Smart Scrappage scheme!

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After selling my lovely 300bhp Astra VXR earlier this year (to fund my new photography business) I've been driving round in my girlfriends old Ford Ka.

The last few months its really started going downhill, Both sills are rotten, powersteering has given up, oil leak, doing about 25mpg at best, needs 4 new tyres....the list goes on and the MOT is due in November!

Decided to look into the goverment scrappage scheme and I think I've found a cracking deal.

Drilling down with the figures the Ka based on 10,000 miles per year is costing me in fuel, MOT, tax, repairs and insurance about £2200 a year!

Take into consideration the Ka is completely worthless at the minute and that the MOT in November will cost me prob £400ish?!?

Now Smart can give me £2k for the Ka which goes as a deposit on a Smart Car fortwo Passion CDI which to be honest is pretty well equiped, Satnav, bluetooth, alloys, aircon, full glass roof! 54bhp diesel engine which will be pretty slow but should deliver close to 80-85mpg.

The Smart is based on a 2 year PCP agreement where I have the option after 2 years to give it back and walk away, buy it by paying the balloon payment or chop it in and get something else. (Balloon payment doesn't bother me as I plan on giving it back)

The cost based over 2 years with 12,000 miles a year limit is £77 per month!

No road tax, no MOT and no repairs to pay!

So after paying the monthly finance I will get a brand new car and will save approx £300 per year over what the Ka is costing me (this is based on an average of 60mpg too which I am hoping will be even more)

Yes I know I will have no car after 2 years but the Ka won't last 2 years and is going to start costing me lots & lots money!

A smart isn't my first choice of car but I can't quite justify a Range Rover or Audi RS4 just yet!!

Am I missing something or is this a no brainer?!?!
 
Sounds like a good idea if you say lived in a city, but I certainly wouldn't want to be doing 10'000 motorway miles a year in a 54bhp Smart ForTwo!
 
Dont buy a small car with a diesel engine imo.

Small cars are for short journeys around town. Diesels will not warm up in this time (they take much longer to warm up than petrols). Overall costs are likely to be higher than the equivalent petrol as a result, once you take into account engine and turbo wear.

Other than that the deal sounds ok. Can you defintiely get scrappage on a PCP deal?
 
the 10,000 miles I'd be likely to do are made up of short trips! we have a bigger car too if I needed that!

I've read loads of reviews re mpg and get mixed reports always tend to be somewhere about the 65-75mpg (one reporter on the London to Brighton Smart run managed over 100mpg, this is the extreme I know)

I was very surprised at just how much room they have in them and how well they manage motorway speeds etc.... far more room than some big saloon cars inside and thats coming from someone who's 6'5".

defo available on pcp using scrappage scheme too as long as you can find a dealer who is willing to do it! I have 3 smart car dealers closer to me than the one I'm going to use but they have all opted out of the scrappage scheme as they don't make enough money!
 
My Mum just got a smart under the scrappage scheme, her first ever new car and the first time she had any say in what car she was getting. (My dad used to just tell her he had changed her car and after my Dad died my brother gave her one when she needed it replaced)

She has always had really old bangers and this is amazing.

Personally I feel a bit exposed in it when I've tried it so I would want a bit more around me for a longer journey but I don't go along with all this needing to have a big car thing.

I have cut back loads now, I used to do around 60,000 miles a year often in a small van, but now I only do 30K and have a Seat Ibiza. I'm thinking of getting a smaller vehicle next time for tax reasons, probably not diesel this time because it would be cheaper in tax.
 
I am not that surprised at the cost when you think of the £2k you are putting into the deal a the start.

list £8971
-£2000
£6971.
to borrow
£77 x 24 = 1848
repaid

leaving a ballon of:
£5123


But of course, tha is without any dealer discount, and also assuming you do not have to put any more moeny into the deal.

You could get a Fiat 500 for less than £150 without the £2k allowance in at the start.

I would say that a PCP is better than buying a new car, but would say that the smart car is tiny. You can;t get any shopping in it, and I would not like to be in an accident in one. And yes I have seen the crash tests.

In my mind, they are overpriced because they are trying to be trendy, a fiat 500 is a cheaper car, as would a Panda be. I woudl shop around and see what other offers are on at other dealers before you commit.
 
Diesels are certainly cheaper to run but they add around £1000 to the price of a car, normally I'd say go for petrol but if you're only keeping it a couple of years and doing high mileage you might see the benefit of the lower fuel costs. Generally the petrol engine is better value if your mileage is anything close to average in a small car but you'd need to work it out for yourself, are you likely to save money over the two years with the diesel or not?.
 
Joe T said:
Dont buy a small car with a diesel engine imo.

Small cars are for short journeys around town. Diesels will not warm up in this time (they take much longer to warm up than petrols). Overall costs are likely to be higher than the equivalent petrol as a result, once you take into account engine and turbo wear.

Other than that the deal sounds ok. Can you defintiely get scrappage on a PCP deal?
Click to expand...

Not to sure about that.

My Micra DCi averages over 70mpg with an 18000 / 2 year service interval. Not may petrols going to match that. It does take about 3 miles before I can put the heater on I guess.
 
Joe T said:
Dont buy a small car with a diesel engine imo.

Small cars are for short journeys around town. Diesels will not warm up in this time (they take much longer to warm up than petrols). Overall costs are likely to be higher than the equivalent petrol as a result, once you take into account engine and turbo wear.
Click to expand...


... though if you're running it on a two year PCP, any engine or turbo wear isn't going to be your problem ... even if a diesel did take longer to warm up than the equivalent petrol
 
Have you ever been on the motorway in a Smart? I have and I'll never, ever do it again. First time an arctic passed in the middle lane the thing was nearly blown onto it's side :lol:

Have you considered a MINI First?

£8950 after scrappage

The retained value will be more for the MINI, so although it is a more expensive car the payments should be pretty similar
 
i have a MINI and the build quality is shockingly bad...
and they WILL rape you on PCP - as they are currently doing to me right now.

plus they're surprisingly expensive for what they are.

Get a Fiat 500.
 
Don't forget a Ka is grp one insurance...........
 
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