why that was nice

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

WASHINGTON — The government suspended its $1 billion 'cash for clunkers' program Thursday night amid worries about slow processing of sales deals, dealer confusion — or even fears it may run out of cash months before it was due to expire.
Dealers loved the extra sales, but some were already getting cold feet about the deals because of the difficulty in processing them.

One dealer was going to suspend anyway. Another says he's having to haul clunkers back to his lot that he already shipped to the junkyard just to disable them. Others say deals are being held up by red tape.

Cash for clunkers is the best-known name for the big government program that began this week to offer $3,500 or $4,500 incentives to owners of old gas guzzling vehicles who trade them in on more fuel-efficient ones. It is intended to spur moribund auto sales, helping both dealers and manufacturers.

But rules governing the program totaled 135 pages. They required dealers to register and many started off the week just trying to get answers on a government-jammed website. The rules are "very confusing," says Pete Greiner, who has a Ford dealership that bears his name in Casper, Wyo. "The administration of the program is extremely tough."

As of 6:30 p.m. ET Thursday, the government said it had paid out $221 million of the $1 billion set aside for the program. The 22,000 participating dealers may have had trouble at the start of the week, but problems were being resolved, said Rae Tyson, spokesman for the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration only hours before the suspension was announced. The system was processing 12,000 transactions simultaneously Thursday.

But some dealers say demand has been so brisk, they fear the program could go broke in days or weeks, long before its Nov. 1 expiration.

One Honda and General Motors dealer in Fort Worth says he has 50 clunker deals that are being held up by paperwork. "We're going back to our second and third round with customers to have things signed," says Will Churchill, owner of Frank Kent Motor. "They keep coming up with new forms to sign," Churchill says.

Now the dealership is in a Catch-22 situation: he must destroy the engines of clunker trade-ins to be eligible for the program. But if the paperwork falls through, he could be stuck with junked, rather than still running, cars.

As a result, Churchill says he is thinking of holding up more clunker deals.

In the Queens borough of New York, Paragon Honda has its own problem. It already hauled away nearly 60 clunkers to a junkyard before it found the rules require them to be disabled on the auto lot. Now they have to be brought back, have their engines destroyed and hauled back.

"Killing cars is not something that I'm used to doing," says Brian Benstock, the dealership's general manager.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-07-30-cash-for-clunkers-program-suspended_N.htm

 

[thevic24 5,000+ posts]

as usual, most things that the goverment dose = fail

 

[1rockford1 5,000+ posts]

not good

 

[azimuth 5,000+ posts]

there is no way a government program can go bad. lies!!!!!!

 

[duece212 5,000+ posts]

so they are gonna run healthcare? lulz

 

[99grandprixGT 5,000+ posts]

well i was not going to turn in my clunker so i dont care.

 

[azimuth 5,000+ posts]

so they are gonna run healthcare? lulz

and energy, and the manufacturing of cars, and the financial system. they actually just passed a bill that allows them to send in psychologists to parent train. this is just great.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

think of all the polar bears they are killing by ending the program.

all those polluting clunkers still on the road..

 

[duece212 5,000+ posts]

and energy, and the manufacturing of cars, and the financial system. they actually just passed a bill that allows them to send in psychologists to parent train. this is just great.

I have complete faith...this will turn out awesome for our country!

 

[hornedfrog1985 5,000+ posts]

I would do it if I didn't have to buy a new car at msrp. Kind of defeats the purpose. All it was doing was helping the car manufacturers.

 

[azimuth 5,000+ posts]

I would do it if I didn't have to buy a new car at msrp. Kind of defeats the purpose. All it was doing was helping the car manufacturers.

maybe they should have tried this before taking over GM.

 

[dillinja666 10+ year member]

I say haul thouse classics to my house, ill take em with no engine... I see an LS2 in some classic in my future //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[hornedfrog1985 5,000+ posts]

It's stupid. I have a 99 Grand Marquis that would qualify, but... I don't want a little car, I have to pay msrp, I don't get any trade in value for my car, so wtf? I might as well just trade my car in and buy a brand new car, same fricking difference.

The only way this made sense is if you were driving around in some 1984 Chevy Suburban, worth about 400 bucks, and decided you wanted to buy a brand new fuel efficient car so you got got the incentive. I don't think many people are in that category.

 

[mokedaddy 5,000+ posts]

It's stupid. I have a 99 Grand Marquis that would qualify, but... I don't want a little car, I have to pay msrp, I don't get any trade in value for my car, so wtf? I might as well just trade my car in and buy a brand new car, same fricking difference.
The only way this made sense is if you were driving around in some 1984 Chevy Suburban, worth about 400 bucks, and decided you wanted to buy a brand new fuel efficient car. I don't think many people are in that category.

Our local news did a report and stated that a good percentage of the cars listed would bring more than $4500 if sold outright.

 

[Lugnutz 10+ year member]

It's stupid. I have a 99 Grand Marquis that would qualify, but... I don't want a little car, I have to pay msrp, I don't get any trade in value for my car, so wtf? I might as well just trade my car in and buy a brand new car, same fricking difference.
The only way this made sense is if you were driving around in some 1984 Chevy Suburban, worth about 400 bucks, and decided you wanted to buy a brand new fuel efficient car so you got got the incentive. I don't think many people are in that category.

Apparently they are since the response has been pretty high for the program.

Even if there is an environmental problem, what the hell good does it do for one country to go green, when hundreds of other countries aren't?