cash for clunkers-Page 2: Off-topic discussion forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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May 7, 2009 10:14 a.m. aircooled SuperDork

procainestart wrote: ...The program will last only a year; its purpose appears to be first and foremost to stimulate new car sales, and secondarily function as an environmental program....

Or, maybe we should encourage everyone NOT to buy a new car every few years and get away from this ridiculous new car based economy. Sometimes is seems as if people in this country are buying new cars, then working to keep themselves in these new cars, like some sort of modern indentured servitude. Moving this country away from being dependent on new cars sales seems like a very good thing, especially when you consider that most new cars should easily run for 10 or 20 years if properly maintained.
May 7, 2009 1:31 p.m. slefain Dork

So, what do you think they'll do with the cars that get scrapped? Surplus auction?

What sucks is my "clunker" is rated at 22 mpg already. I think I'll keep it.
May 7, 2009 1:43 p.m. andrave New Reader

well the whole point of similar programs prior to this has been to get the polluting older cars off the road. So they crushed them... which is a total waste.

If the point of this one is to stimulate auto sales, I think they would still want to crush them. get lots of cars off the used car scene all at once, would probably drive up demand for new cars.

sad news.
May 7, 2009 1:54 p.m. mistanfo Dork

So, can a van be traded in on a car? That's my question.
May 7, 2009 2:44 p.m. MedicineMan New Reader

I absolutely hate this idea...but I have this old F-150 that isnt worth hardly anything, if I trade that in for say an accent coupe or something (around here around 8k for a base car) and get 4500 credit from berry O...

That could get me back into autocross
June 9, 2009 6:04 p.m. daytonaer Reader

Just saw on the news it passed.

As I was planning on selling a dead dodge spirit to the junkyard tomorrow, I gave pause and did some research.

A car qualifies as a "junker" if it gets less than 18mpg PER fueleconomy.gov. It must have been registered and used for at least the past year (disqualifying buying crap to cash out). My 93 spirit 4banger 3 speed auto that averages 21mpg (terrible for a car its size in my opinion) is apparently not a clunker.

So this 4 billion I helped fund is going to help someone. Somewhere.
June 9, 2009 7:05 p.m. VanillaSky New Reader

18 city, 18 combined, or 18 highway? Our Camaro gets 18 combined according to fueleconomy.gov, which qualifies it. It's falling apart and isn't worth fixing because all of its systems are starting to fail. A/C just went out, windows don't roll down, alternator is going, pings like crazy, smokes on startup, and is rusty in some very bad areas. We've been looking at selling the car and getting something else, but if this applies to us, we'll likely be in the market for either a Nissan Cube or a Kia Soul, both of which would qualify us for the $4500 credit. We'd end up with a $15000 car, considering we go towards the high end of the options packages, which is affordable. $20000 isn't in our price range, but $15000 is. If we could get financed for that $15000 car, we'd be buying tomorrow and scrapping the Camaro.
June 9, 2009 7:35 p.m. Snowdoggie Reader

So the government wants to encourage people to take on more debt in an economic environment where job loss and salary cuts are getting to be common and at the same time taking affordable used cars off of the market and increasing the cost of used cars.

This won't end well.
June 10, 2009 6:21 a.m. foxtrapper SuperDork

No, it hasn't passed. All that's happened is the two congressional branches have passed their own versions. They differ and that has to be reconciled. Yet another version has been introduced, mucking up the reconciliation process.

I'm pretty sure it will ultimately be passed, but that hasn't happened yet. Nor is it clear what form it will actually take. There's still a good bit of wrangling going on with regards to what new vehicles will qualify.

http://www.cashforclunkers.org/