Monday, August 3, 2009

Cash for Clunkers End Game

Astute readers of this blog may remember that I first wrote about the Cash for Clunkers program on May 1st. At that time the details were not yet clear, but I wanted to prepare my readers of the new Gov't program coming to the aid of the Nation's Auto Dealers. Fast forward to August. The Cash for Clunkers program appears to be heading for an abrupt end. It now seems that the program was a victim of it's own success. While the program was to last until November, more consumers brought in their "clunkers" for trade and the $3500-4500 rebate than planned, and the program quickly ran out of funds. Debate over the weekend has the White House, Congress, and Senate at odds over whether or not more money should be added to keep the program going. Car Dealers are concerned that they may be left holding the bag on deals that are still on the table or have not been processed. One huge complaint from dealers is that the program has too much red tape and the paperwork is too cumbersome for their employees to handle. What's more, the gov't website that is required to be used to process the paperwork, has crashed many times as it cannot handle the load of incoming deals from around the country. So unless the Senate approves more funds, this government program could be over as early as Tuesday! So what does this mean for consumers? Strike your deal for a new car soon, but don't be surprised if your local car dealer has already pulled the plug on Cash for Clunkers. Here's a thought: maybe the car dealers should just lower their sticker prices by $4500. That seems to be enough to bring in some much needed sales and move some inventory. If you can't sell your clunker on your own, then give it to a charity or take it down to the junk yard yourself.

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