The London Mayor Sadiq Khan has expanded the ULEZ scrappage scheme that is offering buyers in the city the chance to get cash for getting rid of their old vans.
The discounts have been upgraded to grant buyers and those scrapping vehicles access to more cash. The scheme now offers up to £9,500 off the purchase price of a van, which is an increase of £2,000.
You can also now get £6,000 towards the cost of retrofitting a vehicle to meet the ULEZ standards, up from £5,000. The amount you can get for simply scrapping a van or minibus has risen, too, from £5,000 to £7,000. If you scrap a minibus and replace it with an electric equivalent you can get as much as £11,500.
The increase applies from 4 August 2023 and is open to all new applicants, including those who have started the process but not yet supplied evidence that their vehicle is scrapped or retrofitted. From 21 August onwards, applicants will be able to take advantage of the scheme for up to three vehicles, even if they have used the scheme before – previously it was one per business.
Transport for London has also confirmed that those who have ordered a new electric vehicle (or are getting a non-compliant vehicle retrofitted) through the scheme may be eligible for a short-term grace period.
Scheme proving more popular for vans than cars
This is not the first time that London has run a scrappage scheme to help take older vehicles off the capital’s streets, but with the fund standing at £110m when it was launched, it is the biggest example of such a project. This fund is for both the van scheme and the equivalent car one.
As of 23 July 2023 there had been 19,043 applications for the van and minibus scheme, with 5,814 of those approved with just over £29.5m funding allocated. This is more than the car equivalent, which had approved 4,748 of 11,482 applications at the same point, committing to just under £9m of spending.
The majority of applications have come from sole traders, as they accounted for 12,186 of the 19,043 total. Nearly all of those applying have been looking to simply scrap a van and take the cash. Only 642 of those that applied have done so in order to get a new electric van, while only 534 have looked to retrofit a van.
The current London scheme is aimed at: ‘Eligible sole traders, micro businesses (up to 10 employees) or charities with a registered address in London and vans or minibuses that do not meet the ULEZ emissions standards.’
Unlike previous schemes, the current one doesn’t require you to actually buy a new vehicle – it is sufficient to just scrap a vehicle, although you need to have official proof that you have done so.
The vehicle you are planning to scrap needs to be:
- One you have owned for 12 months or more
- Registered with the DVLA in the name of the business, sole trader or charity that is doing the scrapping
- Insured for business use
- Taxed and with a valid MoT
- A light van with a gross vehicle weight of up to 3.5 tonnes or a minibus with a GVW of up to 5.0 tonnes
- Not compliant for the ULEZ requirements – this means Euro 5 diesel or earlier or Euro 3 or earlier for petrols.
If you are replacing it with an electric vehicle then you need to go for something that fits the following stipulations:
- It must be fully electric and have a gross vehicle weight of up to 3.5 tonnes if it is a van or 5.0 tonnes if it is a minibus
- Bought on a hire or lease contract lasting at least two years
- The same body type – van or minibus – as the vehicle you have scrapped and are replacing.
The three options on the London ULEZ scrappage scheme (and their respective pay-outs) for van owners are as follows:
- Scrap a van – £7,000
- Retrofit a van – £6,000
- Scrap a van and replace with an electric van – £9,500
These are the options if you have a minibus:
- Scrap a minibus – £9,000
- Retrofit a minibus – £6,000
- Scrap a minibus and replace with an electric minibus – £11,500
The scheme is open to sole traders, charities or small businesses with up to 50 employees and up to £10.1m turnover or £5.1m on the balance sheet in the current and previous financial year. Micro businesses with up to 10 employees and either up to £632,000 annual turnover or up to £316,000 on their balance sheet in the previous and current financial year are also eligible, but every business that applies must be registered in one of the 32 London boroughs.
Maxus running its own scrappage scheme
Maxus has added additional discounts to run alongside its internal scrappage scheme, upgrading the amount of discount available on the new T90EV electric pickup truck. The scrappage scheme offers £1,000 while there is also a discount available of £6,000. This is alongside the discounts of up to £14,000 on the other electric vans in its commercial vehicle range.
The Maxus discounts are available on every one of the brand’s electric models, including the large eDeliver 9 and the new T90EV pickup truck. The scheme is live now and will be running until 31 August 2023. As well as the trade-in discount, buyers will also get a free charger, which they can choose to be installed at their home or at a workplace.
However, before you start doing your sums on the basis of a £14,000 on your new electric pickup truck, that headline discount is only offered on the eDeliver 9. All the other models get significantly less, with discounts of £1,000 across the range.
The full list of discounts are as follows:
- Maxus eDeliver 9 – £14,000 plus free charger
- Maxus eDeliver 3 – £1,000 plus free charger
- Maxus T90EV – £1,000 plus free charger
The offer also applies to the MIFA 9 MPV, which offers seating for up to seven and a range of 323 miles.
Maxus has said that all vehicles will be accepted on its scheme, with no restrictions applying. However, it has said that the offer is one that is designed for individuals, not commercial businesses and is limited to one trade-in per new vehicle, so you can’t send them five vans and get £5,000 off a new one for example.
The first scheme, back in 2009, was an official one introduced by the Government to stimulate the car industry following the 2008 financial crash.
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