Got a clunker?

[RadarTech]

I am in the market and have been for several months..
when I hear about this deal becoming a reality I stopped looking..
now, as soon as a few little $ items are covered. Here comes a new vehicle..
99 Dodge durango moving to a toyota Tacoma...

check the mileage and 5 mpg difference..
We are afraid the durango will not make it another year.. and with it's value at less than $1500.... this is a deal.....

so for one-- we're going to use it..

Later,
J

 

[ultrarunner]

One effect is the supply of low cost older cars is significantly reduced...

I have family in the car business and perfectly usable older cars that would trade in for 1 to 2 thousand are going to clunker program for scrap...

He showed me one and I would mine owning it...

All of the vehicles I saw were trades on new VW's in the SF Bay Area... in other words rust free CA cars...

I'm a car collector/restorer and personally hate to see good iron headed for the scrap heap... my only new car is a 2002 BMW that I was able to pick-up while working in Germany... never thought of it as being old... my other cars go back to 1905...

 

[westcliffe01]

Just to give our example on this program. My wife and I wanted a car with really good fuel economy, but don't have a fancy for the complicated systems associated with a hybrid or their styling. So I put down a $250 deposit at a VW dealer 2 hours drive south for the Jetta Tdi. We have been waiting for a delivery position for nearly a year. Our closest dealer in Ann Arbor (30 miles east) is even worse regarding the waiting list.

Everything finally seems to have come together in the perfect storm. We finally have a vehicle reserved for us that fits our specification. We will trade in our 2000 Audi A6 (KBB value close to $3000). That sucker still costs $140/month for insurance because of the new sticker price of $43k even though I bought it used in 2004 for $17k. The Jetta Tdi is closer to $100/month for insurance and it is brand new. Then we get the $1300 tax credit because of the super fuel efficiency and low emissions and the $4500 for Cash for Clunkers program on the Audi.

The Audi will go to a recycling center and the body will be crushed, but the balance of the components will enter the used parts market. It seems a good deal all round. We will pay less insurance, get twice the mileage per tank, have the least emissions (it has a soot filter and NOx reduction) and BTW it is a really nice vehicle to drive with Max torque at 1800rpm and the redline at about 4500. The 32 valve Audi V6 only came alive at 3000rpm and above.

 

[IH3444]

The comments after the article are priceless....


EPA Revises ?Clunker? Eligibility List

 

[/pine]

The biggest problem with the "clunker deal" is the "gov" is not responding and dealers that are awarding the premiums to new car buyers are not being reimbursed by the "gov" and are being held up by typical red tape...so much for change...

 

[westcliffe01]

Better get in on the act fast. Yesterday the news was that the first 10% of the allotted budget was already spoken for after just the weekend and the first half of this week. It was projected that the initiative would run out of funds in a few weeks.

My wife and I drove home a new Tdi Jetta on Monday. We bought the car at a VW dealer in Ft Wayne, about 100 mi away. It was the closest "friendly" dealer who got us the right car to test drive and ordered in a car to match our preferences. The Ann Arbor dealer offered a 2.5 gas base model to drive, even though we told them we were only interested in a Tdi. They also said we would have to wait for something to come in that matched our requirements, they would not actively go looking for one. Guess who got our money ?

The car had 300 miles on the odo when we got home, of which 200 miles was the dealer offering customers test drives while we waited on the final rule to be released. So 200 out of 300 miles is "test drives" in a city environment and the average fuel consumption came to 40.6mpg.

 

[kenstrac]

They are having problems in NH also because of the insurance requirement that the car has to be insured for 1 yr NH does not require insurance.

 

[DIRTROAD]

They are having problems in NH also because of the insurance requirement that the car has to be insured for 1 yr NH does not require insurance.

This sounds like a state I need to move to!!!!

 

[/pine]

Govt to suspend 'cash for clunkers'

WASHINGTON Congressional officials say the government plans to suspend the popular "cash for clunkers" program amid concerns it could quickly use up the $1 billion in rebates for new car purchases.

The Transportation Department called congressional offices late Thursday to alert them to the decision to halt the program, which offered 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.

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

 

[Uncle Doug]

I kept my old Dodge PU last year when I bought a new Ford truck. Even though the book value was good the dealer did not even want to look at it. I had planned on keeping it for my grandson who gets his DL next year. Now all of a sudden it may be worth $4,500. Thats a big discount on a $20-25,000 new vehicle. While the wifes car is only a few years old it does have higher mileage as we use it for all out family travel as well. I may be tempted to use this offer to at least get in on the deal. As a tax payer we will all be paying for this on down the road also.

I bet you see the dealer rebate offers dry up about the same time.

When I bought my new truck last Oct the dealers were very nervous about the coming year and had quite a few rebate offers. I have not heard much talk about dealer rebates lately.