London car dealers are reportedly turning away non-ULEZ models as trade-ins, making it more difficult for owners to sell them
Trading in an older car just got much harder
Another battleground in the ongoing war over London’s ULEZ (Ultra-Low Emissions Zone) has opened up, as Car Dealer Magazine reports that dealers in the London area are turning away trade-ins that aren’t ULEZ-compliant.
On August 29, the ULEZ extended again, and now takes in all of London’s outer boroughs, including the likes of Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon. While that expansion was well-flagged — and much fought over — it seems to have triggered a major fall in the value of cars that don’t comply with the zone’s tougher emissions standards.
To avoid the ULEZ’s £12.50 daily charge (on top of the £15 congestion charge) a petrol-engined car must conform to at least the Euro4 standard for emissions — which came into force in 2006 — while a diesel-engined car must conform to Euro6 rules — which came into force in 2015.
Some 70,000 non-compliant cars within the ULEZ
It has been estimated by the RAC that the rules mean some 70,000 cars registered within the ULEZ are non-compliant, and so drivers have been trying to sell off their older cars and trade-up to models that meet the regulations.
However, if Car Dealer Magazine is right, that has now become a much harder and more costly task. Most car buyers rely on the trade-in value of their current vehicle to act as a deposit against their new one. Indeed, it’s the basis of most new car finance deals – that the car will be worth enough at the end of that deal to roll over into a new plan.
Car Dealer Magazine is reporting that values of non-ULEZ compliant models are ‘tumbling’ and that they’re being sold almost exclusively to buyers from outside London. The magazine further reports that many dealers — albeit not all — are reporting significant rises in the used values of cars that do meet the new ULEZ requirements.
“The whole thing is a joke”
One dealer — Jim McCarthy — told Car Dealer Magazine that non-ULEZ compliant models have become “A real pain” to sell. “We have sold cars off the back of it but what we have ended up with is a few non-UlEZ diesels which to be honest are a bit of a pain for us to get rid of! No one in London is going to buy them. The whole thing is a joke. The part-exchanges that are coming in – the diesels mainly – are going to end up sitting here for a while unless someone is willing to travel for them. Wherever we can, we are trying to send people off to places like WeBuyAnyCar with them because we really don’t want them,” said McCarthy.
Auto Trader has also been looking into the issue, and has found that 88.9 per cent of the currently-available used car stock within a 50-mile radius of central London is ULEZ-compliant, with the cheapest car available being a 2008 Ford Ka, priced at £1,386.
Auto Trader is advising those shopping for a car in the London area to take up the expanded scrappage scheme for older models, which includes a grant of £2,000 towards a new car. For those with a car worth more than that figure, trading in or selling privately might still be the best option overall.
Good reasons for the ULEZ
While there have been enormous legal and political struggles over the ULEZ expansion — including a legal challenge taken by Tory councils — the plan was rolled out as a way of improving London’s air quality and, especially, reducing the levels of dangerous nitrogen oxides, the gas emitted mainly by diesel-engined cars, and which were at the core of the entire diesel emissions scandal that first blew up in 2016.
Six months after its first introduction, the ULEZ is claimed to have reduced the number of cars being driven in the area by 13,500 while kerbside levels of nitrogen oxide had fallen by 36 per cent. The Times carried out an independent investigation into the effects of the ULEZ and concluded that people with lung conditions and poor health would benefit from the expansion of the zone, even if other concerns were flagged up.
Drivers can check if their car is compliant with the ULEZ regulations, or if they have to pay the £12.50 daily fee using a handy online checker provided by Transport For London (TFL). Simply enter the car’s registration number.
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