It took ten months and four-hundred million pounds in government aid to save the struggling new car market. The program that lawmakers introduced would come to be known as the scrappage scheme. Under this plan, any UK resident who traded in an old clunker for a new car would receive a discount of up to two thousand pounds. In spite of some early opposition, the scheme was a massive success that encouraged three quarters of growth. But like all good things, the scheme had to eventually come to an end. In March of 2010, the program was officially discontinued. At the same time the government was financing the new car market, the used car market was getting by on its own. Though the recession was hard on nearly every sector of the economy, sales of second hand cars actually increased by six percent in 2009. What does the future hold? Let's just say that used car dealers have many reasons to smile these days. Not only has the scrappage scheme come to an end, but automakers have raised new car prices across the board due to the weakening pound. This means that the average price of the average new car is around fifteen percent higher than it was last year. Not surprisingly, most industry insiders are predicting a stellar summer for the used car market and a rocky one for the new car market. In fact, a few of the most pessimistic experts fear that another scrappage scheme may be needed in the fall.
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