Another Cash for Clunker Glitch: Mileage Ratings Change, Disqualifying Some Deals
July 27, 2009
The qualifications for the Cash for Clunkers program, officially known as the Car Allowance
Rebate System (CARS
) that launched Monday, apparently are a moving target, Edmunds.com
has learned.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that last Friday -- the day the rules for Cash for Clunkers were released and dealer sign-up opened -- the agency "refreshed" its combined mileage ratings. It is the combined mileage ratings of the vehicle being traded in as a clunker and of the new vehicle being purchased that determine if the deal qualifies under the program that gives a $3,500 or $4,500 voucher toward the purchase of a new vehicle.
In some cases, the "refreshed" ratings show the potential trade-ins with a higher mileage rating than previously indicated by the EPA, and make them ineligible for the Cash for Clunkers program.
Thursday a Clunker; Friday It's Not
Edmunds.com learned of the EPA's mileage rating changes over the weekend from consumers who had checked their trade-ins' combined mileage rating as recently as last Thursday to make sure the vehicle qualified. They then discovered while shopping for a new vehicle over the weekend that they no longer qualified because of the EPA's mileage ratings refresh.
A few examples brought to Edmunds.com's attention by shoppers through its forums are a 1993 Camry station wagon with a V6 engine, a 1988 Toyota 4Runner and a 1992 Saab 900S. Initially each had a combined mileage rating of 18 mpg so they qualified as clunkers, but their "refreshed" rating came in at 19 mpg, so they ended up not qualifying.
An EPA spokesperson told AutoObserver.com the agency conducted a month-long quality assurance and quality control effort regarding fuel economy calculations on more than 30,000 vehicle model types spanning the past 25 years. About 100 vehicles changed status as a result of the review -- an equal number of vehicles became eligible for Cash for Clunkers as those that were not eligible.
Edmunds.com is currently reviewing the more than 30,000 vehicles to determine the extent of the changes.
Consuumers can visit a special section of Edmunds.com's site for details on the program or participate in discussions on Edmunds' CarSpace.com message boards.
Computer Overload
This is the second major glitch in the program. On Friday, the day the rules were issued and dealers could sign up, the government's computers crashed. Dealers told Edmunds.com they were unable to log onto the government's CARS Web site to register when they had deals in hand for customers.
Government officials said the public site for customers and the site for dealer sign-ups were on the same server, which became overloaded. The site was taken down on Friday night while the two functions supposedly were separated and put on two different servers.
And a lot of dealers -- 16,000, or about 80 percent of the nation's new-car dealers -- applied to participate in Cash for Clunkers, Tranportation Secretary Ray LaHood told reporters at a Washington news conference Monday to kick off the program.
"We're very excited about the tremendous interest in this program," he said. "We think it's going to turn into a good news story for many communities that have been hit hard by the recession."
In addition to taking dealer applications, the Transportation Department fielded about 45,000 phone calls from people asking about the program, which ends in late October or early November or when the $1 billion allocated to it runs out. Congress could decide later this year to extend it into 2010 and put more money into it. -- Michelle Krebs.
Photo by Edmunds.com
On Thursday, the combined mileage rating of this 1993 Toyota Camry station wagon qualified for a government-issued Cash for Clunker voucher. After the EPA's mileage rating "refresh," the vehicle no longer qualified on Friday.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:46 AM under Companies , Featured , News , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
Another problem is about the discrepany between the manual and automatic transmission. For the same 93 camry, the 2.2L MT ones has better MPG rating than those with 2.2L AT while the 2.9 MT can only run 18 miles per gallon and its AT counterpart wins by 1 more mile. That sounds pretty mysterious to me.
Cheers,
-SC
Posted by: scchang | July 27, 2009 at 3:19 PM
To SC,
Normally a manual transmission will give you better mileage than the automatic because of slippage and takeup lag that affects the automatic.
Perhaps the gear ratios in the 2.9 auto are different from the 2.2, thereby improving mileage.
Then again, it just might be wrong.
Posted by: billddrummer | July 27, 2009 at 4:29 PM
Hmmm...
I remember reading earlier about how many dealers were making CARS deals as soon as the program was approved by Congress, but before it took effect.
Now I wonder how many newly disqualified vehicles were crushed leaving those dealers out $3500 $4500 on each.
Posted by: fulcrumb | July 27, 2009 at 5:02 PM
How disgraceful that they didn't put a consumer warning up on their website that they were doing this!
Posted by: bbob5 | July 27, 2009 at 6:49 PM