Real life, ‘everyday’ people have been ignored in the latest proposals on the banning of petrol and diesel cars by 2040…
Alex Buttle, director, car buying comparison website Motorway.co.uk, comments:
“The end of the petrol and diesel car may be more than 20 years away, but the impact of this news will be felt today.
With Brexit looming, the last thing British households need is the destruction of the value of their cars without any form of immediate compensation. However, the Government’s plan to ban diesel and petrol cars by 2040 could spark a massive drop in new car sales.
And the announcement of levies on the most polluting vehicles could be the final nail in the coffin for second-hand diesel cars. Diesel used car prices had already started to fall and this latest news could trigger a fire sale. We had predicted up to 20% before, but a 30% drop in used diesel car prices over the next few years now feels likely.
The Government has put a tremendous amount of pressure on itself by announcing a 2040 switchover. Plans to move over to electric is bold and laudable, but this is one deadline they can’t afford to let slip.
It also feels like the impact on the man and women on the street has been largely ignored in this whole process, but they’re the ones who are going to pay for this.
Everyone will hope that the price of electric cars is affordable by 2040 but what if they’re not?
And has the Government thought about how they tackle the potentially apocalyptic fall in new and used car sales that could happen well before 2040? With modern day cars lasting at least 10-15 years, who will want to buy a new diesel or petrol car in ten year’s time.
Car manufacturers may be forced to lower the prices of new petrol and diesel cars just to keep the market alive.
New petrol and diesel cars could fall through the floor well before that deadline, while the used car market will be flooded with car owners trying to dump their petrol and diesel cars.”
Kim comments:
“Over many decades successive British administrations – of varying political colours – have shown themselves to be completely clueless with regard to real-world environmental needs and solutions (to be frank, most members of the various governments and oppositions don’t seem to have understood/care about, and still don’t understand/care about, the subject). In addition they seem to be out of touch with the everyday lives of people in the UK, who as usual, have paid, and will have to pay again, for the cost of ill-thought out proposals. The constant changing of the goalposts, and the rules that drivers are called upon to comply with to suit the latest whims of the administrators, just highlights the apparent ineptitude/lack of knowledge…
Just a few years ago British motorists were urged to buy diesel cars on environmental grounds. Now they are being told this was bad advice and that they should buy new again, regardless of cost…
This is not to mention the fact that ill-thought out statements from the powers-that be can renders the existing vehicle fleet virtually worthless…
…and before there’s any mention of another scrappage scheme on ‘environmental’ grounds (that game’s been played before in 2009 and it was a ‘false premise’ scheme then…), for many motorists it is not the £2,000 or whatever might be offered under such a scheme that will enable them to buy a new electric car, but the lack of the much bigger percentage rest of the price that they cannot afford…
It seems that well-paid government ministers do not understand that many drivers cannot afford to spend their hard-earned cash on constantly changing their vehicles, only to be told yet again that the advice they were given was wrong and they now need to fork out once more for costly vehicles of a different type… No wonder motorists get angry about the whole set-up.
As I have said before on this website, a proper debate involving the FACTS, rather than ill-informed conjecture, needs to be held before any legislation is brought in, and in the meantime there are many technical solutions that could be applied to improve air quality – including addressing the huge amounts of pollution that emanate from sources other than cars.