£2,000 for a rust bucket - yeah right!

The UK Government have announced plans to give people that have a knackered old car £2,000 if they trade it in for a new one. Sounds great, but what's the catch?

It has to be 10 years old (well, 10.5 years as it kicks in from 1st November 2009). My point is this; People who have cars 10.5 years old could have so for a number of reasons:

• They have a low income / minimum wage
  
• Don't believe in spending money on cars


• Only occasionally use their car - to go to the shop


• A crap family car to take the kids in to school


• They live in a street where the nice and polite youths of today don't take kindly to something shinny & bright


• Dogs would wee on it


• Youths would wee on it!!!


• It's a vintage car and you don't want to change it
  

....Well Mr Darling, this is a completely useless scheme. For cars over 6 years - YES.....now we're talking.....but for cars over 10 years........NOOO!

People that have cars this old are worried for their jobs, they cannot afford a new car (even less likely now), they don't want a new car because it will get trashed, they believe new cars are a waste of money.....or even this......they like their banger!!!!.......times are a changing, and yes it's time to drive a crap car again, just like we did when we were at college. But perhaps more importantly - we shoud all learn a BIG lesson from the last 20 years of economic boom-and-bust, if you cannot afford to buy a brand new car, don't buy one.......and at a time when we should be putting our money into saving the government want us to spend more money on a new car....where's the sense in that Mr Darling?

Perhaps if had kept my Datsun 120Y none of this would have happened....