RideLust

When Cash For Clunkers officially expired for consumers at 8:00PM on August 25, 2009, roughly $2.8 of the total $3 billion allotted for the programs use had been spent – on paper, at least. In reality, dealers had yet to see a dime of their promised rebates, and many had actually ended their participation early when triple digit rebate tallies threatened to put them in the red. For every dealer that praised CARS for the business it drove in, there were two more who were on the brink of losing their shirts if they didn’t see some cash flowing back soon. Read More…

Some NSFW language

I don’t want to go off on an economics rant about the broken window fallacy called Cash for Clunkers, so I’ll just post a few videos of the program in action and let you draw your own conclusions.

Update: In case you’re unaware what these videos are all about… the dealerships that accept the “clunkers” in a Cash for Clunkers deal are required to destroy the motor by replacing the oil with a sand/water mixture. That’s what these videos are documenting, the purposeful destruction of automobile engines as was required by the Cash for Clunkers law.

“Society loses the value of objects unnecessarily destroyed,” and at this aphorism, which will make the hair of the protectionists stand on end: “To break, to destroy, to dissipate is not to encourage national employment,” or more briefly: “Destruction is not profitable.”
- Frédéric Bastiat

More pain: Read More…

As of the Clusterfuck Cash for Clunkers’ official termination at 8:00PM EST Tuesday evening, the Department of Transportation is reporting that a total of $2.88 of the $3 billion fictitious taxpayer dollars allotted has been spent. A staggering 690,114 new vehicles have been purchased using the program, and at least half as many dealers are 6-figures in the hole as they await their rebate check. Read More…

Inconvenience? Give me my money!

You may already know that the government’s CARS program (aka Cash for Clunkers) ends tonight at 8pm ET. Only 7% of all rebate requests have been honored, and dealers have until tonight to submit their transactions. Good luck. What you see above is essentially what every dealer in America sees today when they sign-in to www.cars.gov/dealersupport and click “Submit Transaction”. The massive deluge of traffic has rendered the site useless. This is the same problem experienced immediately following the launch in July. Only this time, there probably won’t be an extension and the dealers won’t be reimbursed. Those that do make it through can expect the site to crash repeatedly while attempting to upload the numerous documents required to received payment. Seriously guys, fuck you.

[UPDATE!] The NADA has reached out to dealers to get some feedback and lobby for an extension. The result? An extra 15 hours! Thanks, assholes!

Well, here we go again. Cash for Clunkers is out of money, and they’re stopping the program (again) on Monday. That gives dealers until 5 p.m. Pacific time to get in their applications for reimbursement. Of course, with the number of dealers who’ve already withdrawn from the program due to the administrative snafus that prevented them from getting reimbursed, we imagine the idea of a sudden last-minute flurry of desperate applications with send a shudder through any salesperson worth their salt. Consider this – as of today, the government has only paid out $145 million, or just around 7%, or the nearly $2 billion at their disposal. The government is quick to blame this slow turnaround on mistakes in the submissions process on the dealership side of things, but who knows what’s really going on?

Read More…

Not literally, although that would have moved Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood up several notches in our book. As we reported earlier, dealers are quite upset about the Kafka-esque bureaucratic nonsense that is keeping them from being reimbursed for the clunkers they’ve paid out for … and by upset, they’re pulling out of the program altogether. Of course, that doesn’t sit well with the administration that championed the stimulus move, so LaHood told the press “I know dealers are frustrated. They’re going to get their money.” That should make it smiles all around, right?

Read More…

Although the Cash for Clunkers program has created a significant influx in traffic for ailing dealerships, the risks are rapidly beginning to outweigh the benefits. According to well-publicized reports, the program has been an overwhelming success and consumers are blowing through the allotted $3 billion at an alarming rate. Dealers are selling a record number of vehicles and racking up rebate tabs in excess of $200,000, but cryptic problems with fund disbursement have prevented them from seeing a penny of it. Since the CARS program strictly prohibits dealers from delaying a new car purchase until the rebate is received, each new sale has morphed into a $4,500 dealership loan that many businesses have exhausted their working capital in order to float. Justifiably wary of shelling out any more cash in return for what is essentially a 6-figure IOU, many dealerships have opted to temporarily suspend participation in the program until they’re sure they will be repaid. Read More…

SUN VALLEY, CA – AUGUST 7: Johnny Bautista paints identifying marks on cars that were turned in through the Cash for Clunkers federal program at Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking junkyard on August 7, 2009 in Sun Valley, California.

Depending on which source you’re pulling from, the Cash for Clunkers program is either rapidly depleting its funding or losing consumer interest by the truck load (no pun intended). Officially introduced on July 27th, clamor to snag a piece of rebate pie reached its pinnacle on July 29th when rumors began to circulate that the $1 billion originally allotted was almost gone. On August 7th, the Obama Administration approved the funneling of an extra $2 billion imaginary dollars into the CARS program and modifying the cut-off date from November 2010 from mid Friday August 7th to Monday morning August 10th, dealer claims rose a staggering $116 million (28,000 vehicles). As of Monday morning, the total number of dealer applications submitted was 273,077, bringing the Cash for Clunkers running tab to a cool $1.15 billion. Read More…

In light of the news that the Explorer is one of the most traded-in “clunkers” in the Government’s C.A.R.S. programs, Ford may want to consider dropping it as an attachment to the Sport Trac’s model designation. But despite its unenviable association with that aging dinosaur, the 2010 Explorer Sport Trac makes a reasonable case for being your next SUV replacement. Read More…

Detroit’s own reigning champ, the comeback kid, in the blue shorts … FORD! … has posted a sales increase of 2.3%, which is a larger gain than any of its formerly bankrupt competitors, as well as better than Toyota or Honda. What’s the reason for the massive increase? (Well, massive might not be the right word ..) It’s the CARS program, better known as the on-again, off-again Cash for Clunkers program!

Read More…