Fancy getting rid of your old banger? Well, now you can thanks to the government scrappage scheme, launched by Alistair Darling in his April budget in a bid to help the UK car industry. Any purchaser of a new car with a qualifying old vehicle (registered before 31st August 1999), will be entitled to a minimum £2,000 scrappage allowance. £1,000 will be provided by the government and the remaining grand will be given by the manufacturer. Some companies, like Citroen, are offering more on certain models.

The new scrappage scheme has been launched to help the struggling automotive industry recover from the recent (and ongoing) recession the UK is suffering from at the moment and to sell some of the many thousands of brand new and unsold cars we have scattered across the UKs unused airfields. Only time will tell if the UK scheme will be as popular and successfull as the German scheme launched recentlty, but with the major car firms getting fully behind the palns it seems there is a good chance of it having a positive effect on the UKs new car sales over the new 6 months.