Cash for clunkers the final death toll!

[htchevyii]

he What a joke cash for clunkers is. Our dealership sold 30 cars the first weekend, but I don't think they are really getting many gas hogs off the road. Most of the cars and trucks, (mostly trucks & vans), look like they are dump run vehicles or have issues that have been keeping people from driving them, (most are covered with Cobb webs and mildew). Some even have trash in the back still. Most look to be $500 rigs that are rarely driven, although there are a few that look ok. I just learned that we have to drain the oil, fill the crankcase with sodium sillicate and blow up all the engines before we send them to the junkyard. What a waste of money!

[So Cal Mark]

I guess it's how you look at it. It's merely another part of the stimulus plan to keep car mfgs and dealers in business. Just think of it as a rebate, and a boost to get some of the 80s junk into salvage yards. Sort of like a parent taking their kid to Disneyland if he/she cleans their room

[mbouse]

additionally, though you may not be seeing it at your end, or at your dealership... it is depleting the alternatives to new cars and new used cars.

from my end (supplier to the tier one suppliers to the auto makers) we're seeing depleted pipe lines of parts with no changes in forecast or schedules. i am also hearing that NEW cars are becoming scarce, and am seeing lots of used cars on the front lines at the dealerships to back up that claim.

my buddy at the F150 assembly plant is working tops 40hrs/week. they've already incentive early retired the +50 group, and long ago purged themselves of the unskilled and low senority workers.

i've never been the optimist, but if something ever triggers new production, i think those that currently have jobs are gonna be working loads of overtime for quite a while just to catch up. the first to throw new models on the show room floors are gonna make a bundle.... just filling the demand.

[htchevyii]

But now they're going to have to subsidise the used car dealers that aren't selling any cars!

[So Cal Mark]

I see the clunker program as the first "trickle up" program ever. Giving billions to the automakers is senseless; if they don't sell cars they will still go under in 6 months. By giving this rebate, it helps consumers, dealers and eventually the car makers. And the salvage yards are going to make a killing, they're getting the cars for $50 each and can sell all of the parts except the engine and trans

[mdrburchette]

There seems to be a lot of restrictions on this Cash for Clunkers incentive. The cars have to be 25 years old or newer, must be registered and insured 1 full year prior to trade in and have to have an average 18 mpg or lower fuel mileage. That coupled with the fact that anyone driving something like that actually has good enough credit to qualify for a new car loan really brings the number of cars being sold down considerably.
Btw, where do you get that sodium silicate, Trey? The only place I know of is race specific retailers. It's great stuff for repairing cooling leaks.

[mbouse]

Denise, what are the chances that the govt actually polices all of those qualifications?

Mark, i agree...trickle up is the name of this game. certainly cash for golden parachutes didn't work.

[htchevyii]

There seems to be a lot of restrictions on this Cash for Clunkers incentive. The cars have to be 25 years old or newer, must be registered and insured 1 full year prior to trade in and have to have an average 18 mpg or lower fuel mileage. That coupled with the fact that anyone driving something like that actually has good enough credit to qualify for a new car loan really brings the number of cars being sold down considerably.
Btw, where do you get that sodium silicate, Trey? The only place I know of is race specific retailers. It's great stuff for repairing cooling leaks.

Quite a few seem to be qualifying, we sold 30 cars last weekend and usually sell 60 in a month, of course we haven't recieved a single approved rebate voucher yet. Based on the cars I've looked at, I don't really believe they are driven much,(dump run rigs) so I don't think they were polluting much to begin with. Combine this with the amount of resources and energy required to build a new car and I don't think the enviroment is gaining much.
There have allready been several sales calls wanting to sell us the sodium sillicate, but I don't know who they were from. We were thinking of setting up an oval track on the lot next door and racing the cars until they blow!

[mdrburchette]

Hey, you can have a demolition derby! The local track here has one once a month. Think about how many clunkers they turn to scrap in just a few minutes.

[mbouse]

a guy in the shop asked me today for my crystal ball look at our future work (his job security was truly in question)... as he wanted to take advantage of this program.

$4500 matched at Chryser on a new Jeep is a total of $9k off a new vehicle. Pretty good offer, and yup.. this would be a guy that could afford to go into debt on a new vehicle. Yup, his existing Blazer certainly looks like what you describe..except i know for certain that it is his daily driver for several years.

so my question is, since ALL the rebate money goes to the dealer... is the govt checking up at the dealerships to make sure that all prerequisites are being met? how are the dealers being held accountable?

[htchevyii]

Knowing how the governent works it will probabily be a while before we know the answer and hopefully they will announce when they run out of money. All the dealers are afraid of getting stiffed.

[So Cal Mark]

the Sodium Silicate 500?
For dealers that get caught gaming the system there is a $15000 fine per infraction.

[htchevyii]

So, I'm hoping Cash for Clunkers won't make it to the second round, but it looks as if it will. It was actually easier to stomach at first, when most of the vehicles I saw traded in were beaters. We have been selling a ton of cars, which means everybody has to work there butt off, (especially with all the Goverment paperwork), but I'm sure when it's over car sales will drop off dramatically and be slower than ever. What really bothers me it some of the nice cars and trucks that we have had to destroy. Today was Ford day, we blew up five F-150 & F-250's, two Explorers, a Crown Vic and a really nice 62,000 mile '95 V8 T-bird. Comming up are several Jeeps and a really nice F-250 turbo diesel. Some of the junker vans and such don't bother me much, but many of the rigs being destroyed are nicer than what I've driven for most of my life! It seems like such a waste and we have about 50, just at our dealership. Some of the mechanics have refused to blow them up, the guy today said he'd blow up anything except a G.M. I've watched ten or so being destroyed and it's kind of like an accident or a nude fat woman, you don't want to look, but can't help it. Some of the cars really didn't want to blow and lasted 4 or 5 minutes @ 4 to 5,000 rpm before finally seizing up, (with no oil and liquid glass and water inside). Anyway that's your tax dollars at work, look on Youtube and you'll see cars less than ten years old being destroyed. Sorry for the rant, but it sure seems like a waste.

[So Cal Mark]

like anything, there is good and bad sides to it. I certainly see a potential loss of revenue as used cars are scrapped out, but as far as I'm concerned, if they blow up every POS T-Bird made in the last 25 years that's a good thing.

[brad131a4]

Someone needs to read a little further . They don't send the cars to wrecking yards they crush or shred them so they are totally gone. Biggest joke I've seen our government do period. The only ones that should be able to get the incentive are car manufactures that weren't bailed out. So any foreign car built in the states or Ford would be what you could get. Sorry to the chevy and mopar guys but it just seems to me that they just got to double dip.