Glad the government planned Cash for Clunkers so well !

August 6, 2009 · Posted in Featured, Financial Crisis, Government, Political Issues, Politics, Rant, Social Issues, Society, Things to think about, Thoughts on the economy, Topic Blogs · Comment 

2007-02-21_Gas_GuzzlersLittle did the gub no that nearly 180,000 cars would be involved in the CARS program.  They ran out of money after only one week of the program, people were getting cheated because the minimum MPG ratings changes mid-stream, and just what the hell happens to all those vehicles that are turned in?

Here are some tidbits of the program I question.:

There are several requirements (but you also have to meet certain conditions for the car or truck you wish to buy). Your dealer can help you determine whether you have an eligible trade in vehicle.

Your trade-in vehicle must

  • Have been manufactured less than 25 years before the date you trade it in
  • have a “new” combined city/highway fuel economy of 18 miles per gallon or less
  • be in drivable condition
  • be continuously insured and registered to the same owner for the full year preceding the trade-in
  • The trade-in vehicle must have been manufactured not earlier than 25 years before the date of trade in and, in the case of a category 3 vehicle, must also have been manufactured not later than model year 2001

Note that work trucks (i.e., very large pickup trucks and cargo vans) have different requirements 

There are several requirements (but you also have to meet certain conditions for the car or truck you wish to buy). Your dealer can help you determine whether you have an eligible trade in vehicle.

Isn’t a car more than 25 years old (if it even ran) be considered one hell of a clunker and omission spitting beast?  So all those cars stay on the road.   

Has to be in drivable condition?  Of course it needs to be drivable so the dealer can either put the piece of crap back on the lot, or sell it at auction, which once again, will end up on some other lot and sold to someone else.   I thought the whole gist of the plan was to encourage people to trade a car and purchase a more ECO friendly vehicle?   Car dealerships now have hundreds of used cars on their lots that initially met the standard of horribleness to be traded in…..ummm..then will be sold?  That goal sounds foiled to me.   

So, we just removed these cars and put them back on the road again?   I guarantee you the dealers won’t have all these thousands of trade in’s smashed into tiny little , shiny metal sauce pans.  They make money by moving the car through the system and they get re-imbursed by Uncle Sam for that hefty allowance they just gave you!!   This is isn’t a movement to eliminate these cars, we all know it’s more of a push to get dealers making money again.   The auto industry still makes the same ECO disaster models  so we are just making our roads temporarily more healthy?

The worst joke would be if people are working that $4500 credit into their loan!   No No No…you need to ask for cash in your grubby hand!   NEVER have a rebate or cash allowance worked into the loan to ease the payment or bring down the balance.  If a program offers cash back, then get the cash back and if they don’t offer that option, walk out the door! 

Happy car trading and don’t bank on CARS being your answer.  As always, buy a car you can afford to pay off in 5 years !  Here that?  5 years !   Or do not buy the car because you can’t afford the lien. 

Kisses !

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