A Good Reason to Cry

[wallabyguy]

Official Cash for Clunkers trade-in list reveals oddities too strange to believe — Autoblog

I think my eyes are still watering.

[A7594217]

Yeah well you should believe it. I work at a dealership and i saw someone trade in a very very nice S4. I couldnt believe it.

[JWA]

After looking through that list I'm assuming that most of those were crashed cars that people traded in. It just had to be basically moving, right?

EDIT: Either that, or they had a Seinfeld BBO situation going on .

[LotusLacer]

[wallabyguy]

The travisity is these cars will be destroyed. Some of these cars like the gnx, Audi quattro coupe, laforzas, vehicross, etc are so rare that to loose them this way is terrible.

[MikeinAlexandria]

Pretty crazy. Some of the cars, in decent shape, should have been worth way more than $4500. But, if there was a decent amount of front and rear body damage on a car with over 100,000 miles, I can see this working.

What amazes me, living near folks who live in public housing, was the 1984 cut off. Really, didn't we want to get the '70s clunker off the road too?

[Flash G]

I wouldn't be surprised if some of those cars "mysteriously disappear" before they hit the crusher.


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[MaineLotus]

Drove by my Audi dealer a few weeks ago and there was a row of cars with CFC on the windshield in the back lot. Among them was a Audi Allroad in what appeared to be excellent condition.

Overall, most cars were not as expected - I saw very few clunkers.

[IsellLotus]

Originally Posted by Flash G

I wouldn't be surprised if some of those cars "mysteriously disappear" before they hit the crusher.


.

Doubt it.
The penalty is not worth it.

[DeanG]

I know a guy who traded in the Subaru SVX as part of the cash for clunkers program. His reasoning was it would cost $5K to get it running. It would then be worth a bit over $3K.

[fitfan]

yeah you have to assume thoose cars were in a state that made the cash more valuable than the car... i was going to post a who cares though, until i got to the last car on the list!!!

1985 TVR 280i convertible

...now thats getting personal! hahaha

[ivan1]

Originally Posted by IsellLotus

Doubt it.
The penalty is not worth it.

+1

I know we have been through this in another thread but here goes again.

Any car traded in this program should have been valued at less than $4500. If the car is worth more than $4500 you would have to be the worlds biggest idiot to take part in the program rather than just trade it in and take the trade in value.

[ivan1]

Originally Posted by wallabyguy

The travisity is these cars will be destroyed. Some of these cars like the gnx, Audi quattro coupe, laforzas, vehicross, etc are so rare that to loose them this way is terrible.

rare, maybe......but obviously not valuable in $ terms as above.......

ps although the powertrain has to be destroyed, the car can otherwise be parted out to help restore a sibling

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

Didn't some mfr's offer a $4500 match to what the gov't offered? That would mean that some cars valued up to $9000 would have been destroyed through the program. Although I would think the mfr's would account for this by allowing the $4500-9000 vehicles to be traded in normally for $9k, but perhaps that would make too much sense.

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

The program was really just a stimulus for the auto industry. The rules (1984 cutoff, silly mpg requirements) were just inane. It was also inane for the govt to remove the "insured for previous year" requirement, that opened the floodgates to cars that were already basically scrapped. It got the job done, it made people happy and stimulated the auto industry, but I would have set a minimum mpg on the new vehicle at like 35-40.

[ivan1]

Originally Posted by MyFutureSelfnMe

Didn't some mfr's offer a $4500 match to what the gov't offered? That would mean that some cars valued up to $9000 would have been destroyed through the program. Although I would think the mfr's would account for this by allowing the $4500-9000 vehicles to be traded in normally for $9k, but perhaps that would make too much sense.

yes but read the fine print:

"Until the end of August, BMW will provide $4500 in incentives toward the purchase of a 335d or X5 xDrive35d." The incentives, which the German automaker is calling an "eco-credit," apply whether or not the buyer is able to turn in an older car to cash in on the government's new program.

On July 22nd, Chrysler Group LLC announced that it would match the CARS program by offering $4,500 cash (or 0% financing for six years) towards the purchase of most Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep vehicles. According to an article from MSNBC, the program begins July 23 and runs through August 31.

Customers could potentially save $9,000 by taking advantage of both the government program and the offer from Chrysler dealerships.

Plus, customers will be eligible to participate even if they are not trading in a vehicle under the terms of the government’s CARS program.

so if you had a $9000 car, you would be an idiot not to sell it separately, as you still get the $4500 "match" even without a trade in

[ivan1]

Originally Posted by MyFutureSelfnMe

The program was really just a stimulus for the auto industry. .

yes it was.....and it didnt just steal from future sales:

About a third of customers who participated in the cash for clunkers program would not have purchased any vehicle without the government incentive, a new study says.

In a survey conducted by consumer site Cars.com, 30 percent of cash for clunkers buyers said they had not planned to buy a vehicle at all, but were lured to showrooms by the $3,500 or $4,500 government rebates.

[Mr. Oz]

The dealer has to drain the engine and trans, fill them with a saline solution and run them until they blow or lock up. Friend of mine at the dealer just loves holding the throttle down until they blow!

Originally Posted by Flash G

I wouldn't be surprised if some of those cars "mysteriously disappear" before they hit the crusher.


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[ephc]

Couldn't even get past the first three.....even as parts they'd be worth way more that 4500 no?? I don't get it...

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

In any collection of hundreds of thousands or millions of anything you'll get some anomalies. Still don't understand why the salesman wouldn't urge the customer to do a regular trade in.