Please, not another U-turn on new-car rules

Who among us does not want to save the planet? But we can only do our bit if we are given accurate information, something that seems in disgracefully short supply when it comes to car ownership.

This week, we learnt that a ban on sales of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars could now be brought forward to 2032. It’s part of a £1.5billion push to change over to zero emission vehicles.

That’s all well and good. But what about us, the drivers? We are the ones who have been repeatedly suckered, buying diesel models in good faith specifically because, way back in 1998, the Government assured us they produced lower CO2 emissions.

Tax relief and incentives followed and, by 2013, around 34.5 per cent of all cars on the road were diesel, up from just 7.4 per cent in 1994.

Yet a year later, diesel was abruptly demonised for its pollutants output and concessions withdrawn. Instead, hybrid cars were deemed the most eco-conscious way forward.

So a great many people bought into that notion, again in the best of faith. Big mistake. Once again, the direction of travel has changed mid-journey.

Frustrated doesn’t begin to describe how the country is feeling. I drive a third-hand Renault estate, not so old that it’s belching black smoke, but it’s got dodgy electrics and has entered boneshaker territory.

I typed in the reg three years ago on webuyanycar.com, the online valuation site, and it was priced at the princely sum of £100. I had it valued again yesterday – bafflingly, I’ve now been offered £295.

Talk about a canny investment: a 300 per cent appreciation is not to be sniffed at. Maybe if I hold on a decade longer, it will eventually become an esoteric collector’s item and I can sell it to a vintage automobile museum or, perhaps, a rapper.

If the doors fall off in the interim and I need a replacement, what should I do? Consult the Department for Transport? Frankly, I’d rather trust a used-car salesman.