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Congress contemplates Cash for Clunkers -- get $3000-7500 for your old car?

WhipperSnapper

WhipperSnapper

Lifer
This throws a monkey wrench into my car purchasing plans. Apparently Congress is considering a bill that would give car buyers $3000-$7500 for trading in an older vehicle for a newer, more fuel efficient one. I would hate to buy a vehicle and then learn that if I had just waited a couple more months I could have cashed in on my old clunker.

Does anyone know anything else about this and the prospects for its passing and when? Congress and the President are desperate right now and they seem to be passing legislation quickly, so it wouldn't come as a big surprise to me if the passed a silly bill like that in the near future.

Article in the Detroit Free Press here (it will probably become inaccessible after a day or two):

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs...090322/COL14/903220469
 
Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
It's been a success in Germany so far.
Click to expand...

link? ( I can't tell if you are sarcastic or serious, if serious I'm just curious and too lazy to Google)
 
Very excited about this. Combined with the sales tax write off this year I can trade in my old volvo for 1/2 off a new car. I read some places where there may be a minimum on the MPG of 24 for trucks and 27 for cars.
 
That would be wonderful, if this comes through the GF's PT Cruiser will join the great junkheap in the sky. 🙂
<--- Should of never let her buy a Chrysler.
 
It's going to have to be a gas guzzler to qualify.

18mpg combined or worse last I read.

And $7,500 is a pipe dream.

More like $2,500...
 
Originally posted by: LTC8K6
It's going to have to be a gas guzzler to qualify.

18mpg combined or worse last I read.

And $7,500 is a pipe dream.

More like $2,500...
Click to expand...

Still. Buy old mustang on Craigslist for $100, trade in for used 2002-2005 Prius with 70,000+ miles, even $2500 would basically mean you just turned $100 into $2000.
 
Originally posted by: Saga
Originally posted by: LTC8K6
It's going to have to be a gas guzzler to qualify.

18mpg combined or worse last I read.

And $7,500 is a pipe dream.

More like $2,500...
Click to expand...

Still. Buy old mustang on Craigslist for $100, trade in for used 2002-2005 Prius with 70,000+ miles, even $2500 would basically mean you just turned $100 into $2000.
Click to expand...

why would you be able to buy a "qualifying" mustan got $100, when the owner of that mustang can do exactly what you're doing and get $2500 for it.

and i doubt the govt will give everyone thousands for their old POS SUVs that suck up gas (think: old expeditions, yukons, explorers, broncos, f-150's) those are just a few fuzzlers i can think of that are old and not worth it to sell privately.

You really think the gov't will give you $2500 for your 1995-1999 GMC Yukon with 175,000 miles on it?
 
Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
Originally posted by: Saga
Originally posted by: LTC8K6
It's going to have to be a gas guzzler to qualify.

18mpg combined or worse last I read.

And $7,500 is a pipe dream.

More like $2,500...
Click to expand...

Still. Buy old mustang on Craigslist for $100, trade in for used 2002-2005 Prius with 70,000+ miles, even $2500 would basically mean you just turned $100 into $2000.
Click to expand...

why would you be able to buy a "qualifying" mustan got $100, when the owner of that mustang can do exactly what you're doing and get $2500 for it.

and i doubt the govt will give everyone thousands for their old POS SUVs that suck up gas (think: old expeditions, yukons, explorers, broncos, f-150's) those are just a few fuzzlers i can think of that are old and not worth it to sell privately.

You really think the gov't will give you $2500 for your 1995-1999 GMC Yukon with 175,000 miles on it?
Click to expand...

Offensive comment removed.

Next time it's a 1 week vacation. If you want to critique his reasoning that's fine, but there's no place on this forum for the personal attack you posted.

Zenmervolt - AnandTech Garage Moderator
 
The government did give people money for buying street legal golf carts, so I wouldn't give the government that much credits.
 
The versions of the bills I have seen had provisions in them to make sure you had owned the car for a while to prevent such shenanigans.
 
Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
This throws a monkey wrench into my car purchasing plans. Apparently Congress is considering a bill that would give car buyers $3000-$7500 for trading in an older vehicle for a newer, more fuel efficient one. I would hate to buy a vehicle and then learn that if I had just waited a couple more months I could have cashed in on my old clunker.

Does anyone know anything else about this and the prospects for its passing and when? Congress and the President are desperate right now and they seem to be passing legislation quickly, so it wouldn't come as a big surprise to me if the passed a silly bill like that in the near future.

Article in the Detroit Free Press here (it will probably become inaccessible after a day or two):

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs...090322/COL14/903220469
Click to expand...
Sit tight for a while. I think if this is going to happen, it will be sometime in April. The fate of the domestics will be sealed at the end of this month and Congress will move on to other auto-related legislation - meaning this.

I don't think you're going to have to wait long.

 
They never passed a significant tax credit for hybrids. I doubt that they will pass this legislation.

I have a V8 powered 1994 Dodge Dakota 4x4. The best that I've ever gotten out of it is 17 mpg. (It is rated at 18 I think.) I use it for hauling dirty stuff like yard waste, pulling my boat to the lake, and getting to work in the snow in winter. I have no desire to buy a NEW vehicle for any of these purposes! (Why scratch a new truck with tree limbs? Do I want to get my carpet and upholstery covered in smelly lake water?) Now if I could get a credit for buying a used vehicle, I might consider it.

 
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Wonder if I could trade in the Maxima on a Lotus Elise...

Nah, the Max is still worth more than $7500.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that they give an additional $7500 credit on top of trade in value? Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the only way that makes sense to me.
 
Dumb as hell idea overall. That said, I will also see if I can take advantage of it if it's possible.

I really cannot believe the argument for the plan in that Canadian article. It's so damned dimwitted it almost comes off as from theonion.com. Car sales are down because the economy is fvcked. It's a symptom, it is not the problem.

[from the US article]If people can get financing, they will buy cars
Click to expand...
Bullsh*t. I could finance a new corvette this evening but both my cars are worth $10k combined. I don't want debt, that's why I'm not doing it. That is why savings rates are finally up in the US, too. If you cannot get financing on a car right now, buying one is the last thing you should be doing in the first place.
 
I wonder what I could get for my 1978 cutlass supreme, I've never managed more than 10mpg from it.







LOL NVM, I'm never selling that car
 
This is what the plan will be like. Unless the vehicle is EPA rated at less than 18mpg, it wouldn't be eligible. My 1995 Taurus would not be eligible, for example.
**********
The newer the vehicle, the more cash you'll get for it. If your vehicle was made before 1998, you'll get $2,000, while vehicles from 1999-2001 will get $3,000 and any vehicles made after 2002 will get $4,500. A person can also claim the equivalent dollar amount in public transit fares. The cars must be driveable, and must have a fuel economy rating of less than 18 miles per gallon. Once turned in, the old vehicles would be taken apart for scrap.
 
Originally posted by: LTC8K6
This is what the plan will be like. Unless the vehicle is EPA rated at less than 18mpg, it wouldn't be eligible. My 1995 Taurus would not be eligible, for example.
**********
The newer the vehicle, the more cash you'll get for it. If your vehicle was made before 1998, you'll get $2,000, while vehicles from 1999-2001 will get $3,000 and any vehicles made after 2002 will get $4,500. A person can also claim the equivalent dollar amount in public transit fares. The cars must be driveable, and must have a fuel economy rating of less than 18 miles per gallon. Once turned in, the old vehicles would be taken apart for scrap.
Click to expand...
How is this worth anything? Many cars of these ages can get that for trade in anyway!

 
Originally posted by: gotsmack
Very excited about this. Combined with the sales tax write off this year...
Click to expand...

Sales tax writeoff?

Is that specific to your home state or is that a deductible or credit for the 2009 federal income tax return? Would that be available for everyone or only for people to do itemized deductions (and who don't take the standard)?
 
Originally posted by: LTC8K6
It's going to have to be a gas guzzler to qualify.

18mpg combined or worse last I read.

And $7,500 is a pipe dream.

More like $2,500...
Click to expand...

I hadn't seen anything about the older vehicle needing to have a low mpg; just that it needs to be over seven or eight years old. Also, the figures I have read are $3000-$5000 depending on what you'd be purchasing.

If the old vehicle really does need to have less than 18 mpg then mine won't qualify and I hope they don't pass this stupid feel-good piece of legislation since my tax dollars would end up paying for it without its benefiting me.
 
I was quoting from Pelosi's plan. Pelosi proposed this a while ago.

The idea is to get gas guzzlers that are currently being driven, off the road.

Vehicles that get decent fuel economy won't qualify.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28663037/

The bill, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., "would be an important part of helping getting America's struggling automobile industry back on its feet, and help consumers who are concerned about covering the cost of buying a more fuel-efficient vehicle."

Taking gas guzzlers off the road, added Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a co-sponsor, "would reduce our dependence on foreign oil, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate the economy."

The bill envisions the program operating for four years and encouraging the retirement of up to one million vehicles a year, saving between 40,000 and 80,000 barrels of motor fuel a day by the end of the fourth year.

Drivers would be eligible for reimbursement for purchase of a new or used vehicle with a fuel economy rating that exceeds federal targets for that class of vehicle by at least 25 percent. The vehicle must have a manufacturer suggested retail price of less than $45,000 and be a model year 2004 or later.

The vehicles turned in must be drivable, registered in the United States and have a when-new fuel economy rating of less than 18 miles per gallon.

In the first year of the program, a person trading in a vehicle that is model year 2002 and later would be eligible to receive $4,500 for purchase of a new vehicle, $3,000 for purchase of a used vehicle or $3,000 for transit fare credit. For model year vehicles 1999 to 2001, drivers would get $3,000 for the purchase of a new vehicle. Those who trade in vehicles that came out in 1998 or before could get a credit of $2,000 for a new vehicle.

 
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