Are you the first to get the official $4500 CARS incentive $$$?

While they are supposed to run and drive, many will have issues and who knows where they will end up. And, hire temps? Ha. Let's talk liability there. Insurance. Breakdowns, flat tires, overheats, and whatever else may befall these cars. And, they are slated to be sitting or scrapped. There's a fine for these to perhaps get seen/driven and ticketed or parking tickets. Huge fine!

If someone's clunker is worth $4500 to begin with, it's all fine, we'd wholesale it. The $4500 is a US Government "gift" designed to retire older polluting gas guzzling heaps - and there is an expense for doing so. With added interest for dealering having to pay off flooring on sold cars that aren't completely paid for, and disposing of the heaps. It's a WIN for the consumer.

 

Wait a sec - I'm kinda in a fog here - so, if I trade in my clunky old Kia that barely gets 10mpg, that I've owned for a few years now and is barely worth $50 - I can trade that in for 4500 - and get that taken off the MSRP of 22000 - so I can feasibly walk out of a dealership with a brand new 2010 Prius for under 20k????

 

Yep! Check out CARS.gov - Car Allowance Rebate System - Home - Formerly Referred to as Cash for Clunkers for more details on the program.

 

That depends.
If you use this site (www.cars.gov) to look up your car's original window sticker gas mileage average and it fits the guidelines for the Cash4Clunkers program, ie age and fuel economy, then yes.

 

Ok, I'm at 16 combined. Am I looking good?

 

Yes, I believe 18mpg is the threshold.

 

ive got to read up on this...

 

Me too, I was just quoted $1500 on repairs to my car, I'm definitely going to hold off until I get the skinny on this...

 

Anyone talk to a dealer about the following:

Trading both a "clunker" (1997 4Runner) and another car (2004 Honda Civic Hybrid) in on a 2010 Prius? 'Cause that's what I told the dealer I was going to do, but in our last conversation, they backed off the feasibility of that saying I had to pick one or the other. It might just have been that they finally got a III with a solar roof in and wanted to get it off their hands to me quickly, though.

It's not like the clunker is a true trade-in, so I don't see why I shouldn't be able to stack them up, and I don't want to go through the hassel of selling the hybrid privately, and I don't want to get ripped off at Carmax.

If anyone's got any dealer-side info on that scenario, please let me know. Thanks!

 

The cars.gov website is very specific in detailing that this is not permitted: CARS.gov - Car Allowance Rebate System - Helpful Q&As for Consumers

UPDATE: Steve, I just re-read your post and misunderstood what you were trying to do, sorry.

 

I had discussed doing exactly this with a local dealer. They didn't seem to have any qualms about taking both other than the fact that they didn't really want my standard trade-in. That's where our deal fell apart, but I don't think they had any problems with taking a clunker along with a standard trade.

 

Even with the clunkers program, you can trade as many cars as you want. I have a buyer waiting in the wings with a clunker + two other cars! And, have had as many as three cars traded at one time on one car.

You can just have 1 clunker per car deal though.

 

So, bad news on the whole clunker deal!

My salesman just called this evening to "push everyone back" at the dealership who have cars on hold waiting for the clunker program. He said that they were not going to be officially doing these deals till next week due to the "corporate guys not having every detail straighted out from Feds" and blah, blah, blah. Said they don't want to take a risk on doing the deal final without knowing everything about exactly how they are getting reimbursed from Feds. I can either take him for being honest or more cynically, believe that the case is that they do not want to risk losing other potential customers this weekend by being "tied up" closing on my deal when they could be greeting another customer out front first thing Friday morning. Maybe they think it's worth it to try to push me back into next week since I've already given a deposit (of course they assured me it was fully refundable). What do you guys think? Diane?

A little ticked in AZ

 

Sorry, I may be in for a surprise still, but my dealer continues to tell me they have all the paperwork ready to go to the fed and WILL absolutely do a deal as soon as the car comes in, which they said is now up to shipping from the port, within a week.

I hope I'm not surprised...

 

risk and reward

What do I think?
First off, if you have a clunker, or if you don't, it doesn't matter than much to me as a sales professional, really. A sale is a sale, with or without your clunker. The credit to your contract is no different to me than you writing a check for a $4500 down payment. I'm totally welcoming all clunker deals.. it will be a REAL treat & privilege to get all of this iron off the roadway, and sell a bunch of gas savers and cleaner burning cars. Dealerships will have some extra business they wouldn't normally have.
And, if something goes wrong, I don't have to chase you for $4500. My store might, but I don't have to.
I do not think your salesman has anything to do with your being pushed back. After all, it's his sale. If the car's opened up for sale, someone else could sell it... and he is SOL.
I think each dealer's got their own concerns as to their financial liability. Frankly, Toyota can circulate all of the flyers, details, instructions, advice - and you can all post here till the cows come home as to how the program is going thru and is etched in stone, but till the dealership's accepted and the ink's dry on the agreement, it's each dealership's right to limit their financial liability. Till it's YOUR a$$ hanging out there for the $4500, you can't write the rules.
Multiply the $3500 or $4500 by a few dozen, and it can get very scary.

If you wanna put your money where your beliefs are, offer to hand them a $4500 hold-check on the 24th and come for your car. That way, if your clunker isn't accepted and there is a problem, they have the $4500 regardless, just in case. That should do it!

I wonder how many WILL do that to get their cars on the day of the program roll out?

 

Re: risk and reward

I offered to do that very thing, but my salesman said he didn't want to put me through that, and that it wasn't necessary. Instead, I'm visiting the dealership tomorrow with our old van's paperwork (a 2001 Chrysler--yeah, not so very old), and filling out the required forms. Then on Monday or Tuesday (he wasn't absolutely sure which) we can pick up the new Prius. He said it might be a bit of a zoo the day they actually begin taking in the "clunkers," and this would help us avoid any delays or last-minute hassles.

More to follow...

 

Re: risk and reward

I wish I could do that, I just want to be assured I'll have my clunker cashed in before the funds run out. I have a 1998 Chevy Suburban in good condition so even if I don't get the clunker money I should have a pretty good trade-in... comments?