The Government’s Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) will come to a close today & opinions from local dealers are a little mixed. They are thankful for the shoppers that the program brought to their lots, but they are happy to be done with the red tape associated with the government program.
Robert Divin from Stanley Dodge said, “We are glad it’s over.” Divin said that although the program generated extra shopper traffic to Stanley Dodge, the program overall accounted for a small percentage of sales. “We did about 19 deals though the program, which accounted for only 15% of sales,” Divin explained.
Divin said that there was plenty of interest in the program, but one problem that he saw was lenders being more conservative about approving buyers for purchases. Divin said, “If lending institutions would open up, it would have probably helped our sales by another 15%-20%.”
Thomas Scull from Big County Ford said that he had mixed emotions about the program ending. “It
was a good shot in the arm for us,” Scull said. “We are glad to get back to normal, but overall it was good for us.”
Scull said that fronting so much money and waiting for the government reimbursement was one concern that they had. Regarding the overall program, Scull said, “It was better than we expected.”
Over at Bruner Auto Group, Rick Newton said, “We think it was successful, but we have paid out over $150,000 through the program and have only been reimbursed for one sale so far.” Newton said that they expect no problem getting the rest of the money back from the government, but it would just take some time.
Bruner traded 39 cars through the Cash for Clunkers program. Newton said, “We had ordered 20 new cars specifically to sell though the program that would qualify, and we had expected it to last longer.” Newton commented that over half of these new cars ordered had already been sold.
Pictures in this article are from the “Clunker” lot at Bruner Auto Group.
A press release issued by the US Department of Transportation on Thursday said: “…after a wildly successful run, the cash for clunkers program will come to a close on Monday, August 24th at 7 p.m.”
“This program has been a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work,” Secretary LaHood from the US Department of Transportation said. “At the same time, we’ve been able to take old, polluting cars off the road and help consumers purchase fuel efficient vehicles.”
As of Thusday, the CARS program has recorded more than 457,000 dealer transactions worth $1.9 billion in rebates.
The program has provided rebates of up to $4,500 when people turned in their clunkers for fuel-efficient vehicles. Most consumers have turned in trucks and SUV’s in exchange for passenger cars, with an improved gas mileage of about 60 percent.
Secretary LaHood said the Monday night end date will allow car dealers and buyers plenty of time to finalize purchases and submit applications for rebate from the remainder of the $3 billion provided by Congress.
For more information about the program, please visit CARS.gov.
