It’s basically you trade in an old shitty vehicle for cash, or credit when buying a new more fuel efficient vehicle. It’s run by the government, and the idea has merits but it seems to be taking a turn for the worse.
It’s not that it’s a failed idea but rather one of those rare cases where it was too effective, in that the amount of money spent from the government to support this idea is or very soon will be depleted. Because of this, you might not be able to turn in a shit-car for money because quite literally there is no more money to give.
To me, the idea had its merits and while it wasn’t the best in the world, it got the ball rolling. In a better economy I think this idea would have been awesome, as it not only gives jobs to mechanics for repairing or breaking down those shit-cars, but it also encouraged the buying of cars with better emission standards. Unfortunately…its an idea that’s basically biting off more than it can chew in this economy.
Figured this might be worth discussion so hows about your guys’ thoughts?
Car dealers are saying this is spurring business, but it’s a terribly run program. The Web site they have to use to process the cash-for- clunkers transactions is extremely slow.
My own thought is that the federal government does not need to be in the car business, period.
Yeah, my 1987 Maxima was on its last legs, so we were going to use this program. And then, before it could implemented, the damned thing broke down to the point where it wasn’t worth the repairs to get it back running.
I’m selling my car (transmisson’s starting to go), but this program won’t help me at all. My Galant’s fuel economy is too good to qualify and $4500 off a new vehicle still doesn’t make one affordable.
Not that it matters much, but the program got extended, so it’s three hours per year. Of course, that assumes the old vehicles were in mint condition, which they most likely were not. So, it’s a bit more than that. Since CO2 is a very new pollution control, and the CAFE standards just got pushed up, it’s not going to be a huge difference.
There are other pollution controls that have improved over time, such as exhaust emissions and unburned hydrocarbon emissions, and the newer vehicles have more checks to make sure the controls are still working. And the new cars have more safety features (side-curtain airbags and so forth). I think those are the bigger wins. Still, it’s only the tip of the iceberg, and if you could get more than $4500 on a regular trade-in, you would do that instead of cash-for-clunkers.