Time for a New Car? Save Money with CARS ‘Cash For Clunkers’ Program
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that the government was giving tax incentives to people who bought big, high end SUVs like the Cadillac Escalade. With gas prices significantly higher in the last year, a weak economy, and the auto industry in a major slump, the pendulum has swung the other way. In June, Congress passed the new Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Act of 2009, popularly referred to as “Cash for Clunkers.”
The CARS program offers rebates worth up to $4,500 to certain consumers who exchange old gas-guzzling vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient ones. You can get different voucher incentives depending on the type of vehicle you trade in, as well as the gas mileage of the new vehicle you purchase. The voucher can be used toward either the purchase or lease of both domestic or imported vehicles. To learn more about the program, visit http://www.cars.gov/
Here is good article from a credit union newsletter, that gives some good information to help you decide if your vehicle will qualify and if the CARS program is right for you. There are additional links to other helpful resources as well, like an auto loan calculator tool to help you determine how much car you can afford.
Apparently the CARS ‘Cash for Clunker’s Program’ is a victim of it’s own success. Consumer demand for the program has been so heavy, the federal computer system set up for car dealers to register for the Cash for Clunkers program crashed shortly after it went online last week. It is also about to run out of it’s initial $1 billion funding allocation. NPR reports that. “the White House said Thursday it was reviewing what has turned out to be a wildly popular “cash for clunkers” program amid concerns the $1 billion budget for rebates for new auto purchases may have been exhausted in only a week.” For the complete NPR article, click here
CNN is reporting that today the House votes to spend $2 billion for on ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program (it passed). The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote on spending more money for the program on Monday, Aug 3rd. Stay tuned, but I am betting it will pass despite, as the Wall Street Journal reports, possible push back in the Senate from “some Republicans opposing the additional spending and some Democrats hoping to tighten the program’s environmental standards.”
Related Articles and Resources:
New Cash Steered to Clunkers (WSJ online 07/31/09)
REPORT: Ford Focus is top-selling Cash For Clunkers car, nearly half buying domestic (autoblog.com 08/04/09)
Cash for Clunkers program restarting after computer glitch (fiercegovernmentIT.com)
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