Ka$h for Klunkers

Grab it while you can!

As somebody who has been working in the automotive industry on the sales side for over six years this program has been interesting to observe from the inside.  The brand I sell is highline and thus only one of our models qualifies and we haven’t had any takers yet.  But in our building is a brand that has seen tons of business from this program.  The other brand (like the one I sell) isn’t American.  On the last day of July I think they did 12-15 deals on this program.  When people found out the program was ending (looks like the government will pump $2 billion more into it) they rushed in, worn out, tired cars in hand to take the taxpayer money.

When a car comes in under Cash for Clunkers (CARS is the program but I call it CRAP – Cash Rebate Allotment Program) there are so many hoops to jump through.  First you have to go onto the badly designed, horribly slow government-run website and you have to fill in out 20 boxes with various pieces of information and upload all sorts of PDF files to make sure the car qualifies.  The website has been getting such heavy useage that it often overloads and the process must be repeated many times over… meanwhile the customer doesn’t know if they will qualify.

Once the car is “in” the system you have to verify that it will be scrapped (they pour molten glass in the engine).  The scrapper won’t take it until they know they will get the money and the government won’t agree until they know the scrapper will take it.  This has made for some interesting interactions with customers, scrappers, and the government website.

Recently, the EPA “revised” the mileage ratings on 78 vehicles making the inelligable for the program.  Wonder what happened to those customers who thought they qualified and now their cars are dead?

All of this mess was only possible once dealerships learned how the program would work (of course this was after the program was launched).  It has created a ton of paperwork and made the already long process of buying a car much longer.

So a lot of taxpayer money (small by Obama spending standards) is going into people’s pockets and the ones I’ve seen have been trading in cars they don’t really drive anyway for new cars that aren’t made in America.  Sales have increased, and that’s great in this economy, but what I think we’ll find is, over time, people who would have bought cars anyway are buying them now so down the road a few months sales will decrease as these people were taken out of the market early.

Looking at this mess, and being grateful I don’t have to deal with it, makes you wonder what kind of a bang up job the government will do with Obamakare!

For a more “serious” read on this program check out my article on Inside Government which I wrote before the program started and goes over the experiences in Germany where the program started.

Did you like this article? Get new articles daily for free via RSS or Email.