$$$$ 4 Clunkers over 8/24 8PM

[Bob R]

When I bought on this program one dealer said "give us a 3,500 check and when we get a check from the govenment we will issue you a $3500 check." We walked out and 30 min later bought a car elsewhere. I feel for the dealers. I also feel that it is a choice to participate. seems like dealers chose which way to participate. That also make a difference on if you got a sale or not. Same deal in my buiness. Do I sell the slow payer or not? WE would have not purchaed a vehicle without this program. I would have just given my son the old Van as his 1st car.

[Glenn]

Good riddance. Yet another bailout of 09. I'm still waiting for mine...but I'm not holding my breath.

[Philpug]

Good riddance. Yet another bailout of 09. I'm still waiting for mine...but I'm not holding my breath.

$2K here to replace my heating system. Not 3500, but I will take it.

[campgottagopee]

If I assume that you guys will eventually get paid, Camp, would you say that the "Cash For Clunkers" program brought people into the showroom that otherwise would not have been there making purchases? Is it possible for you to estimate how much, if any, of an increase in sales resulted from the program?

By the way-how are your dogs doing?

From quick glances at the survey customers have been filling out I'd say 40% of the Clunker deals are from customers who would've purchased used but becasue of the deal went with new, so they were ion the market any ways. The other 60% would be made up of customers replacing second vehicles, parents trading in junkers for kids going off to school and people who bought just because we got them financed. As for increase in sales at minimum 30% is my knee jerk, maybe even more.

The utter frustration here is with the total mismanagement of this program by NHTSA----you will see some dealers go bankrupt because of this program.

Dogs are great---only problem having now is my choc boy is ready to go hunting and we can't.

[hammer]

This was a government program...and it was new, something never done before. Not sure why everyone was expecting that the government would all of a sudden be efficient or expedient.

In the end, I think it will be seen as a positive thing that gave the auto industry a needed (albeit small) boost during some hard times.

My only regret was that my "clunker" didn't qualify. Oh well, at least I'll get the sales tax deduction this year...

[campgottagopee]

I was floored when I recently read that you could qualify for this program by only increasing your MPG by 3 MPG. So you could upgrade from a 15 MPG to an 18 MPG vehicle and got into the program. Seems kinda crazy to replace an old clunker with a new clunker. The extension of this program seemed to be rammed through.

Camp... why are they making dealers foot the bill and get a rebate instead of rebating tax payers on their annual income tax? I guess it was thought that people would be more reluctant to sign if the money was on the back end instead of the front end? Buyers would get a slightly lower payment too, I guess. Sucks you guys have to deal with this in the red waiting for the gov to get its act together.

The 3 MPG thing is/was for catagory 2 trucks not for cars but still is a huge joke.

You answered your own question---payment, payment, payment

If the program had worked like we were told it would've been a problem. We were told we'd see the money in 10 days after submission of an invoice. Guess what, I have invoices that have been "under review" since 7/28 and haven't moved.

[drjeff]

From quick glances at the survey customers have been filling out I'd say 40% of the Clunker deals are from customers who would've purchased used but becasue of the deal went with new, so they were ion the market any ways. The other 60% would be made up of customers replacing second vehicles, parents trading in junkers for kids going off to school and people who bought just because we got them financed. As for increase in sales at minimum 30% is my knee jerk, maybe even more.

The utter frustration here is with the total mismanagement of this program by NHTSA----you will see some dealers go bankrupt because of this program.

Dogs are great---only problem having now is my choc boy is ready to go hunting and we can't.

I feel for 'ya Camp as once again the blame in this game seems to be trying to be passed out of the culprit (Washington) and onto the good, hard working small businessmen/women of America

It's the lead story in my local paper this AM that is villifying 2 local dealerships (1 Mazda and 1 Chevy) for withholding the vehicles until the dealers receive there $$, and now my "great" attorney general here in CT and my local congressman are attempting to get in the middle.

[campgottagopee]

Relax... Theres a lot of $ to give out...

Lot's of dealers tripled their sales... If they get paid soon... It's going to be awesome...

People gotta give this shti a chance... It's all new... And it seems to be working...

Right, got $750,000.00 I can borrow??? I'll pay you back in 10 days, really.

Give it a chance???? I think we would if it worked even remotely like we were told it would. This is a joke, and not funny ha,ha.

[drjeff]

Right, got $750,000.00 I can borrow??? I'll pay you back in 10 days, really.

Give it a chance???? I think we would if it worked even remotely like we were told it would. This is a joke, and not funny ha,ha.

EXACTLY!!! Everyone thinks that its great to be the boss until you have to be the boss and deal with 98% of the sh$t that those that aren't the boss don't realize goes on!

I'm sure that Gov't IOU for the $$ will really help with covering payroll

[hammer]

It's the lead story in my local paper this AM that is vilifying 2 local dealerships (1 Mazda and 1 Chevy) for withholding the vehicles until the dealers receive there $$, and now my "great" attorney general here in CT and my local congressman are attempting to get in the middle.

Just tell the congressman to float an interest-free loan to the dealerships so that the customers can get their vehicles.

I actually don't blame the dealerships for withholding vehicles until they get paid, but does that really help them financially?

I still stand by what I said before...this was a different, government run program, no one should have really expected it to work as advertised.

I wonder what the stories would have been if the rebates were processed more quickly and without restrictions...like some other much larger bailout programs...