"Drivers have not had a great time of it recently, with road taxes and petrol prices soaring. But with the car industry in trouble, things have been looking up recently for people who fancy a new set of wheels.

Darling said cars would become even cheaper. The car scrappage scheme will allow anyone trading in a car more than 10 years old to receive £2,000 to spend on a new one. This scheme will run from next month to March 2010.

However, there was no respite on fuel dute. The chancellor announced an extra 2p a litre tax would apply from September with the tax increasing 1p a litre above indexation each April for the next four years."

Surely I cant go out and buy an old banger for lets say £100, then I can trade that in for £2000 off a new car? There must be some sort of restrictions? Please, someone help me understand what it means.

I know its not cash in hand, but what you say about the owning the vehicle for a certain length of time before you qualify makes sense... any ideas how long this length of time is?

The scheme starts next month so perhaps you have to own the car before it starts?