The Clunker Law

Well, it's official. "Cash For Clunkers" is now law—only it's not called that anymore. Now it goes by the tidy name of the "Car Allowance Rebate System," so that it could have the cutsey acronymn of CARS. I wonder how much our taxpayer money went to the Ad Agency hired to come upwith that.

So, what is the program all about and what is it's purpose? The way I understand it, it has two goals: The first is to stumulate sales of automobiles. The second is to get smokey old gas-guzzlers off the road so we can all breathe cleaner air. These are honorable objectives, indeed, but once again, Congress failed to do their homework (which would have amounted to actually speaking with someone who works at a car dealership). Fortunately, where the Obama administration dropped the ball, that cursed private sector is picking it up.

Under the plan (as explained at cars.gov), If you have a car that's less than 25 years old, gets 18 or less MPG (see fueleconomy.gov), and has been registered, insured and driven during the past year, then you probably qualify to receive a $3500 allowance when trading that vehicle in on a new car (purchase or lease).

On the surface, that sounds great, however, when you get down to it, the program, as presented by the Gummint, will benefit very few. First, while the government would like you to believe that poor fuel economy is synonymous with "Made In Detroit," this is not the case. In fact, the vast majority of horseless carriages truned out by the Ford, GM and Chrysler, over the past 25 years have gotten 18 MPG or better. Strike one.

Next, the rebate has to be used for a new vehicle. I may be wrong here, but it seems to me that anyone driving a car that is worth less than $3500 as a trade-in, probably is not in a position at the moment to buy a brand new car. Strike two.

What about trucks and SUVs that do get 18MPG or less? Oh, they are eligible as well as but the NHTSA hasn't quite figured out how that will work. However, according to the cars.giv Website, they hope to have a handle on it by July 24th. Apparently, the program was to simple so the NHTSA ws brought in to complicate it by creating numerous categories of trucks. ("A category 2 truck is a large van or a large pickup truck, based upon the length of the wheelbase (more than 115 inches for pickup trucks and more than 124 inches for vans)." It hardly matters, however, as the program fails to take into account that people who owns trucks typically need them for their business. As a result, regardles of the vehicle's condition, they probably aren't about to trade it for Chevy Aveo. Strike 3.

There are numerous other flaws in the CARS in program as cooked up by Congress. However, thanks to the creativity of people who actually sell cars and trucks, there is some hope that it may generate sales. Many manufacturers and dealers are already offering to add bonus cash to the gov't rebate so that more people may be able to take advantage of the program. whether or not it will work is yet to seen, but the bottom line is that it should get people at least thinking about trading up, which, in this economy, will have a better effect than any new liberal spendulus programs to come out of Congress.

Other resources:

Handy qualification chart from Ford
Clunkers Law Looks Like A Lemon
How To Get The Best Deal On A new Car Or Truck