Looming ULEZ deadline driving people to offload quality cars

Looming ULEZ deadline driving people to offload quality cars

Time Stamp: August 14, 2023 11:48 AM
Source Node: 2822681

Good deals are to be had as London motorists rush to ditch their non-compliant vehicles ahead of the expansion London’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) on 29 August.

New data from carwow showed a jump in the number of Londoners uploading non-ULEZ-compliant cars on its platform to 30% of all listings in July, up from one in five in November 2022 when the expansion of the scheme was announced

The online marketplace said this indicated a rush to sell non-compliant vehicles ahead of the deadline with a recent poll revealing that 27% of carwow users were selling their cars specifically due to ULEZ.

Sally Foote, carwow’s UK managing director, said: “Outside the major metropolitan areas where there are fewer cars and people are much less likely to have these schemes implemented, car buyers are keeping their eyes peeled for good quality used cars that don’t need to be ULEZ-compliant.

“We see a great conversion on quality non-compliant cars, especially the ones that have full service history photos, so we know there’s still high demand for good-condition cars in other parts of the UK.”

She said the trend is likely to gather pace once more consumers become aware of the implications of the changes. “This is a confusing time for many drivers; we found that 64% of Londoners are unsure if their car would incur charges under the new ULEZ expansion. As more people come to realise the impending increase in ownership costs, or are hit with fines from September onwards, we think there’s likely to be a shift in supply and demand for affected cars across the capital,” concludes Foote.

Despite widespread confusion around the scheme, carwow research found broad support for the schemes is positive: 40% of Londoners supported the zones compared to just 31% who opposed them. More than half (56%) of Londoners surveyed agreed that the ULEZ expansion and other new low emission zones were effective measures.

Time Stamp:

More from AM Online