simon bought a new car

london
Yesterday, simon told me he bought a new car. He said he should have asked for waterproofing of the interior instead of metallic paint.
he got the car frm the govt subsidy scheme, scrapping his old one which he says is using too much oil and is needing lots spent on it.
I found out that he actually had to pay £6000 even after the subsidy. to me it is still £6000 but to him it is a saving of £3000 from the original price of £9000.He paid cash deposit of £3000 and the rest i guess he must have set up some kind of credit payment.
Hmm, I wonder whether every car buyer thinks like simon. I dont think it is a bargain. haha. but then i would not even buy a car in the first place. But if it makes simon happy, i guess that is money well spent. right? haha.
Frankly it seems to me the dealer would have reduced it by this amount anyway, due to the credit crunch, without the taxpayer having to pay for it. and to the person who can bargain hard, maybe the reductions would be even more, so that they may end up buying it for less. As it is the govt subsidy has put a floor on the discount. the taxpayer is the loser, as it will mean higher income taxes when the next govt comes in. It is great for those people whose old car is falling to bits, and are not good bargainhunters; though it will just propagate the car culture. Ah well, this govt may just be interested in jacking up the economy till the next election, so as to get re elected, and then afterwards the slaughter with swinging taxes begins. haha. I suppose it does not matter as taxpayers as a group is so big, the pain will be spread amongst many. Pity the poor individuals targetted by the taxman and have to pay up. There will be more of them as the govt gets more desperate for income.
I forgot to ask him what make of car he bought, and strangely he did not tell me, (Added. it is a ford Ka)not that I would know one make from another. I asked if he bought an electric car, but he said it was not available. So bang goes the aim of converting everyone from buying petrol cars to electric ones. Not that it makes it greener unless the electricity is produced by nuclear energy instead.(He said he wanted a ;smart' electric car, but it is not sold by dealers. i like 'smart' cars.). Though from what i see of electric cars, Simon wont like them,and maybe he suspects it too, because they dont have much power. This applies to the cheaper ones.How do i know this? I got a lift in one from my accountant who bought to run round london, as there is no congestion charge nor parking charges to pay.(Though westminster is going to remove the free parking perk, if it has not done so allready).
This article says bigger cars are being penalised by the govt subsidy scheme, and foreign cars are benefiting. (though i thought britain has no homegrown car maker anymore. haha.) Cars spawn a huge amount of backup industry, servicing them, etc. that would provide jobs to local people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8141863.stm