How green is scrapping an old car and buying a new one?

Question

People who own cars that have high c02 emissions are going to be taxed more under the guise of a 'green tax to encourage green behaviour'.

The only logic here is that the government want people to scrap their old cars and buy new lower emission ones.

How green is it to scrap a perfectly good car and replace it with a new one?

Where would there be figures/data for this?

Answer 1

This is where it all falls down . New car = loan =steel production = plastic production =energy consumption . The next phase of driving people off the road .

Answer 2

Older cars do produce more emissions than new ones unfortunatley. Older cars have more characteer however do pollute more. Scrapping an old car will remove high emission vehicles off the road, will also allow the metal/parts to be recycled (another green issue.) Also help the economy by purchasing a new car.

Answer 3

scraping your old car and making a new car can be beneficial or "GREEN" as you call it. the newer cars are more fuel effiecient and have lower emission then older cars. older cars have higher emission rates and are costly at the pumps

the only problem is money. the cost of a new low emission gas efficient car is crazy and not many people can afford it

so while getting a new car can help the enviorment not many people can afford it

Answer 4

No idea if there are any figures for this, but recycling of cars is down to a pretty good fine art these days, with something like 80-95% of material reclaimed.

Of course, reclaiming the materials and building the new car also takes masses of energy, so it all depends on how much you use the car and how close you were to the tax brackets.

In the short term this effect of people scrapping 'good' cars for new cars is obviously harmful, but 10 years down the line it will have almost certainly been a net saving measure.

Answer 5

I can't afford a new one so I hope it's not bad to buy an older one. I won't buy it that old.

Usually it's better not to buy new things.

Answer 6

It is MUCH more harmful to the environment to make a new car than to run an old banger.

Answer 7

If you get rid of your old car and get one that is more efficient, Guess what? Now someone else is driving your old car + you are driving a new one.

Answer 8

The old car is completely recycled and makes more steel. Hopefully the new car will save a lot of fuel.

Answer 9

I don't know, fuel consumption must be a factor but do old cars burn more fuel than new cars?