Cash For Clunkers
Cash For Clunkers Program Wraps Up on Monday.
by MikeScholtes on Aug.25, 2009, under Cash For Clunkers
The popular “Cash for Clunkers” program – one that gave consumers big discounts on new fuel efficient cars if they traded in their old gas guzzlers – ends on Monday.
Over the weekend car dealers across the country reported a frenzy of buying activity as consumers who might have been still “fence sitting” about buying a new car rushed to car lots to take advantage of the program before the deadline on Monday evening at 8pm, which is two weeks earlier than had been expected.
One dealer, John Bergstrom of Appleton, Wisconsin told the Associated Press that traffic was so heavy at his 20 Hyundai dealerships at the weekend that he had sold 100 cars on Friday and the same number the following day. All in all he said, the program had netted his dealerships 800 sales and he had been forced to hire a couple of extra staff on a temporary basis to get all the paperwork filed in time.
The shortened deadline has some dealers scrambling to get that paperwork submitted in time, leading some to end the program early to make sure they receive all the compensation from the government that the program entitles them to.
AutoNation, who are the country’s biggest nationwide car dealership chain, were not taking any chances. According to a spokesperson, Mark Cannon, their last day offering the Cash for Clunkers discounts was Friday. But Cannon did note that the program had proved lucrative with 11,000 deals completed.
The complexity of some of the required paperwork has led the National Automotive Dealers Association to ask the government to extend the deadline for the filing of reimbursement paperwork until August 31st. The government has yet to issue a decision though.
Consumers buying a new vehicle under the Cash for Clunkers program had to submit evidence that they had held the title to their trade in vehicle for at least a year and in most states that it had also been continuously registered and insured for the same amount of time. Proof of all of that, as well as several other forms, has to be submitted by dealers to the government in order for them to receive proper reimbursement. That has proved to be a tall order for some and dealers nationwide have become concerned that they will not receive reimbursement for all the deals that they have made.
