Government Launches Cash for Clunkers Web site; Rules Being Written
By Michelle Krebs June 23, 2009WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government launched a Web site Monday to provide consumers with information on the so-called Cash for Clunkers legislation passed last week.
The site, www.cars.gov
, explains how the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) program works, provides a list of frequently asked questions and the verbage of the law, links to the government's fuel economy ratings on vehicles
and allows consumers to sign up for updates.
The rules for the program have yet to be written, a process likely to take 30 days.
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Click here to comment on this entry.CARS is designed to employ federal government workers who sit around and think up acronyms like "CARS". Most people driving around in < $4500 cars either don't have enough money to buy or finance a new car even with incentives, or prefer to save money by driving cheap used cars (and/or save the environment since it takes a huge amount of resources to build a new car). A clunker that no longer can be driven or cheaply fixed might motivate the purchase of a new car, but it is more likely to be replaced by another clunker that still runs. Way to go Washington!
More than likely, the dealer won't give you the full $4500 off the sticker anyway. Unless the government is guaranteeing a buyback for the $4500 (similar to the push/pull/drag promotions), what will probably happen is that the dealer will boost the cost of the new vehicle to accommodate the loss he'll take on the trade. So the 'savings' will be passed along to the dealer in additional profit, not given back to the consumer.
Well done, DC!
In response to billddrummer:
This program isn't set up to benefit the dealer. It doesn't give the dealer an incentive to take the trade in. The dealer has to arrange for the vehicle to be taken to someone who will crush the vehicle. Then they have to submit the sale information, proof the car was sent for destruction, proof the owner owned and drove the vehicle for the past year (up to the customer to provide registration and insurance proof to the dealer), and then the govnment will reimburse the credit given to the customer.
The dealer can't give a trade in value since they are not getting the vehicle. I can see some dealers charging a transport fee to get the vehicle crushed if there isn't one nearby. True a dealer could mark up the new car but even an average Joe can figure out if they're paying above sticker. That's why every new vehicle has a window sticker on it. If you arrive at a sealer who went through the trouble of removing all the window stickers, you should question buying a car from them anyway.
True the program has its problems (i.e. I had a customer who owns a 93 Bonneville that won't qualify because the combined MPG on their vehicle is above 18), but it's not set up to do anything but help a person get more for their trade than it's worth. Yes I'm a car salesman so you can take that with a grain of salt but from our perspective, we're just trying to sell cars. We need to make some money so we can stay open but it's not like we're making a bundle on new cars as it is.
I deinsured my clunker, that definitely qualifies, for three months while I tried to get the transmission fixed. Because of this period of not being insured I cannot get the voucher. This government is such a crock. If you want to sell cars then you take proof of ownership, in my case 10 years, and see it running and then issue the voucher. This isn't about car sales if they keep people who's clunker quit running in the last year from doing this. What a crock of crud.
I have a pickup that is a 1984 Chevy that was built in Oct 84 so it should qualify if I trade it in before Oct 09 as it will be less than 25 years old but the linked mileage lookup tables do not include 1984. Do I qualify?
What i want to know is, if my clunker is registered in my name, can i use the car in order for my wife to purchase a new car; do both our names have to be on the registration?
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