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Cash for Clunkers goes...thud


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Yet the plan is working. I find it hard to believe though that most people are buying cars becasue of this or getting the rebate. Seemed like a ploy to get people in the doors of the dealer and it seemed to work. I wonder how the dealers have spun this one? Kinda like going into a dealer and telling them beforehand you have a trade. I can see the program working if you go in there with cash and then hit the dealer the very last second with your clunker AFTER you haggeled a great price!

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I grant you poor planning. The bolded though would require them to spend more money.

You could either spend more money, or do what they did and pull the plug on the CFC/CARS program. What happens when they've planned poorly and failed to anticipate the demand for health care, and it ends-up costing much much more than they thought?

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Failure to anticipate the demand.

 

Which is an idiotic complaint. At $4k a pop, that's a quarter-million new cars purchased. So because three hundred thousand people want to take advantage of the program, they cancel the whole thing?

 

By the way...at a back-of-the-envelope estimate, that billion dollars would reduce annual gasoline consumption by about three percent (very roughly - 200k cars replaced, at a gain of 10mpg per car, over an average of 7k miles driven per year. Gives a reduction in gas consumption on the order of a hundred million gallons annual, which is roughly ten days full consumption.)

 

Given only a billion dollars to work with, I defy anyone to invest it in energy independence more effectively than that.

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You could either spend more money, or do what they did and pull the plug on the CFC/CARS program. What happens when they've planned poorly and failed to anticipate the demand for health care, and it ends-up costing much much more than they thought?

 

Well that it a different argument. Admittedly one you referenced in your first post. Was this all about health care? The program itself seems to have worked.

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Which is an idiotic complaint. At $4k a pop, that's a quarter-million new cars purchased. So because three hundred thousand people want to take advantage of the program, they cancel the whole thing?

 

By the way...at a back-of-the-envelope estimate, that billion dollars would reduce annual gasoline consumption by about three percent (very roughly - 200k cars replaced, at a gain of 10mpg per car, over an average of 7k miles driven per year. Gives a reduction in gas consumption on the order of a hundred million gallons annual, which is roughly ten days full consumption.)

 

Given only a billion dollars to work with, I defy anyone to invest it in energy independence more effectively than that.

Read my original statement WRT health care. And if it's such a great program, why not continue it until ALL "clunkers" are off the road?

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Which is an idiotic complaint. At $4k a pop, that's a quarter-million new cars purchased. So because three hundred thousand people want to take advantage of the program, they cancel the whole thing?

 

By the way...at a back-of-the-envelope estimate, that billion dollars would reduce annual gasoline consumption by about three percent (very roughly - 200k cars replaced, at a gain of 10mpg per car, over an average of 7k miles driven per year. Gives a reduction in gas consumption on the order of a hundred million gallons annual, which is roughly ten days full consumption.)

 

Given only a billion dollars to work with, I defy anyone to invest it in energy independence more effectively than that.

 

Good point. What if a % of those cars ARE NOT daily drivers... And people are just unloading them to get a second/third/fourth nicer vehicle? Which makes me kick myself in the ass... I upgraded both my rides in 2006 and wanted to keep at least one of my other cars... But the wife didn't want the castle/homestead looking like Sanford and Son's... :flirt:

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Good point. What if a % of those cars ARE NOT daily drivers... And people are just unloading them to get a second/third/fourth nicer vehicle? Which makes me kick myself in the ass... I upgraded both my rides in 2006 and wanted to keep at least one of my other cars... But the wife didn't want the castle/homestead looking like Sanford and Son's... :flirt:

 

He only estimated 7k miles. Nice post Tom.

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What I am saying is if the wife didn't get all uppity I would have had two old cars (third and fourth vehicle) that I could have flipped on a cheaper new vehicle... That I could have flipped for cash. I am sure you can't lose 4500 bucks driving off the showroom floor?

You were planning on selling the cars (you would have had to buy 2 new ones) you would have bought?

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He only estimated 7k miles. Nice post Tom.

 

:flirt: Sorry.

 

I still wish I had my other two beaters. I would have bought two cars (or whatever the cheapest new car there is out there) for 10k each (-4.5k)... Then sold the NEW cars the next day for 8k each.

 

I didn't read the rules can you do that? Or does the new car have to stay registered to you for a while?

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You were planning on selling the cars (you would have had to buy 2 new ones) you would have bought?

 

Didn't matter if I sold them or not... I didn't need the money toward the new car... Just got rid of them to get rid of them and make room (well, that is what the wife said). The cars were worthless (not 4500 bucks) back in 2006 but I wanted at least to keep one to use as a winter beater or a third emergency car. Now of course who could have predicted something like this?... But, I know people that keep 3,4, 5 cars registered... I joke with them that they are auto brokers... Which basically they... They are always flipping some vehicle for another.

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And in other news, 72 hours after Obama health is implemented the government determined they screwed up another program and will be cancelling health care for everyone. We hope your old plan will let you back in without another waiting period for preexsiting conditions and doesn't raise your rates even more due to our arrogance and stupidity.

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And in other news, 72 hours after Obama health is implemented the government determined they screwed up another program and will be cancelling health care for everyone. We hope your old plan will let you back in without another waiting period for preexsiting conditions and doesn't raise your rates even more due to our arrogance and stupidity.

"We never anticipated there would be this sort of demand for free health care" When will this joke of a goverment end?

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To me, this is evidence that the program is working extremely well. God forbid they have to ask for more money on a program that IS working. Finance companies are doing more business, sales people in auto dealers are making more commissions, excess inventory is getting wiped out at the dealerships, Auto dealers are doing more business, non eco friendly vehicles are getting taken off the highway and replaced with more fuel efficient vehicles. This is a win win deal, that is working!

 

Sure, they didn't anticipate the amount of vehicles that were going to be sold, but it is a trial and error process.

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