleStatistics.aspx that's all... One of them is wrong

My previous link has now updated too, to 11,939 as of January 25th...

Cionád

New registrations now above this time last year - 16,612 as of 31st Jan

70% of cars in band A or B.

http://www.motorcheck.ie/blog/stats/?y=2010&cat=1

McSpud

Surprised the scrappage deal is doing so well as I would not have thought 1500 would make much difference except on the cheapest cars.

From what I can tell the manufacturers are using the scrappage as an effective marketing tool. By adding the cash discount it makes the scrappage even better.

Only seen three 10 reg in Dublin but I have been living in a cave...

dizzydiesel

I've just ordered new car today. Doing my bit for the motor stats....

It will be registered in March or April though - long delivery time.

Stevie Dakota

Interesting stuff, happy to see Renault making inroads again, it will be very interesting to see what happens when all the incentives are removed, but for now it's great news for the industry.

Jip

dizzydiesel wrote: »

It will be registered in March or April though - long delivery time.

What have you ordered that takes so long ?

dizzydiesel

Jip wrote: »

What have you ordered that takes so long ?

Clio - 8 weeks.
I was quoted 8-12weeks from Skoda.

Cionád

Negative spin put on the news: :rolleyes:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/car-retailers-disappointed-at-modest-rise-in-car-sales-444415.html

http://www.motorcheck.ie/blog/new-car-sales-disappoint-with-small-rise-on-last-year/

dizzydiesel

Jasus - The media :rolleyes:

Always trying to kick us when we are down. I can't wait to see Feb/March sales figures. Should hold strong as ordered cars are being registered & delivered.

Come on guys - spend your money and get us out of this recession.

dizzydiesel

dizzydiesel wrote: »

Come on guys - spend your money and get us out of this recession.

Easy to do if you have some spare cash
Spending borrowed cash it on a fast depreciating car doesn't appeal to many folks nowadays.

Big Nasty

General consensus seems to be positive! 4.6% ain't gonna be anyone's saviour though. We're not out of the woods yet but is daylight becoming visible?

Leonard Hofstadter

4.6% is very bad, I'd love to know how many sales have been because of scrappage though. We are being told on this forum that there are a lot of pre-orders that will be delivered both this month and next month so maybe it's too early to come to any kind of conclusion just yet. Car sales for the first 10 days were down 30% on the same period last year, but things have clearly picked up hugely in the intervening period.

I notice that Toyota are down quite a bit on last year and Ford are also down somewhat though clearly the market leader(anyday Toyota are not the market leader in this country is always a good day:)), Renault are WAY up, obviously their scrappage offers have worked very well for them, BMW, Merc, Volvo, Hyundai:rolleyes:, Opel also up. Volkswagen back in third spot. Nissan well down also.

What the hell has happened to Alfa? They sold 54 cars in January 09. This year they sold just 9:eek:!

Big Nasty

captainspeed wrote: »

4.6% is very bad, I'd love to know how many sales have been because of scrappage though. We are being told on this forum that there are a lot of pre-orders that will be delivered both this month and next month so maybe it's too early to come to any kind of conclusion just yet. Car sales for the first 10 days were down 30% on the same period last year, but things have clearly picked up hugely in the intervening period.

If you look at the sales figures for January you will see the main benefactor of the scrappage scheme has been Renault, already up cq. 500 units on last Jan alone.

Those first 10 days were down to the weather.

R.O.R

To be honest, any sort of growth over last year after the January we've had and the fact there are few cars in stock, is a very good sign to me.

First quater figures are going to be the big ones. A lot of January was a wash out due to snow and everything I've ordered in the past 2 weeks is due after Paddy's day (except a Mazda 3 - 1 Week).

Apparently they are hiring salesmen in one Dublin dealership I've just heard. Wouldn't be 100% about job security there, but it might be a 2w bulb at the end of the tunnel.

GoldenEarring

Anyone come across problem where the car can't be scrapped unless the registered owner is the main driver on the insurance? Named driver won't do.