Kash for Klunkers goes Kaput?

Well, that didn't last long.

The U.S. Transportation Dept. is expected on Friday to announce a suspension of the popular “Cash for Clunkers” program that rewards car buyers for trading in old cars and trucks for new, more fuel efficient vehicles after just one week.

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/autob ... nke_4.html

HA! A good program finally comes along, and what do they do? Pull the plug on it.

They sucked up the $1,000,000,000 already!

DVC500 at last wrote:HA! A good program finally comes along, and what do they do? Pull the plug on it.

You'd rather they spend more money on it? They spent what they allocated, it's over.

And they changed the rules 2 days after it started to exclude cars that were previously included. This adminstration could screw up a wet dream.

As always, many unintended consequences will come to fruition.

Newspaper this morning says the legislation allows for up to $4 billion, so Congress could decide to allocate more once the first $1 billion is gone.

My wife drives a perfectly good 1997 Honda Accord station wagon, with only 120K miles on it. EPA says it gets 20 mpg. I could trade for a new 30-mpg car, and the dealer would be expected to physically destroy the '97 model. That would be a crime, especially because in reality it gets 29 mpg. IMHO there should be no rebate for a mere 4 mpg increase, only for 10 or more.

rberq wrote:the dealer would be expected to physically destroy the '97 model. That would be a crime, especially because in reality it gets 29 mpg.

The dealers have to drain the oil and refill the motor with liquid glass and run it until destroyed. What an incredible waste of time and money. Let the dismantlers take care of it is a more efficient process............. but nooooooooo.

The whole idea is to destroy the gas eaters, if they were to recycle the motors it wouldn`t accomplish anything. Probably be cheaper just to have dirty harry blow a hole in the block.

Musta needed the dough for the healthcare fiasco.....

samhill wrote:The whole idea is to destroy the gas eaters, if they were to recycle the motors it wouldn`t accomplish anything.

It is ridiculous, what percentage of these old cannons are going to repower something? 5, maybe 10%? The work the dealership has to do and costs to accomplish it tells me the people that write the laws in this country have NO common sense. If you recall, you and I are paying the tab on this and I say it is a waste. Add $200 per car at least to the mess. At 23,000 junkers, that is $4.6 million in the toilet.

All this is doing is making me rethink keeping my '07 Silverado.

If I put my '72 El Camino back on the road, I'll save hundred per year in excise taxes, many hundreds in insurance costs, the hassle of emissions testing, & my half-a-grand-per-month payments.

Screw their program!

SMITTY wrote:If I put my '72 El Camino back on the road, I'll save hundred per year in excise taxes, many hundreds in insurance costs, the hassle of emissions testing, & my half-a-grand-per-month payments.

Can you register that as "Historical" , and bypass emissions testing?

DVC500 at last wrote:

SMITTY wrote:If I put my '72 El Camino back on the road, I'll save hundred per year in excise taxes, many hundreds in insurance costs, the hassle of emissions testing, & my half-a-grand-per-month payments.

Can you register that as "Historical" , and bypass emissions testing?

I think his post says he doesn't need it with that El Camino, likely due to it's age. Most states have a 20 (NY)-25 (CT) year age exemption for emissions. IIRC the only emissions on a '72 would be PCV anyway. I don't believe there was an emission standard at that time, so to test for a standard that did not exist at the time it was built is pointless. I have some '80 Dodge coupes that were exempted when they reached the antique status here in CT.

coaledsweat wrote:The dealers have to drain the oil and refill the motor with liquid glass and run it until destroyed. What an incredible waste of time and money. Let the dismantlers take care of it is a more efficient process............. but nooooooooo.

If I didn't find source I'd think you were joking:

http://www.cars.gov/files/6265_EngineDi ... edures.pdf

That's mind boggling - destroy a motor that's going to be crushed and shredded anyway. Figures, same morons who mandated TPMS for passenger cars.