Cash for Clunkers is done, over, finished
For real this time, the "Cash for Clunkers" program will longer be offered after Monday, according to Obama administration sources.
The rebates of $3,500 or $4,500, meant to encourage car buyers to swap their gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicles have proven so wildly popular that the program has already run through the first $3 billion appropriated by Congress, and there are no plans to ask for additional money.
What do you think of this program, and how it was run? Is the program successful if it runs out of money early, or is it a dud? Did you get a chance to take advantage of the rebates before they ran out? Are you planning to hit the dealership post-haste to get in under the wire?
I'm kind of excited that that as many as 450,000 older cars might be off the roads and will be replaced by newer cars with more safety features such as side-curtain airbags.
By the way, if you were curious why the Cash for Clunkers rebates were only offered for cars that were built after 1984, the Los Angeles Times has a surprising answer for you.
Comments
We did buy a new car using Cash for Clunkers a few weeks ago. Our ancient SUV was worth next to nothing, and needed thousands of dollars of repairs. We're very happy to have a new vehicle with good gas mileage and better safety features.
Given our druthers, we probably would have bought a used car not a new one, since the environmental benefits of the vastly improved gas mileage are still canceled out by the environmental costs of manufacturing a new car.
Posted by: bonnie | August 21, 2009 10:52 AM
Cash for Clunkers is one of the dumbest programs ever created. I know 3 people that took advantage of the program and each traded in an old American car for a new foreign made car. The profits made on this card don't go to Detroit but to a foreign country. Another stupid move backed by Baltimore's own Nancy Pelosi (Big Tommy's daughter). A much better program would be to allow people to withdraw money from the IRA without a 10% penalty. I am sick of Congress and the special interests getting in bed together to tailor programs deemed "good for the country and consumers" when in reality they are only good for the industry(ies) that are involved.
Posted by: Jason Teem | August 25, 2009 11:52 AM
I work at a dealership in the Baltimore Washington area. This was a great prgram in alot of ways. I work for a Chrysler dealership and we did our share of clunkers. But what this programed did very good at was bring people into our showroom. I started in the car business a year ago and I have never seen it like this we had people out that really wanted to buy a car. Yes Honda and Toyota made some money but we need not to forget there are americans selling those vehicles, maintaining those vehicles, biulding those vehicles, and all those people are going home and buying there American families food and spending money in america. Yes China made some money off this program, but so did americans. I hope to see this prgram come back when Chrysler has more cars in inventory and things are moving in the right direction. I think people need to stop thinking all about the negitives and think about the positives that this program has had.
Daniel, thanks for sharing your perspective! -- lfk.
Posted by: Daniel | August 25, 2009 2:18 PM