Cash for clunkers question

[Deez Nuttz]

I see....so this is really more geared at getting fuel guzzlers off the road just a tad bit more than it is about boosting new car sales and helping to jump start the economy.

I see many of the cars turned in for CFC are actually decent cars.

But again I don't know what they want to define as "roadworthy". I know some people still drive cars that run ok but have a host of problems....lights inop, horn inop, that would cost more to fix than the car is worth....but they're tired, old and worn out but still are driven daily because they still run. I'll bet CFC probably wouldn't touch those with a 10 foot pole.

[DDevil]

And thats where this program needs improvement before they think of putting more money into it.

[nitroae23]

1990 Dodge Dakota 125,000 CAFE 14/18 new.Needs to be "finnesed" i.e. hot wire ignition coil from battery,deposited at dealership on July 6th.Traded for a 2010 Pontiac Vibe GT.The final rundown:MSRP 23,615-3500 cash for clunker-1500 negotiation-5500cash when I sold our 2003 Vibe to a neighbor-3500 GM loyalty(we had just bought a Malibu from the dealer in April)-2273 GM card earnings(they let us use ALL our remaining earnings because we had purchased a GM car in the last 90 days-500 Credit Union enrolee=8842 plus tax.Malibu was 24300 MSRP,got it for 17700.Two car payments=26500...Is this country great or what!!!!!

[ovcatto]

Originally Posted by drjones96

Because if I have a dozen 1988 F-150 1/2 ton's sitting in the feild behind my house that were un-roadworthy I could potentially sell all those to people

That you can do...

who could then turn them in and get $4500 credit towards a new car.

But they can't since the the truck you sold them hasn't to have been registered and insured, uninterrupted, by them for 1 year prior to the trade in.

As for the road worthy aspect. I don't know where you live but where I am, a vehicle must pass both a safety and emissions test in order to be registered. No inspection, no registration, no registration no trade in.

[drjones96]

Originally Posted by ovcatto

But they can't since the the truck you sold them hasn't to have been registered and insured, uninterrupted, by them for 1 year prior to the trade in.

I guess you missed the part where I responded to this about 7 posts ago.

Originally Posted by ovcatto

As for the road worthy aspect. I don't know where you live but where I am, a vehicle must pass both a safety and emissions test in order to be registered. No inspection, no registration, no registration no trade in.

I live in kansas if you bothered to observe the little tag on my posts known as 'Location'.

And if you wanted to do a search and make an educated post about it you'd find that there are several states....such as kansas....that do not require a safety inspection or emissions test in order to recieve tags.

[drjones96]

Originally Posted by Deez Nuttz

I see....so this is really more geared at getting fuel guzzlers off the road just a tad bit more than it is about boosting new car sales and helping to jump start the economy.

I'd say the program is an attempt to do both actually.

But really they aren't giving the program enough funding to make any sort of substantial impact on the environmental/fuel supply issue.

If they really wanted to make a big difference there they would have allowed a larger reward for larger jumps in fuel economy increase. Say....$10k if you traded a car that was getting 15mpg average for something that now gets 30mpg average. Double your mpg....double the reward.

[Deez Nuttz]

That does make sense......offer more for a less fuel burning vehicle....like a Prius.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

The thing I am waiting to hear is the inevitable unintended consequence that will come at us about 6 months to a year after this thing is over - like the way corn ethanol for fuel raised the price of corn tortillias in Mexico by 2 or 3X -

I have no idea what this unintended consequence will be, but I am out ahead of the pack in knowing it will be there, somewhere, and that I don't know what it will be. Like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates

There are several.

First is that it will eventually take many of the decent running lower end cars off the road. that means that poor people and teenagers will have to buy the cruddy non-operable cars that do nto qualify for CFC and put those on the road instead. their only their option is to have no car (and thus no job in most places).

Another problem is already appearing. The delaers are taking these things in by the handful. It takes them hours and hours to fill out the paperwork. They submit the paperwork and get no response, or the request for government money is denied on a technicality or a problem with the paperwork. One dealer said on he news that they turned in something like 100 requests for CFC reimbursement i the past 30 or 60 days (I cannto rememebr the time frame). They recieved a response to only 2 of the requests. Both were denied. The delaer has to do something with all of these cars. If they have not yet destroyed the engine, they could try to sell them. However, if they do not speed things up and get these deals approved, the program will just stop.

Keep in mind that the manufacturers are providing job loss protection for up to a year as well. Jobs are still being lost at an amazing rate. Thus you would wind up with a scenario where the government pays the CFC funding. The new owner loses their job in two months and then the car company (in two cases the Government again) pays for the new owner to keep the car for up to a year. Then the manufacturer gets the car back and has to try to sell it again.

Heck if i was about to lose my job, I would trade in my old clunker and get a new car and let the delaerhisp/government provide me with a brand new car for a year. If I was really unscrupulous, I would then take off in said car and move to another state to look for a job. By the time the repo man caught up with me, I would have a free new car for two years.

How many people who are about to lose their job are likely to trade in a clunker and get job loss protection? Probably thousands. Who wouldn't? It is perfectly legal, and even moral. They are just taking what is being offered. My brothers wife drives a rusty pos that really should not be on the road. He is likley to get laid off very soon. He should trade in the POS get a new Focus or KIA or something and let them pay for it for a year after he gets laid off. After that on at least some of the programs, he can turn it back in with no issues. During that year, he can try to save up to buy another but less awful clunker.

this could get very very expensive for the government, but then they can always just print up more money. They seem to have no limit. ("Hyperinflation? What is that?).

I am sure that there will be other ramifications. there always are and when you ramrod legislation through without really thinking about it or discussing it you generally end up with all kind of uinintended consequences.

Pretty soon the dealers will stop taking these cars.