15 May 18
News

Fear over used diesels gone states VRA

Fear over price drop in used car diesels gone says VRA

The UK-based VRA (Vehicle Remarketing Association) is confident consumer fears over used diesel car prices has passed but it thinks governments across Europe must do more to address misrepresentation about diesel and emissions.

The UK government, for example, is unclear as to how to tax diesel vehicles going forward. They’ve said they want to get older diesels off the road but the latest tax change penalises owners of newer, cleaner diesels.

Diesel values strong

In a press release issued in April, VRA Chairman Glenn Sturley said: “Our members deal with selling, inspecting, transporting and managing more than 1.5 million used vehicles every year. We have an accurate idea of what’s happening in the used car marketplace and we can say that diesel values are solid.”

He went on: “Certainly, the new cars that are being bought as alternatives to diesel, such as petrols and plug-in hybrids, simply represent a different rather than better set of environmental compromises. The situation makes little sense.”

Shifting emissions

We asked Rupert Pontin, director of valuations at Cazana and VRA board member to expand: “Firstly, buying Petrol cars just shifts emissions from NOX to CO2 and there has been an increase (certainly in the UK) in CO2 detection aligned with an increase in the sale of Petrol cars. Electric vehicles are clean when driving but their manufacture is certainly not - especially in terms of batteries.”

Authored by: Alison Pittaway