Please click to view the Scrap Book July 2009
Scrappage saves lives: RoSPA backs safety effect
The success Ford is enjoying under the scrappage scheme looks set to have a major impact on improving road safety. The scheme offers buyers £2,000 towards a new model if they trade in a car 10 years old or more which they have owned for 12 months or longer. This comprises £1,000 from the UK Government and £1,000 from the manufacturer.
Ford dealers have taken more than 14,000 orders under the scheme and scrappage deals account for around 300 orders a day across the Ford dealer network.
Ford’s advanced Intelligent Protection System (IPS) is a package of safety measures, both active and passive, that work together to offer vehicle occupants optimum protection.
Few cars over 10 years old will be fitted with an Electronic Stability Programme (ESP), for example, which is included as part of Ford's IPS package. ESP senses when the vehicle is losing grip and automatically applies a braking force to individual wheels, to stabilise it. The system uses advanced sensors to monitor the car’s behaviour, helping the driver to keep control whatever the conditions.
An effectiveness study by the Department for Transport has concluded that if every vehicle sold were fitted with ESP, 380 lives could be saved and 7,800 accidents could be avoided every year on UK roads.
Other road safety organisations are strongly in favour of the scheme. RoSPA road safety manager Duncan Vernon says: “We’re enthusiastic about the road safety benefits of the scrappage scheme, simply because new cars are, generally speaking, better designed than old ones.
The DfT estimated that between 2000 and 2005, ‘improved crashworthiness’ of vehicles reduced the number of occupant fatal and serious injuries by 5.8 per cent.
RoadSafe director Adrian Walsh says: “Safety should be a high priority for customers. ESP® is the most significant safety advance since the seat belt; the scrappage scheme now provides the opportunity to reduce risk significantly by buying a modern ESP® equipped car.”
All new Ford models are available with ESP®, many as standard.
www.ford.co.uk/scrappageincentive
Benefits to Society Arising from Prevention of Road Accidents and Casualties
Average value of prevention per casualty £52,800*
Potential saving if every new vehicle sold were fitted with ESP £412million
* Department for Transport Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG) April 2009
Scheme set for early finish
So many new vehicles have been bought under the scrappage scheme since its launch in April, it’s thought funding may run out by autumn. Ford Retail Group, Ford’s largest dealer network in the UK, is urging customers to ‘get in quick’ to take advantage of the limited availability scrappage allowance, having seen sales soar.
As the UK’s top-selling vehicle brand for the past 32 years, Ford is already top choice for new car buyers. Ford dealerships have seen huge interest in small car models, such as Ka and Fiesta, and larger models such as the S-Max 2.0 Titanium and popular crossover vehicle, the Ford Kuga.
Ford Fiesta is the most popular purchase
By far the most popular scrappage purchase is the Ford Fiesta with over 5,500 orders. The Fiesta Econetic offers 76.3mpg and CO2 emissions of 98g/km, giving zero rated VED. www.ford.co.uk/cars
Father and son go for the double
Father and son Andrew and Billy Humphrey entered Dagenham Motors Strood recently looking to buy a new Ford Focus Zetec S for Andrew and a new Ford Fiesta Zetec for Billy using the scrappage scheme. Time was tight and the duo needed the vehicles by 20 June. Andrew part-exchanged a 63,590-mile ‘R’ registration Vauxhall Astra and Billy swapped a 110,926-mile ‘R’ Citroën Saxo. Neither vehicle was worth more than £100 to the industry. Both vehicles were delivered on time on 20 June, just 24 days after walking into Dagenham Motors Strood. www.strood.dagenhammotors.co.uk
Five Clean Green stars for S-Max
Star buys under the scrappage scheme include the impressive Ford
S-Max Titanium, with a ‘5 star’ environment rating from environmental website Clean Green Cars, and CO2 emissions of just 159g/km, which in one instance was bought in return for scrapping a 1996 Nissan Primera. In another sale the S-Max Titanium was bought in exchange for a 1998 (R-plate) 1.4-litre Ford Escort Encore. Also purchased (in return for scrapping a 1997 Galaxy with 250,000 miles on the clock) was the Ford Kuga 2.0 Titanium, with the customer taking advantage of the savings to purchase a number of ‘add-ons’ including touch-screen DVD navigation and Bluetooth with USB.
More affordable buys with scrappage plus
Drivers looking for a larger vehicle but who are short of funds, can take advantage of Ford’s Scrappage Plus programme, which brings discounts over and above the standard £2,000 subsidy. Buyers can get an additional £1,250 for a Ford Fusion, £3,000 for a Ford Galaxy. This adds up to a total saving, including the scrappage subsidy, of £4,500 on a Ford Mondeo, for example. To make life easier, Ford will even collect non-running old cars for free. The scheme will help lots of motorists who otherwise couldn’t afford a safer, greener new Ford.
Is this the oldest car so far?
Polar Ford Wilmslow has sold a Mondeo Zetec Estate, 2.3-litre petrol automatic in Sea Grey, in exchange for a 1988 Ford Grosvenor Limo – possibly the only car of its type scrapped as part of the scheme. The customer was Brian Sharples & Son funeral directors of Stockport and the new Mondeo will be used as a direct replacement for the Grosvenor, to carry passengers in funeral processions. http://www.wilmslow.polarford.co.uk