Cash For Clunkers : Supended : No More Cash

Re: Cash For Clunkers : Suspended : No More Cash

This is a huge public relations cluster F***. It isn't going to be the Government taking the hit but the dealers and the manufactures. Some how the Government always finds a way to shift the blame somewhere else.
People are going to expect the dealer to make things right if they lost out on the government rebate at no fault of their own.

Dealerships in August could look like ghost towns with dust and tumbleweeds and all blowing through the lots.

People are not stupid they will just put off their automobile purchase until CARS is refunded and started back up. It stays down August and September sales could be worse than any month so far this year. Do you really want to spend millions on a 2010 model floor plan when you have no idea how bad the back lash is going to be.

 

What dealer is this in CT?

 

Re: No more Cash4Clunkers after 7/30 midnight

NO. But we can print more.

 

Hoffman Toyota in West Simsbury/avon - next to Best Buy on rt. 44.

 

Good luck. I just bought mine from Stephens on Monday. I signed my deal on my Bday (7-14), picked it up on the 27th. I rushed them to get it done Monday, so they did.

I had a friend who had a deal on a Versa. He was supposed to pick it up today, but he got lazy and missed his delivery. He re-scheduled it for Sunday, but I guess he is not doing it now....

 

Well I just called my answering machine at home and got two messages from my salesman kind of panicky wanting me to fax a copy of my title to him. Well that ain't happening since I'm 1170 miles from home on vacation. Car was paid for and they had all my info except the title which I was bringing with me when I picked up the car on Monday morning. Well If I'm out the clunker money then they are out a sale because I'm demanding my money back. The only reason I went for the deal was because of the $4,500.

I'll see what is up tomorrow morning when the dealership opens.

 

After 6+ months of dealerships looking like ghost towns with -35%+ sales, I bet they'll be begging to have this program reinstated.

 

Re: End to gov cash for clunker promotion

There are only three or four other threads on this already. Here are two:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...6304-cash-clunkers-supended-no-more-cash.html

http://priuschat.com/forums/dealers...clunkers-after-midnight-7-30-they-out of.html

 

Here is the thing that I am really pissed off at. When you went in two months ago, you would be treated like a king/queen. Yet when I went in last week and the week before, I was treated like a piece of meat. You would think those guys would try to build a relationship of some sort, but then I guess they are just car salesman...

 

Seriously, lets tone down the hyperbole. Its a government program with very specific stipulations. This only applied to a percentage of people (in the whole car buying picture) who qualified AND were in the market for a new car.....and of that specific group, only a percentage didn't have all their items in order, didn't have the appropriate paperwork or didn't qualify for some other reason. It was no secret the funds were going quick and you needed to be registered and have things completely ready to go the day the program went into effect. My dealer laid all of that out clearly to me weeks before last Friday (including that I probably wouldn't be able to pick and choose models if I wanted a Prius.) People will continue buying cars and dealers will continue selling them just fine. The program was a wild success on many levels and will most likely be reinstated at some point....but predicting the collapse of the entire car industry by Sept. over a successful program is a bit much, no?.....full disclosure - I did not qualify as my car was too efficient in the MPG dept. I was sad, but then took my time (and a less attractive trade in by far) and got the 2010 Prius I wanted. Since I was in the market for a new car, the CARS offer would have been nice but was in no way a deal breaker. Never been happier with a new car!

 

Another way to look at the success of this program is to look at it on a household basis, since only one car can be bought per household in this program. There are about 110 million households in the US. What that means is that one household out of 450 participated in this program. That to me isone of the most effective stimulus program so far.

 

Here's a little piece of news from Reuters:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government will not suspend its $1 billion "cash for clunkers" auto sales incentive even though confirmed sales and pending transactions neared the limit of 250,000 vehicles much sooner than expected, an Obama administration official said on Thursday night. ..."

 

That was 5 posts, now I can post the link

U.S. won't suspend auto "clunkers" program: official - Yahoo! News

 

Sorry, but I warned you guys in the original thread. I went the 2 weeks ahead and picked mine up the 23rd. The dealer had taken in over 40 cars already. This is a GREAT program. They'll fund it again, I'm CERTAIN, but hopefully you don't get caught in the in-between time...

Go buy now.

 

Someone (I think it was Dianne) asked earlier; Do we even have the money? I believe Tech Guy's answer is correct - No. Someone else wrote; don't panic . . . Again, for whatever my 2 cents is worth - again, I agree. Are there problems; you bet'ch. The process is broken, the system is under sized, the funding is undersized.

The government is not out of money, at least not in the sense it's being asked here. The program may be out of money. The CARS system is so backlogged and over loaded it will be days, maybe a week before they know how many qualified sales have been submitted.

I believe congress and the president have to recognize this is a very successful program for the auto makers, for the public, and for the economy. it seems very likely they will allocate additional funding.

PS - I'm glad I'm not trying to buy a car under this program. It's not because I think it wouldn't happen; it's because I hate kinds of crowds that must be overwhelming dealership showrooms this past week. Good luck everyone. --TK

 

so what does that mean then?

 

Wow, I can't believe my timing on this one. Finalized paperwork (i.e. paid in full) Sat. afternoon (July 25th). I feel like I won the lottery. Car arrived at dealership around 11 a.m. today and I took delivery at 5:30 p.m. And were it not for CARS, I might have repaired the failing clutch (even though the cost of the repair was more than the worth of the vehicle) and driven another 6 months to a year or so!

 

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy the new car!:rockon:

 

You're a Lucky Guy!!!

Enjoy your new car...

Keith

 

Yes, people will continue buying cars, but I bet many dealerships received more traffic than they have in the last year - a welcome relief without a doubt. Many dealerships went from almost begging for customers to not having enough salesmen for all the customers (I experienced this). Collapse of the auto market is a relative term - some would argue there has been a relative collapse over the last 6+ months with month after month of -30% sales. Heck, isn't Toyota no longer profitable in the US?