i'm curious to know if this actually did anything useful. media says it was a success, but i've read on "alternative media" sites that it was a total failure. does anyone have any insight?

i've heard the dealerships had a hard time dealing with this and haven't received most of their money yet.

but at the same time, if you had a crap car, turned it in and got a 30mpg+ brand new car for almost half-off, who's to care?

I have been keeping up with this, and "success" is relative.

If you mean "people used the program to buy new cars" then yes, it was a success.

If you mean "CARS drove up new car sales" then yes, it was a success.

If you mean "the program compensated dealers 4,500 for each trade-in per the program's guidelines" then it was a colossal fucking failure and most dealerships are going to have to eat that loss. Many dealers haven't received any compensation for any vehicles yet.

If you mean "the program fell within budget guidelines" the it was a failure in that the final tally as to how much was spent is still unknown.

that is precisely what i was looking for. my mom works for a car dealership and she has said its been a total nightmare and that nothing promised has happened.

also, what kind of impact would this have on the used car industry? it seems to me it was a death knell.

this is turning out to be the shitty idea i thought it would.

Well, used cars will always have a market. It's like any used thing, people are always looking for bargains and most people can't afford many expensive things that are brand new.

What are they going to do with all those clunkers, I wonder?

they're going to crush them up

they are being systematically destroyed... much like everything else thats good in this country

shit idea.

good idea until they run out of people who can still afford new car payments....what then...oh yea ...another collapse/ vaccuum in the economy$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

the next waive of layoffs will be from the parts industry.

salvage yards are pissed as shit because they haven't been allowed to take the parts

you shut you're whore mouth.

i was referring to auto parts not bike parts

i think the hoohah over this is dumb. There should be a government incentive to buying a more efficient car anyway. Not some special thing that they're just doing this one time that has ridiculous guidelines most people dont understand. I like the idea of getting a lot of the old rusted out shitboxes off the road but not even allowing salvage yards to take parts from the clunkers? thats just crazy and wasteful.

I agree that cash for clunkers is pretty shitty

the idea behind not letting parts be reused is that they would be used to prolong the lives of other shitbox cars, its in line with the retarded way of thinking as the whole environmental aspect of this program

there should be a government incentive to reduce government incentives

my car is so crapped out that cash for clunkers wouldn't work for it!

that would put Matthew Lesko out of a job

this is a dumb idea... the least energy efficient thing is to make a new car instead of keeping your old one.