cash for clunkers

[Vortex]

Anyone else take part in this? leave the politics out of it. Paperwork was quite a bit of work and needed to be perfect. We found out the hard way. The mini van has been put to rest.:-o Thought the program would not make it past Sunday. Still going am today.

 

[Glenn]

It makes me sad that they have to destroy the cars that are traded in. If it was "push, pull or tow" for clunkers...sure..get rid of them. But based on what I'm seeing/reading. while most of these cars being traded in aren't "cream puffs", they're still operable cars. I just can't wrap my brain around the concept of destroying something that's perfectly operational.

 

[hammer]

As a new Volvo owner this video bothers me...bit it did take some time to kill it...



Wish my 11YO Outback could have qualified, although I'm OK with donating the car and seeing it get some use.

 

[Vortex]

We got a S-40. Much better gas mileage and a safe car to teach our soon to be driving son.

I was just going to buy a new car and give the van to him.

Can't beat the trade in value, but still not sure of how I feel about getting rid of the old one

. Two sides or the story. It raises the value of used cars due to less inventory, but does get traffic into car dealer and trickles down to many industries.

The other point I have heard is that it does indeed raise the value of used cars and makes them not affordable to those who need access to them the most at the lower cost.

 

[deadheadskier]

Neighbor works for a car dealership. He is LOVING the program.

 

[dmc]

Neighbor works for a car dealership. He is LOVING the program.

According to the nice southern man on the news this morning... It's destroying America and must be stopped..
It's one of those "no" things....

 

[dmc]

It makes me sad that they have to destroy the cars that are traded in. If it was "push, pull or tow" for clunkers...sure..get rid of them. But based on what I'm seeing/reading. while most of these cars being traded in aren't "cream puffs", they're still operable cars. I just can't wrap my brain around the concept of destroying something that's perfectly operational.

I'm sure people felt that way when steam engine cars and horse and buggy were replaced by petrol cars...

It's ok...

 

[drjeff]

It makes me sad that they have to destroy the cars that are traded in. If it was "push, pull or tow" for clunkers...sure..get rid of them. But based on what I'm seeing/reading. while most of these cars being traded in aren't "cream puffs", they're still operable cars. I just can't wrap my brain around the concept of destroying something that's perfectly operational.

I'm sure people felt that way when steam engine cars and horse and buggy were replaced by petrol cars...

It's ok...

Charities that rely a bit on donation of used cars aren't too hapy about this. Plus, if the gov't wanted to, and argueably this would be controversial. It could essentially give the clunkers in good working order to folks who really couldn't afford the purchase of a car, but would greatly benefit from having some form of their own transportation to get to/from a job. Sure, the cars may not get 30mpg, and they'll have to pay some (likely minimal insurance), BUT it would be a better use for workable pieces of equipment that just the crusher IMHO.

But hey, just fund it some more, after all what's the interest on the couple of billion of borrowed $$ the gov't is using for this going to cost us

 

[dmc]

All the people that make, sell and support the new car business are happy... All the people that collect scrap metal are happy. We can't afford to loose the car companies... It would kill us as a country...

Every time i turn around all i hear is "NO" anymore... Frankly I'm happy somethings happening... My goal is to see the country succeed not our President fail...

 

[wa-loaf]

All the people that make, sell and support the new car business are happy... All the people that collect scrap metal are happy. We can't afford to loose the car companies... It would kill us as a country...

Every time i turn around all i hear is "NO" anymore... Frankly I'm happy somethings happening... My goal is to see the country succeed not our President fail...

Actually the junkyards aren't too happy about it. They can sell off the parts of these cars, but not the engines, which I guess is the biggest money maker.

But I'm with you on your sentiment.

 

[Vortex]

My last car I gave to Nh public TV.

 

[mondeo]

It makes me sad that they have to destroy the cars that are traded in. If it was "push, pull or tow" for clunkers...sure..get rid of them. But based on what I'm seeing/reading. while most of these cars being traded in aren't "cream puffs", they're still operable cars. I just can't wrap my brain around the concept of destroying something that's perfectly operational.

And obviously the fairly small amount of gas saved offsets the energy cost of building a new car.

Doesn't the exact $1bn number tell anybody that this is hack job of a plan? Then whoops, we didn't actually think about the numbers, here's another $2bn...

All the people that make, sell and support the new car business are happy... All the people that collect scrap metal are happy. We can't afford to loose the car companies... It would kill us as a country...

Every time i turn around all i hear is "NO" anymore... Frankly I'm happy somethings happening... My goal is to see the country succeed not our President fail...

We can sure afford to lost the car companies. Maybe if companies were allowed to fail they...

leave the politics out of it.

*sigh*

 

[dmc]

Actually the junkyards aren't too happy about it. They can sell off the parts of these cars, but not the engines, which I guess is the biggest money maker.

But I'm with you on your sentiment.

junkyard maybe not... But recyclers are...
Tradition is out the window... It's a new world...

 

[drjeff]

junkyard maybe not... But recyclers are...
Tradition is out the window... It's a new world...

If I'm not mistaken, due to the world wide economic crisis, the world scrap metal market has gone from hot to not recently. So while scrap my pile up in the junk/recycler yards, it's not readily being either melted back down in the US or being loaded onto a tanker and shipped off to various parts of the world as readily as it was a few years ago.

 

[mondeo]

junkyard maybe not... But recyclers are...
Tradition is out the window... It's a new world...

Umm, what are junkyards other than recyclers? Oh wait, they're reusers. Recycling without any waste.

But recycling sounds so green, junkyards not so much.

 

[dmc]

We can sure afford to lost the car companies. Maybe if companies were allowed to fail they...

Would destroy whole communities?
Severely cripple our economy?
Put even more people out of work with no healthcare?
Allow other countries to walk all over us?
Place more people on welfare?
Cause more house foreclosures?

for some things... Failure is NOT an option...
Mainly banks and car companies.....

 

[dmc]

Umm, what are junkyards other than recyclers? Oh wait, they're reusers. Recycling without any waste.

But recycling sounds so green, junkyards not so much.

Whatever... You know what I meant...
Scrap metal is worth a ton now...

 

[mondeo]

Would destroy whole communities?
Severely cripple our economy?
Put even more people out of work with no healthcare?
Allow other countries to walk all over us?
Place more people on welfare?
Cause more house foreclosures?

for some things... Failure is NOT an option...
Mainly banks and car companies.....

And allow actual sustainable economic growth instead of decades of inflation?

Remember, fires make forrests stronger in the long run.

 

[dmc]

And allow actual sustainable economic growth instead of decades of inflation?

Remember, fires make forrests stronger in the long run.

Forests maybe... But not cities... and lives... Fires make people die...

 

[Glenn]

I'm sure people felt that way when steam engine cars and horse and buggy were replaced by petrol cars...

It's ok...

I guess I'd agree but we're taking apples and apple here. The vehicles that are getting traded in are gasoline powered with internal combustion engines. It's not like it's "trade in your S-10 Blazer for a hoverboard." You get money to trade something in that gets slightly better mileage. And one thing no one mentions...once people get more fuel efficient cars, they tend to drive more. Ooops! "Hey, that $60 of gas can now get me farther north!" Oh well!

If this was for domestics only, I'd say it's another way to "help" (albeit another I don't agree with) them. But since every brand is pumping this hard, I hardly see how this will help "save" Detroit.

Great quote in the WSJ yesterday:"On the other hand, this is crackpot economics. The subsidy won’t add to net national wealth, since it merely transfers money to one taxpayer’s pocket from someone else’s, and merely pays that taxpayer to destroy a perfectly serviceable asset in return for something he might have bought anyway. By this logic, everyone should burn the sofa and dining room set and refurnish the homestead every couple of years."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204313604574326531645819464.html