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"Cash for Clunkers" Already Out of Money

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injest
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« on: July 31, 2009, 10:03:31 am »

and we are supposed to trust their numbers on health care?? they said they had enough money to run this program thru November and it is out in ONE WEEK??

http://www.wcpo.com/content/news/localshows/dontwasteyourmoney/story/Cash-for-Clunkers-Suspended-What-Now/06iYAnDlok2Ra0eHRJLxJg.cspx
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UPDATE:  The Government is temporarily suspending the Clunker program because based on the number of clunker trades coming in, it appears to have already run out of gas, based on the thousands of trade-ins dealers have been making.

Some dealers report they have already done 50 clunker trades, giving all 50 customers a $4,500 credit.

The program cannot support that number of deals, which is why administrators want at least a temporary break, for the applications to catch up with the funding.

As of Friday midday, Congress is scrambling to come up with an additional 1 Billion Dollars in funding for the program, which would allow it to continue for a few more weeks. When you're Congress, you can hand out billions like candy at Halloween.

What Went Wrong?

Here is the major problem with the program, and why it crashed after only 4 days:


•Congress allocated only $800 million for the clunker program
•That allows only enough money for about 200,000 transactions total
•That translates to 15- 20 trades per dealer, maximum.
•But many dealers are already taking in more than 50 clunkers
•Funding does not exist for that many clunker trades
Based on the number of applications flooding the governments website, and overloading it, and reports of so many pending clunker deals...it appears some dealerships could end up stuck, unable to get government reimbursement once the money runs out. (Click the link above for "latest developments" for more details)

Beware the Contract "Addendum"

Some dealers have been holding off on sales...wanting a Government OK before letting a new car leave the showroom. They say they can't afford to swallow a $4,500 loss if something goes wrong. Others have been letting new cars go, crossing their fingers that they will be reimbursed.

Some others are now hedging their bets, which leads to the following Caution: We are hearing of a growing number of dealers requiring customers to sign an "addendum" to their contract.  It states that if the Government runs out of money before the dealer collects $4,500, the customer will have to make up the difference and repay the dealer $4,500.  Think hard before signing this document: there is a good chance you will have to write a check for $4,500 a month from now.

What Now?

The White House said Friday morning that all deals currently in the pipeline are safe and will be honored, if they qualify and include all required paperwork. However, dealers are now unsure what to do next... and some say they will no longer make any  new clunker deals until the government assures them there is enough money to cover the deals.

Congress is considering emergency funding to give the bill additional money.

Petition Drive Launched

With so many cars disqualified, and the money running out before many drivers can get all their paperwork in order for the dealers, some are now joining a petition drive to expand the program.  (Click the link above for more about the petition drive and to sign up.)

A 12 year boy has posted a song to Youtube called the Cash for Clunkers Blues, about all the flaws in the program.  He may have a future as a rock star...or car dealer. (Click link above for his song)

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Arcadianmemories
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« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2009, 03:55:19 pm »

most of the money went for overhead and admin costs, it has been calculated that there is no way that 1 billion dollars worth of vehicles were bought that week. the scam stink reaking out of Chairman Maobama's admin is so obvious that even the MSM is now picking up on it.
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« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2009, 02:50:56 am »

As of this evening, more and more dealerships are pulling down their 'Cash for Clunkers' signs. Seems that NOT ONE dealership in the US has yet to receive one penny from the US government. Where the fuck did One Billion dollars go? And Obama actually thinks the government can administer a health plan that will compete with private insurance companies?

Brad
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injest
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« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2009, 03:15:39 am »

As of this evening, more and more dealerships are pulling down their 'Cash for Clunkers' signs. Seems that NOT ONE dealership in the US has yet to receive one penny from the US government. Where the fuck did One Billion dollars go? And Obama actually thinks the government can administer a health plan that will compete with private insurance companies?

Brad

the front page of the Longview paper Sunday had a HUGE story above the fold about what a great deal it was and interviewing everybody....I bet they feel stupid.
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« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2009, 01:42:08 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090804/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_cash_for_clunkers_transparency

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The Obama administration is refusing to quickly release government records on its "cash-for-clunkers" rebate program that would substantiate — or undercut — White House claims of the program's success, even as the president presses the Senate for a quick vote for $2 billion to boost car sales.

The Transportation Department said it will provide the data as soon as possible but did not specify a time frame or promise release of the data before the Senate votes whether to spend $2 billion more on the program.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Sunday the government would release electronic records about the program, and President Barack Obama has pledged greater transparency for his administration. But the Transportation Department, which has collected details on about 157,000 rebate requests, won't release sales data that dealers provided showing how much U.S. car manufacturers are benefiting from the $1 billion initially pumped into the program.

The Associated Press has sought release of the data since last week. Rae Tyson, spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said the agency will provide the data requested as soon as possible.

DOT officials already have received electronic details from car dealers of each trade-in transaction. The agency receives regular analyses of the sales data, producing helpful talking points for LaHood, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs and other officials to use when urging more funding.

LaHood said in an interview Sunday he would make the electronic records available. "I can't think of any reason why we wouldn't do it," he said.

anyone notice the complete lack of any kind of Obama news on Bettermost these days? not a lot good to say is there?

anyone that looks at this and doesn't see that these people are clueless or criminal is blind. If the program was a success the results would be plastered all over websites from here to tomorrow...


LaHood, the program's chief salesman, has pitched the rebates as good for America, good for car buyers, good for the environment, good for the economy. But it's difficult to determine whether the administration is overselling the claim without seeing what's being sold, what's being traded in and where the cars are being sold.

LaHood, for example, promotes the fact that the Ford Focus so far is at the top of the list of new cars purchased under the program. But the limited information released so far shows most buyers are not picking Ford, Chrysler or General Motors vehicles, and six of the top 10 vehicles purchased are Honda, Toyota and Hyundai.

LaHood has called the popular rebates to car buyers "the lifeline that will bring back the automobile industry in America." He and other advocates are citing program data to promote passage of another $2 billion for the incentives -- claiming dealers sold cars that are 61 percent more fuel efficient than trade-ins.

LaHood also said this week that even if buyers aren't choosing cars made by U.S. automobile manufacturers, many of the Honda, Toyota and Hyundai cars sold were made in those companies' American plants.

But there's no way to verify his claims without access to DOT's data.

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has argued against quick approval of $2 billion for the program because little is known about the first round of $3,500 and $4,500 rebates.

"We don't have the results of the first $1 billion," McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said. "You don't have them. We don't have them. DOT doesn't have all of it. We'd hate to make a mistake on something like that."
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« Reply #5 on: August 04, 2009, 09:25:31 pm »

lets look at their folly logically.

the "clunkers" programs may put some artificial heft in the economic numbers temporarily, and give yet another bail out to the auto companies and the parasite unions.

but after its over, its over, and then the economic numbers will artificially plummet again.

and how can that be good for Obama or the economy?

the post Clunker let down is going to hit just as the economy should be bottoming out of the recession, so we are for a variety of reasons probably headed towards a double dip recession with the second nadir occuring in late 2010. 

that is assuming that the Chinese don't call in ALL of their bonds - in that case we in for a really lovely, lovely time in 2011 and 2012. 
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« Reply #6 on: August 04, 2009, 09:26:59 pm »

and some are calling the stock market a "bear rally'??
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« Reply #7 on: August 19, 2009, 09:58:57 pm »

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1050/how-to-avoid-the-cash-for-clunkers-snarl/;_ylc=X3oDMTFsNDYyY3RxBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawNjYXNoLWNsdW5rZXJzLWF2b2lkLXNuYXJs
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Of course not. Several weeks into the "cash for clunkers" program it turns out that delivering a couple of billion dollars worth of rebates to hundreds of thousands of car buyers can generate a few flat tires. The Department of Transportation's latest update on the Car Allowance Rebate System shows that the government has received applications for about 412,000 rebates totaling $1.7 billion. But so far, the feds have approved only a fraction of those, leaving dealers furious.

The Transportation Department won't say exactly what the rejection rate is, but in an Automotive News survey, some dealers said up to 80 percent of their rebate applications had been rejected. Some dealers are waiting for payments totaling as much as $200,000, the survey found. About 13 percent of dealers said they've suspended clunker deals because of red tape and concern about getting paid by the government.

Prediction: They'll be back. Buyers, meanwhile, should make sure the dealer isn't putting the burden of obtaining a rebate on them. And those still looking for a clunker deal should be able to find plenty of dealers continuing to play

It's obvious that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, the agency administering CARS, has been overwhelmed by the popularity of a program that has surprised just about everybody, including the masterminds in Congress who had to triple the funding a week after clunkers kicked in. NHTSA initially detailed 225 people to processing those 400,000 claims; it's in the process of assigning 1,000 more to the program to help speed up the rebates.

To put this in context, there are only about 635 full-time workers at the entire agency, and their principal job is to set safety standards, perform crash tests, conduct research, and regulate the automakers. So NHTSA is swelling to nearly twice its regular size—by borrowing workers from other agencies—to manage a program that will come and go within six weeks. I guess they'll get back to worrying about safety after Labor Day, when CARS expires.

NHTSA also has to make sure nobody's claiming that a rusty tricycle constitutes a clunker worth $4,500 toward a new ride. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that anybody would ever attempt to take advantage of wanton congressional spending and defraud the U.S. government. But do we trust car dealers and their customers enough to go by the honor system? Many of the rejected clunker claims are being sent back to dealers because of paperwork snafus like unsigned sales agreements, mismatched serial numbers, and forms that fail to include the make, model, and year of the clunker being traded in. Hmmmm. Those are all harmless mistakes, no doubt. But if people at NHTSA weren't eyeballing every application, chances are that there would be a newspaper headline somewhere declaring "Man Gets Clunker Rebate for Matchbox Car." It still might happen.

Dealer groups have been meeting with NHTSA to straighten out the foul-ups and make sure their own members are following procedures and playing by the rules. Odds are this will all get sorted out soon, the pace of rebates will pick up, and dissident dealers will quiet down and rejoin the program.

Meanwhile, delayed rebates have caused tension between some dealers and their customers. Just like money to ruin a beautiful relationship.

The government has gotten complaints about a few dealers who seem to be putting their customers on the hook in case there's a problem with the CARS rebate coming through. Now, in a negotiated deal it's always a good idea to put the financial risk on the other guy. Except that in the CARS program, dealers aren't allowed to do that. Banned practices include forcing the buyer to leave a deposit for the amount of the clunker rebate, in case the government doesn't cough it up, and forcing the buyer to sign an agreement to pay the dealer the rebate amount if the government rejects the application. In general, the burden is on the dealer, not the car buyer, to dicker with the feds and make sure the paperwork is correct (unless you lie on the application, which could invalidate the whole deal). Consumers can see the complete list of rules at Cars.gov (look under the FAQ), and buyers can report suspicious dealer activity to the government by calling 866-CAR-7891.

The popularity of the program has also caught manufacturers by surprise, one reason they've run short of some vehicles that clunker traders want to buy. Some dealers have sold out of models like the Jeep Patriot and the Ford Focus, for instance. Buyers were left wondering whether they can still get a clunker deal when the next shipment arrives or should pick another vehicle. So the government has tweaked the rules to include new cars that aren't on dealer lots but are in the production pipeline. As long as the dealer can identify an actual vehicle and its vehicle identification number, or VIN, the clunker deal can go through, even if the car is delivered after the program expires. Buyers need to make sure the VIN of the car they ultimately take home is the same as the VIN on the original sales agreement and watch out for any other kind of bait-and-switch.

If the nearest dealer has bailed out of the program, look for another. Despite the problems, there are plenty of reasons for dealers to stay involved with CARS until it expires. With the government subsidizing the cost of so many new cars, the program is obviously boosting sales. But it's also drawing other shoppers who end up buying a car even though they don't qualify for a clunker deal, and it's generating business in dealers' service departments as well. And with many buyers who qualified for a clunker deal already enjoying their new ride, the frenzy is starting to subside. That should give the government time to catch up and placate the dealers. A little haggling is just part of the process.

I see the media is still playing by the Obama playbook....demonize and mock people that complain.

and we hired 1000!!! people to process this crap?
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