Focus on cars qualifying for Scrappage

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Key Statistics:

• Automotive experts GMAP Consulting have analysed the latest market statistics from the anonymised DVLA Parc data to provide an insight into the 6,113,646 cars in the UK qualifying for the Government’s Scrappage Scheme which comes into effect on 18th May 2009.
  
  
• All cars in this analysis were registered before 31st August 1999 and have not changed hands in the past 12 months.
  
  
• This represents 20.181% of UK registered cars, meaning 1 in 5 drivers could potentially take advantage of the scheme which pledges a discount of £2,000 off a new car in exchange for the old car being scrapped at an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) and receiving a Certificate of Destruction (COD). 
  
  
• 29.56% of qualifying cars belong to private female owners, and 59.39% to males. Only 2.28% are company car owned. The remaining cars have no gender assigned.
  
  
• 15.86% of owners with a qualifying car have chosen to put private plates on their vehicle, which can of course be transferred to the new vehicle and not lost in the scrappage process.
  
  
• 1.41% of qualifying cars are classed as imports.
  
  
• 84.57% of qualifying cars are manual transmission and 15.43% are automatic.
  
  
• The top 10 locations to see the highest total numbers of qualifying cars are: London, Birmingham, Bristol, Peterborough, Sheffield, Leicester, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Guildford and Norwich. Together these locations contain 21.09% of all cars qualifying for scrappage.
  
  
• Looking at location in more detail, when locations are ranked by an index of cars qualifying for scrappage against a base of all cars, rural areas dominate. Top locations when ranked by index are Llandrindod Wells, Truro, Torquay, Taunton, Dorchester, Hereford, Shrewsbury, Exeter, Wick, Bournemouth.
  
  
• The most common make is Ford, making up 15.98% of the total, followed by Vauxhall with 11.62% and Volkswagen with 7.26%. 
  
  
• The most common model is the Ford Fiesta making up 5.08% of the total. Next in line is the Vauxhall Astra (4.09%) which is closely followed by the Ford Escort (4.08%).
  
  
• The most common car segment for those qualifying is ‘Small Family’ making up 28.36% of the total. Next in line are ‘Medium Family’ (20.66%), followed by ‘Supermini’ (19.26%). Together these top three segments account for 68.28% of all qualifying cars.
  
  
• Despite not representing the highest total numbers of qualifying cars, when compared to all UK cars there is an over representation of larger types with the most significant presence being 4x4 Utility, followed by Large Executive and Large Family.
  
  
• Older cars are more likely to be owned by the less affluent. As these consumers spend less money on cars, any new cars bought by them within the scheme are likely to be cheaper and smaller. This has positive environmental implications as old and big (therefore less green), is replaced by new and small (cleaner and greener).
  
  
• 5 Door Hatchbacks are the most common body type making up 36.20% of the total. Next in line are 3 Door Hatchbacks (19.66%), Estates (14.49%) and 4 Door Saloons (14.43%). Together these top 4 body types make up 84.79% of qualifying cars.
  
  
• The top two colours are Blue (24.80%) and Red (22.24%) which together make up almost half (47.04%) of all cars qualifying for scrappage. If the scheme is successful, the colour of cars we see on the road will change with the proportion of modern silver and black cars increasing, as more old fashioned colours are scrapped.
  
  
• 10.52% have an engine size below 1149. 40.99% have engine sizes between 1150 and 1749. 35.89% have engine sizes between 1750-2449. The remaining 12.60% have engine sizes above 2450.
  
  
• In conclusion: Taking all the above into account, the scheme is more likely to benefit rural living males driving larger cars.

This analysis has been performed by GMAP using current market statistics from the anonymised DVLA Parc data.