what would you do if you were in my shoes?

[n336]

my well looked after 520 SE Auto is one of the very early  E39s to be registered in Uk ( 1st August 1996) and it had one previous  owner before me who did 23k miles  over the first 3 years and I have done another 57 K over  24 years with very low  annual mileage over the last 10 years. Beautiful inside  light grey leather and walnut trim, and nice Glacier green metallic outside, admittedly the bonnet is losing lacquer in a few spots , I think after a few wet cement spots ( from work on porch roof tiles) stained it , but nothing major, The front and rear glass rubber surrounds is drying up and breaking, other than that its fine. mechanically I am not confident so I constantly worry around  MOT time and when occasionally something ( mainly electrical related) goes wrong , which typically cost £200-300 in outer London garage prices even using non BMW parts. I am now with the dilemma of accepting the London mayor offer of £2k to scrap it ( due to Ultra low emission non compliance) expansion this month  and I may get a bit more (  got the nice parallel slot 16" alloys) from the scrap yard too or keep it ( £325 tax renewal due 1st sept) and pay the £12.50 charge every day I use the car, which I recon can be kept within 80 days a year , so up to an extra £1000 a year in usage charges. Insurance has been very good with low mileage and max no claim discount . Its the only car in the household and If I scrap it we can manage for a bit on public transport & cycle till I find a reliable little hatchback like a Honda jazz or a Yaris , so I would have an insurance break which I dont know what will do to my present long  No Claims record. A good ten year old Honda/Yaris Hatchback with low..ish mileage from a dealer could cost £7-8k in today's crazy used car prices. I love my Beemer. Its been a solid constant for me over the past 24 years.

What would you do if you were in my shoes? Do I live with the daily charge , and the occasional high repair bill risk, in the hope my car appreciates over time to make it worth while, or do settle for scrappage and drive a little hatchback?

[duncan-uk]

Hmm tricky one. Nobody likes paying the tax but at the same time there is the devil you know argument. Assuming the car is around 80k miles mechanically it should be ok. I’d be tempted to keep it rather than stump up the extra you need.  

[Ray112]

Hard to say what would I do. I know that after 2 years your NCB discount disappear so if you decide to make a gap without having a car, make sure it's less than 24 months long, otherwise you will start from 0 NCB again. 

Overall £2k for 520i isn't bad and probably you won't get much more than that unless it has some nice optional extras or anything else rare, but then again it's low mileage car and might be more sentimental value for you personally. 

Hasn't red exact rules about ulez scrappage scheme myself, but years ago when ulez was first introduced, £2k were only given towards new car bought (maybe approved used from dealer as well). So if that's still the case, you can't just scrap your car and get money, you have to buy replacement car quite soon.

[n336]

Thank you guys for your thoughts, much appreciated

[Dbcrd]

I think the new scheme is up to £2k to buy a ulez compliant vehicle not necessarily a brand new one from a dealer.  Suggest take a good look at the conditions on TFL website but it looks like a payment made to the applicant.  Not a manufacturer backed scheme.

[n336]

2 hours ago, Dbcrd said:

I think the new scheme is up to £2k to buy a ulez compliant vehicle not necessarily a brand new one from a dealer.  Suggest take a good look at the conditions on TFL website but it looks like a payment made to the applicant.  Not a manufacturer backed scheme.

Thanks, I dont know  if  the scheme expansion conditions  as of the latest announcement  last Friday are different but I  know from a contact's recent experience who applied in July, and got approved for the grant , where notified that to receive the payment they must scrap their car and send a copy of the  certificate of destruction  to TFL within a month of the notification letter date in order to get their payment cheque. There was no condition to then use this money towards another car that is compliant