If it needs a kick-start trade it in
If you have multiple cars on blocks outside and no immediate plans to rearrange the furniture on your front lawn, perhaps you should give your homestead look a bit of summer loving. At the very least, you should take advantage of the Cash For Clunkers 2009 program and get something that will purr when you turn the key. Their car allowance rebate system should help the environment and change your lounging area from a rust garden into a place where grass will have a fighting chance.
But the operative word is should. Apparently, the Web site it up but the rules aren’t completely in place. Until then, use cash advances as the fast loans that help you make that down payment on a newer vehicle.
“Tell your dealers so we don’t have to!”
Justin Hyde of the Detroit Free Press reports that while Congress has passed Cash For Clunkers 2009 and the Web site www.cars.gov is in place, rules to govern the program could take up to a month to hammer out. That’s government efficiency for you.
Cars.gov so far is a source that offers information on how the exchange process (clunker for fuel-efficient roadster) will go down. It also urges consumers to contact their local dealers in order to talk them into registering for the program. To me, it seems that that should be the job of the government. I elected you for what reason, again? I pay taxes for… what was that again? Representation? What a concept!
Will Cash For Clunkers 2009 be enough incentive?
Congress has sent their approved version of the $1 billion bill to President Obama for his signature. As it stands, it is designed to give about 250,000 consumers $3,500 to $4,500 in money off the sticker price of a newer, more fuel-efficient vehicle. The original target was $4 billion and one million cars, but the real question is whether people who have held on to their rust buckets will even be able to afford the reduced-price cars once the deal is made. $3,500 to $4,500 isn’t that much if you’re talking a sticker price of $25,000 or more. It helps, but higher-priced vehicles will still be out of reach of many.
What about this delay? CNW Marketing/Research claims that the delay in getting the sign off by Congress is the culprit. Not only did they lessen the scope of the program – which means it will help only a quarter of those originally intended – but now car shoppers won’t be able to take advantage of the program through July. And guess what? There’s a November 1 cutoff, too! Perhaps it will read “between 11:57 p.m. and 12:01 a.m. on the third Tuesday of September by the time Obama’s done with it.
Even with the financial assistance, CNW predicts that buyers will be going primarily for Asian makes. Make it better and make it cheaper, America. Too many big, expensive hulks is what got the industry into this mess in the first place. Better, more fuel-efficient cars are better for the environment, too, although CNW believes that when it comes to Cash For Clunkers 2009, “the environmental impact will be minuscule considering the number of vehicles actually being replaced.”
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I didn’t get to trade the Acura, but instead, I traded our 1990 Astro Van. Even though it had 183,000 miles, I was hesitant to let it go. In its place, we chose a new Dodge Caliber SXT. I guess you could say it’s still an American car, at least when and where it was built. With factory and dealer incentives and the CARS rebate, we got it for $11250 out the door, cash. So in the end, the program worked for me.
This program was not worth a damn! We Americans are soooo stupid that we bought MORE FOREIGN CARS than we did American made cars! No wonder why there is no work in America! They should of just given the $4500 for American manufactured cars so all the money stayed here! Way to help out the Japanese market instead of our own!!!
I am a single parent with 4 kids and I work. I was on my way to take my 8 year old son to football practice in Oxnard and my 94′ Suburban died on me. That was my only means of transportation. I tried to go and get it but it got towed away the other day and I do not know where it is at.
I was anxious for this program to help me in retiring my 1992 Acura, only to learn that it will not qualify because its fuel mileage is too high. It looks as if I will be driving my old clunker for many more years to come.