Suspend "Cash For Clunkers"?

[asphaltburner]

Yo! Seen this?:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/30/auto...nded/index.htm
Minor glitch in the "cash for clunkers" program!
Todd.

[Stocker]

Yup, it was on tonight's news... the program was more successful than had been anticipated, now the feds need to re-think things.

[Shane]

6 days and it's already broke??? and they want to manage my health care?

[Chevy Fleetside]

I got the letter today from the resorce board in Cali. They will give me $1000 for my 79 Chevy 4x4. It has a crate engine with about 40 to 50,000 miles on it and a built 700R4 with NP208 transfer case out of an 88 suburban. Those two alone are worth more then the $1000 to me anyway. The shift kit is has can acually chirp my 33/12.50's sometimes. How much can I sell the truck for? Maybe 12 or $1300 if I am lucky. It has some rust but not a whole lot. I noticed it starting under the fenders and doors now, but the cab is solid for now. I took the water holding mat out a while back. This is the only picture I have of in on this computer. It has a 4" lift kit in it also. And that stuff in the back is the suburban that the tranny came out of..

[N2TRUX]

It's had an overwhelming response. My concern is how many people are they pushing through that can't really afford the new car payment just to make a sale.

Naaah, they wouldn't do that...would they?

[Chevy Fleetside]

I keep hearing comercials here on the radio about how your clunker can bring in $4500 and they you get $4000 off sticker and then $1500 in incentives which can get you a new Ford Focus or something for $4000. I thought about doing that just to resell the car later.

[old Rusty C10]

Dodge ( the car nobody wants) is offering double cash...it would be funny if they had to eat the deals they already did but unfortunately it wont be the factory that suffers just more of their dealers... Chrysler should have gone under in 81 or so the first time they went bankrupt

[bw4sale]

6 days and it's already broke??? and they want to manage my health care?

Exactly!

[69lemans]

I'll keep my paid for clunkers,thank you very much. I can buy a LOT of gas with the money I've saved by not having a car payment for ten years,not to mention lower insurance premiums by driving older cars,and lower personal property taxes to boot

[El Jay]

I just read that within the last hour the House "overwhelmingly" approved another $2 BILLION to keep the program going.
It's now headed to the Senate!

[Shane]

foolishly spending more money that they don't have ....

[MacAttack]

Originally Posted by Shane

foolishly spending more money that they don't have ....

They don't, but you do..........

[retodd7711]

I haver mixed feelings about the whole deal.
I truly believe small dealers are just selling off their inventory and will close while they have $$$ in their pockets.
On the other hand 250,000 car sales due to the rebate program.
On the other hand, how many of those car sales were American-made vehicles.
As I pump $20 in gas into my 47 year old "CLUNKER"

[bigblock73]

What makes no sense to me, is they are simply destroying these "clunkers". Our local news program showed them intentionally seizing the engines so they would no longer run. These appeared to be perfectly good vehicles.

Wouldn't it make more sense to donate these to charities where people could actually USE them (the good operable ones at least)...or re-sell them somehow so low income families could purchase a vehicle to...get to a job/work, take care of their family, etc??

Makes no sense to me, what a waste...and not a very "green" thing to do either.

[nds1968]

Yep they are seizing the motors up. I know A guy who works at a Chevy dealer. He said today he had to blow up a 350 motor in a 94 Chey truck with 80,000 miles. They drain the oil and add water and an additive to the motor then he starts them up and holds it to the floor. It took 3 minutes to kill the 350. He said Dodge motors only take 30 seconds.

[1956cameo]

Programs also make it harder for the low income families in need of a car. The fewer "clunkers" that are out there the more people will have to pay for a cheap beater. Supply and demand. I guess it doesnt matter beceause in some states the government is buying cars for low income residents.

[corn]

Basiclly they use 4 cans of the stuff pictured (Sodium silicate )& 2 quarts of water to replace the oil & in about 2 minutes the engine is toast. I asked a parts guy at the ford dealership yesterday "Isnt that sorta like shooting your dog? We are car guys & are now being told to ruin cars?" He agreed but was grinning the whole time like he really enjoyed it. Not me, I could never intentionally ever ruin a car...

[Blue_71]

you would not believe some of the stuff we have had traded in so far. we have a 90-94 stepside sitting there that doesnt look like the interior has ever been sit in... a 88 GMC k1500 with 150K miles, a 86 K10 with 4 speed.... all three are perfectly drivable clean trucks... they expect us to lock the engines up in them... ive already told them there is no way in hell i will lock up a perfectly good running small block when ive spent the past 6 months looking for a rebuildable bottem end for my 89

[special-K]

Is being too sucessful a bad thing?There`s no comparison to this program and the complex process of coming up with a health care bill that works.Any comparison is foolish.At least both of these measures are an attempt at helping the people of American rather than ignoring.It`s not like we got into this enormous deficit owing China and Japan mega bucks since January.
I think $4,500 is too much to offer.It should be about 1/2.There`s already all these other incentives and it`s not like dealers aren`t already offering the best deals they can.
I don`t like the seizing motors mandate.The whiole clunker mentality is wrong.The title can be killed to assure the vehicle is gone for good.There`s nothing illegal (yet) about keeping an old vehicle running.All new emissions and mileage requirements don`t effect what was built prior.Time takes care of the majority of older model vehicles.Lower income people (there`s not a good paying job for everyone) need these vehicles and they need to repair them..

[67shortie]

Indirectly affected, I am looking for a square body 'Burb for the family, and a few I have looked at are priced higher now because the owners say if they can't get what they ask, off it goes to the 'clunkers' program and get more than what the truck is worth in this market.

Sad really, there are a few nice trucks I looked at that the world (and I) will lose.

[Shane]

The original comparison of the two programs to one other was NOT based on their merit (good/bad/otherwise) but compared to one another based on the common trend of FISCAL MISMANAGEMENT.

Statements such as this should be taken on their face-value and in their original context and not misused to reflect something other than what was originally intended. Tongue-in-cheek humor, in this case. See smiley.

Social Security is predicted to go completely broke in 2041, Medicare in 2020 and Cash for Clunkers ran out of funds in less than 6 days, Using those statistics, I'm confident in my original statement and feel it holds merit when it comes to my own personal opinion & doubts of fiscal knowledge at the federal level to manage nationwide health care.

Must be the engineer in me, but I tend to use logic to form such opinions and not emotions.

[BillGent]

This was a successful program. just like Oprahs KFC giveaway... Who knew people would flock to free stuff?

I started to see about trading my Dad's truck. 88 F-150 with 94,000 miles. Since they are destroying them, I just can't do it. Well that and there's no way I can do a car payment AND increased insurance premiums.

[asphaltburner]

Yo! Dudes!
Finally found my original post,...hadn't even pursued looking for it until some of the Nastyz28.com members commmented on the same post over there. Here's what I responded with:
"That's why I was glad to see that they can't keep up with the program. At this point, most of those vehicles are modern clunkers (5-10 years old), but a tremendous amount of energy and effort went into buiding them, and they have a huge number of easily salvaged parts,...parts that do not require manufacturing! If nothing else, put some folks in need of a job dissassembling and salvaging parts!
Even more upsetting, older cars are making it to the crusher also, and those contain irreplaceable parts that forum folks would jump at the chance to pay good money for! Quite an uproar on the 72-87 Chevytruckforum, as you can well imagine!
Americans have created a way of life out of throwing out and buying new!"
Thought it might interest y'all!
I always LIKED the thought of recycling and I'll always love fixing things,...what happened to that concept?
Todd.

[70k52wd]

Destroying perfectly usable vehicles doesn't make economical or ecological sense to me. This seems to be another attempt to maintain Americas thirst for gluttony and maintain a borrowed higher standard of living. Same ol stuff.

[watahyahknow]

they pay 1000 euro over here in holland and the offer still stands after bout 6 months , not a lot of people willing to put themselves in debt with the current economy for the 1000 euro benefit .
never knew they allso seised the engines up in the states , thats just wrong , think they want the rest of the older cars to run out of parts faster so they end up on the heap as whell