Motors US Cash for Clunkers 14 Aug update - with tears

I think the entire programme is largely misunderstood.
Yes, the green-factor does play a part, but the rest of it is about cash-injecting the Automotive industry in the US.

Say someone has an old car... 70's chev or ford or whatever. They don't owe SQUAT on the car, and the only money they spent on it is for oil/fuel/general maintenance... i.e. nothing substantial.
The reasons why someone would hold on to a car like that are possibly that they LIKE the car (i.e. they collect old cars/always wanted one...) OR, they just can't afford one.
The maths that were made probably (and i am speaking out of pure assumption here) indicates that most people fall in the latter category.
So.
The government tells them:
Buy a new car, and we will give you (on top of the trade in on your car) another 2-3large. PROVIDED you buy a new car.
Suddenly, this guy can pick up a new car, while taking a loan of, say. 7000,- rather than 12000,-
In the same move (seeing as he's not going for a big Hummer or something, most likely), he's being more eco-friendly, as his new car uses less petrol, has catalytic converters, etc.

Yes, the programmer did and will continue to get abused by car aficionados and people who see the gap.
However, this DOES kick the new car market in the rear, as all the old cars get trashed. that means that supply goes down, demand goes up. prices rise on used cars. New cars get sold more... Car industry scores. Mission accomplished.

 

Today:

A 1985 Maserati BiTurbo with 18,480 miles on it will be crushed under "Cash for Clunkers" rules.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/08/14/delozier.maserati.cash.KUSA

I didn't expect ANY dealer to be this greedy

john

 

An Atrocity to be sure.

Still for most, they will fall for it, and for sure most of them will still not be able to pay off that loan in time...

Housing Crash similarities no?

 

The biggest flaw I see is that it's all tax money going into this, so essentially the $4500 rebate is coming out of your pocket anyway...

So you are paying to have liquid glass run through your (perfectly good in some cases) vehicle's engine.

Saw a video of a pristine Volvo getting the sodium nitride run through it today. Totally ridiculous BS if you ask me...

 

That's criminal. Only 18k miles?? It'd get way more than $4,000 in a few years at an auction.

 

i will be taking full advantage of this program to buy myself a brand new car, im very happy

but it seems the car companys are bitching becuz they are not getting their money NOW, they need to stop bitching cuz they will get it and they are making out

 

Don't go too overboard, just imagine owing $30K on a car...

 

According to the new law if a dealer takes a clunker it's his until the US pays him the $3500 or $4500 . Now it seems that the US ain't paying yet so dealers can buy any clunker trade in for the clunker price and fix it up or resell it outright as long as Uncle Sam isn't paying for it.

Here, I'll give you $3500 for that Porsche 356. It's old and qualifies to get you into a new Subaru car. Why thank you, Mr. Dealer. It was my late husbands and hasn't been driven because I can not do stick shifts. I think it has 5K miles.

Quite interesting what dealers can/are/will do with the clunker program.

john

 

crushing an 80s maserati can only be a good thing tbh

Ps. I love the way the guy in the link pronounced biturbo

 

If I remember correctly, Clarkson once dropped a skip onto one of those.