Now before it could get off its feet and one week into the program they have suspended the governments cash for clunkers because they are running out of the billion set aside for the program because so many people signed up for it...
Does that mean that I get to keep my 96 chevy van??

AP sources: Govt to suspend 'cash for clunkers' - Yahoo! Finance


AP sources: Govt to suspend 'cash for clunkers'
AP sources: Government to suspend 'cash for clunkers' program out of funding concerns
By Ken Thomas, Associated Press Writer
On Thursday July 30, 2009, 9:25 pm EDT
Buzz up! 540 Print.WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government plans to suspend its popular "cash for clunkers" program amid concerns it could quickly use up the $1 billion in rebates for new car purchases, congressional officials said Thursday.

The Transportation Department called lawmakers' offices to alert them to the decision to suspend the program at midnight Thursday. The program offers owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle.

The congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

A White House official said later that officials were assessing the situation facing the popular program but auto dealers and consumers should have confidence that transactions under the program that already have taken place would be honored.

Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which administers the program, declined comment.

Congress last month approved the Car Allowance Rebate System program, known as CARS, to boost auto sales and remove some inefficient cars and trucks from the roads. The program kicked off last Friday and was heavily publicized by car companies and auto dealers.

Through late Wednesday, 22,782 vehicles had been purchased through the program and nearly $96 million had been spent. But dealers raised concerns about large backlogs in the processing of the deals in the government system, prompting the suspension.

A survey of 2,000 dealers by the National Automobile Dealers Association found about 25,000 deals had not yet been approved by NHTSA, or nearly 13 trades per store. It raised concerns that with about 23,000 dealers taking part in the program, auto dealers may already have surpassed the 250,000 vehicle sales funded by the $1 billion program.

"There's a significant backlog of 'cash for clunkers' deals that make us question how much funding is still available in the program," said Bailey Wood, a spokesman for the dealers association.

Sure you can keep your Van No Help. I'm keeping my 94 Jeep. Shucks I just got it broken in at 180K miles, why would I want a fancy car that has a built in satellite radio, a DVD player, a cell phone that dials itself, a windshield wiper system that turns on the wipers as I'm too lazy to turn them on myself, and let's not forget the 90 indispensable cup holders that are the cat's meow in the latest ridiculous car accessories being jammed down the consumer's throat these days. What ever happened to a vehicle that gets you there safely without being "entertained" to death? I don't know. I was happy with the crank up windows I had on my cars back in the 70's, 80's and early 90's. Now you can't buy a car with crank up windows. Nope, has to be power this and power that and electronic this and electronic that.

I can hardly wait until the government decides to stop this silly trade in scam for a vehicle that gets more MPG than the vehicles on the road now. I refuse to trade in my old Jeep as I can get 20 MPG if I go around 50-52 MPH. Last summer when gas prices were $4 a gallon I paid around $200 a month to go 40 miles round trip to work 6 days a week. So what if I paid a few dollars more a month. I'd do it again. What everyone seems to forget about is the fact that the new cars come with monthly payments attached to them. Why would I want to "save" money at the pump to the tune of a few dollars a week and trade in for a monthly car payment for 5 years? I don't know but I can tell them one thing - no cigar. Nice try. Next time think up something a little better to try and dupe me with.

And just who is going to get stuck when the government decides this trade in the clunkers' money just isn't cutting it? Are the dealers going to absorb this money or is the new car buyer going to get slammed for the $4,500 supposed discount? Oh, time's up. You didn't guess right. It's definitely the consumer that will get billed for this "oversight" in that the government ran out of money. Clearly not the dealers will get stuck.

MY sentiments EXACTLY
I enjoy getting lost (AND found) on my own sense of direction I don't need the GPS I know geographical locations and my sense of N, S, E, and W is superb.
If I want all the fancy gadgets I can hook up a generator in the back of my van and hook up my electronics.
I really don't want the little shoe boxes they call 'cars'

I don't want the shoe boxes either NH. I had to laugh the other day at the lumber store when I saw someone trying to wrestle a load of wood into and then onto a small shoebox. The next funny sight was someone trying to jam a wooden lawn chair into the back seat of a shoebox. He ended up putting it half into the trunk and the other half dangling out of the trunk with some rope.

I used to have a Dodge B200 van years ago. I loved being able to open the side doors or the back doors and throwing any and anything into it and driving off. I can still do this with my Jeep as I have a fold down back seat that stays folded down all the time. I can cram almost as much in my Jeep as I could my van. I had a few two door cars in my time and found that I could take nothing with me other than one or two suitcases and maybe 10 bags of groceries if I was lucky.

As far as the GPS stuff being built in - I have a great sense of direction and don't need that either.

The only car I would even consider buying is one of those new cars they came up with for about $2,000 in some Asian country. Of course that car will never catch on here in America as it doesn't cost a fortune to buy. Who can afford a car for $18,000? And that's not really a fancy car either?

My local newspaper ran an article about the $4,500 rebate/discount or whatever they want to call it. A reader commented that they went to a car dealer about 2 weeks ago and saw a car they wanted for $18,000. Then the same reader went back to the same dealer and the same car was now $22,000. Hmmmm... what's wrong with that picture?? I think it has greed written all over it by the dealers. Sounds more like the preacher's discount to me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by twinkiedooter

I used to have a Dodge B200 van years ago. I loved being able to open the side doors or the back doors and throwing any and anything into it and driving off. I can still do this with my Jeep as I have a fold down back seat that stays folded down all the time. I can cram almost as much in my Jeep as I could my van. I had a few two door cars in my time and found that I could take nothing with me other than one or two suitcases and maybe 10 bags of groceries if I was lucky.

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Exactly! I don't even have seats in my back. I don't like driving cars that much. In the past 10 yrs I drove my old bosses Mitibishi Eclipse and that's about it.
I just can't picture me choosing between these two cars LOL

Clown Box or shoe box

I'm still trying to figure out how they came up with that arbitrary cutoff date. My 1982 pickup is too old to qualify so until I have the money to upgrade I'll keep on driving my junker and expanding my carbon footprint.

I wonder if anyone in congress has considered this example in relation to Obamacare. When government subsidizes the public they tend to overwhelm the system, so if they think people going to the ER for every cold is bad now just imagine things when 300 million people start going to the doc for every wart and hiccup.

Steve ,good point . They can't handle the funding of replacing used cars . Imagine if that were a kidney or a heart .

Chalk this up as another example of unintended consequences of gvt. Intervention. In an effort to bolster the sale of cars to help the dealerships they have put them in the impossible position of having made deals with consumers ;shelling out the money promised by the gvt in advance and now ,not having any assurance or confidence they will ever see reimbursement .

Hey I like Big foot! :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tomder55

Steve ,good point . They can't handle the funding of replacing used cars . Imagine if that were a kidney or a heart .

Chalk this up as another example of unintended consequences of gvt. intervention. In an effort to bolster the sale of cars to help the dealerships they have put them in the impossible position of having made deals with consumers ;shelling out the money promised by the gvt in advance and now ,not having any assurance or confidence they will ever see reimbursement .

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And I believe this program is supposed to be in effect until the end of October... broke on the 5th day. Only 92 days - or about 95 percent - of the program is unfunded.

OK, let me get this straight.

The government put together a plan to incentivize the purchase of more fuel efficient cars. They spent MONTHS working on it. They did all sorts of projections and analyses and came up with a methodology.

And within 1 week they found out that they were out of money for the program. $1 billion up in smoke.

First of all, where did that money go? If so many dealers are claiming that they haven't seen any deals approved, then where did the money go.

Second, if this is the quality and efficiency with which the government handles car payments, do we really want them handling our medical payments?

Third, if this is how the government estimates the costs of a project, how accurate do you think their projections on costs associated with government health care are?

What the heck!!

Elliot

So, you that think this payback for his election program paid for by us unemployed tax payers is so wonderful and well run, just wait. This program is from the same people who want to regulate what health care you can have. This program went broke and was shut down because of overloaded computer systems and lack of funds. What will happen to a person when the Nobama health plan goes the same way and people start dying before a needed operation can be done?

GOOD NEWS $2,000,000,000.00 more has just been added for the cash for clunkers.

House approves $2B more for 'cash for clunkers' | AP | 07/31/2009

GREAT NEWS I just heard it myself
So whose pockets is that coming out of??

You mean someone decided to give these guys another $2 bllion to pi$$ away like the first billion?

The definition of "insanity": Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Elliot

Yep Why don't they just mail every US household a check for a million dollars and let us blow it if we want. Many of us would do a better job at finances than they are capable of

I love messing with you guys!! I think the program is stupid. The same people who are buying these cars are probably the same people who bought houses they couldn't afford. Next big thing is going to be the great car repo of 2010!!

Yeah YOU REALLY HAVE A GOOD POINT THERE!!
I wish I had known about that house program at the time :(
I really don't want a NEW car. Now they could entice me if the cars looked like the muscle cars of the 60's!

I think a lot of what the government has been doing since Kennedy was shot is really stupid.
Very few good years of government since then

Quote:

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Originally Posted by spitvenom

I love messing with you guys!!!! I think the program is stupid. The same people who are buying these cars are probably the same people who bought houses they couldn't afford. Next big thing is going to be the great car repo of 2010!!!

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Actually, what's probably happening is that people are going to the junk yard, picking up $100 clunkers, driving them to the auto dealer, and turning them in for $3500 towards a new car.

Although you may very well be right about the fact that these guys can't afford the car loans. But the effect on the economy is VERY different. When a car gets repo'ed, nobody gets left out on the street. Banks aren't worried about having their money tied up in properties they can't get rid of. A flood of busted-up used cars (have you guys ever seen a repo'ed car after it's been brought in to the lender?) on the auto market isn't going to kill the economy through a market glut. We're not likely to see people filing for bankruptcy solely over the fact that they can't support their car loan as we would with mortgages. Interest rates on car loans don't fluctuate the way an Adjustable Rate Mortgage does. So the risks all around are MUCH lower.

So if the government HAS to do some sort of social engineering, let them do it on cars rather than homes. Not that I think social engineering by the government is EVER a good thing...

Elliot

I was thinking of doing that too IF I really wanted a new car but a. I can't even afford another clunker, b. I'm not ready to give up my clunker Dodge Dakota.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by N0help4u

I was thinking of doing that too IF I really wanted a new car but a. I can't even afford another clunker, b. I'm not ready to give up my clunker Dodge Dakota.

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...egular_cab.jpg

Not bad... I could get used to one of those if I didn't live in the most densely packed city in the USA.