The governments “Cash for Clunkers,” scheme appears to not exactly be going according to plan, right from the starting hours it was reported that NHTSA agency administration changed some of the combined fuel ratings for certain cars or vans making many prior contracts in the scheme voided. The initial deal was the old clunker needed to have a combined EPA rating of 18 miles-per-gallon or less. Regardless of source as a private, corporate car/van transport or car rental or van hire vehicle. However those cars rated 18 mpg or less were now not deemed a “clunker” excluding many of the previous submissions. And get this, if your clunker is no longer viable for the deal, the government takes back your new one.
Even dealers who fronted the rebates were issuing notices to those taking part in the scheme to either pay an additional $4,500 in what they thought they would get as a rebate, or alternatively take back their brand new car they had taken home just a few days prior.
It goes on, reports published Thursday night the state that the government plans on halting the CARS program already, as the program may be running out of money much faster then expected. 22,782 vehicles had been purchased through the program and nearly $96 million had been spent, already about a tenth of the billion they had for their budget till November.
“But dealers raised concerns about large backlogs in the processing of the deals in the government system, prompting the suspension… A survey of 2,000 dealers by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) found about 25,000 deals had not yet been approved by NHTSA, or nearly 13 trades per store.” “with about 23,000 dealers taking part in the program, auto dealers may already have surpassed the 250,000 vehicle sales funded by the $1 billion program.”
The government has clearly underestimated the ability of the cars salesmen to push the latest schemes.
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