'Cash for clunkers' won't be running much longer, government says

Los Angeles Times ^ | 8/19/09 | Martin Zimmerman

[Nachum]

The Transportation Department says it'll soon announce a plan for winding down the popular but problem-plagued car buyer program.

The government will announce a plan as soon as tomorrow for winding down its popular but problem-plagued "cash for clunkers" program.

The announcement by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood came as a New York dealership group said that hundreds of its members had stopped doing clunker transactions because of delays in getting reimbursed by the federal government.

[goodnesswins]

Oh, c’mon....give them MORE TIME and MONEY..../sarc

[ProtectOurFreedom]

It’ll be made permanent, like all government programs. They have a new generation of middle class people hooked on the gov’t teat. Car sales will tank when it ends because people know the gov’t will resurrect it. It’ll be back more or less as a permanent fixture with no auto sales being made while people wait for the next round of give-aways. Used car prices will continue to soar as people hold their vehicles off the market waiting for the next round of freebies.

Government tampering with formerly free markets at its very finest.

[Semperfiwife]

The Chicago Way is to have most of that four billion bucks funneled to his cronies, which is probably why dealers are not getting paid.

[Charles Martel]

Emancipated clunkers all over the country are breathing a sigh of relief and humming the theme to “Born Free.”

Prius drivers beware, my Mercury Mountaineer is wearing a splash of Pictish blue warpaint on its grille. I believe it intends to avenge the death of so many of its' SUV brethren.

[VeniVidiVici]

Hitchcock said he had submitted claims for about $1.3 million in clunker reimbursements but had yet to receive a dime from the government.

"I agree with the guy who said this is the most successful, worst-run program ever," he said.

Welcome to Democrat-run Obamacare.

[mo]

IMHO...just like there’s no stimulus money on the street..they haven’t the cash to put out there...

[calex59]

The Transportation Department says it'll soon announce a plan for winding down the popular but problem-plagued car buyer program.

Why do they keep up the lie it is popular? After the first billion it died on the vine due to the problems. The problems made it an unpopular program.

Question for Bozo and the boys: Is winding this program down an excuse for not paying the dealers the money you owe them for rebates? Are the remaining dealers to now get punked by the government?

Wow, I hope so because this will go a long way towards making Bozo even more unpopular than he is now. BTW, if the program is so frickin' popular, why did about 200 NY car dealers drop out of it today?

[Salvation]

Another one bites the dust:

Cash for Clunkers
Social Security
Medicare
Medicaid
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
USPS

What did I miss?

[Parley Baer]

“Four out of five applications to Big Brother are REJECTED”

That will probably apply to government run health care as well. That is one way to keep costs down. The other is to pull the plug on grandma.

[GnuHere]

LOL. Onward, loyal Mountaineer, onward!!

[Norman Conquest]

Noon: Large numbers of auto dealers say they’re dropping out of the program.

4pm: The program will be eliminated..

You can’t quit! You’re fired!

[dusttoyou]

Heard pieces of a dealer who called Rush crying about trashing all his Cash for Clunkers and the gubmint not paying him. Like Rush told him, why would you trash the car before seeing the money? Maybe some requirement to wreck em as soon as they have them.

This thing is sounding a bit like the GOP supporting dealers getting de-franchised for no clear stated reasons. Payback’s a MFer.

Going to need a mighty big broom and shovel to clean up behind the WE WON crowd.

[maine-iac7]

What the heck are these guys thinking? This is a Fed program. Did anyone think they’d get a fast turn around?

It doesn't sound like 'delays' but out and out subterfuge in wording - Works like this: person comes in with 'clunker' - really mostly viable cars with many years left but people who can afford a lengthy car payment and high new-car insurance are jumping for it, while the folk with true clunkers can't afford the deal - but to get back to the process.

The dealer fills out the application for the deal online and waits for a response. When it comes, it says "accepted" - dealer seals the deal, customer drives off with new car, clunker destroyed...

Then, oops, along comes these notices from the gov't on the deal that says "rejected."

What? Seems the gov't used the wrong word - instead of saying application 'received' it says 'accepted'. They didn't mean that and the final word coming back is "rejected." NOT DELAYED - get it?

I know personally of one dealership in South Carolina now out 10 million - that's 10,000,000 - dollars of 'rejected' - Just another mega screw up by this administration - with disastrous results for dealers, many of whom will be bankrupted over this gov't program.

Yep. Sure I want them running my health care.

[mo]

the Gov’mnt merely sees employers and businesses as a cash cow..to do with as they please. Aren’t about to give those boys anything at all...

[Rome2000]

A bunch of crooked car dealers scammed by a bunch of socialist crook democrats.

Priceless

[Rome2000]

President Obama has taken pen to paper and signed off on Cash-for-Clunkers, a law that could help the auto industry shake its year-long funk. The Transportation Department now has 30 days to determine the rules and regulations for Cash-for-Clunkers, placing the start of the program at the end of July.

I guess he figured he would just keep printing money until we have Zimambwe style inflation.

This red SOB is your typical leftist moron, he and his PR men know all about getting imbeciles to vote him into power, and nothing about running the nation.

I mean he even signs legislation from the left!!!

If this son of a whore survives his first term he will be jealous of Carters approval ratings.

[Rome2000]

The apparatchiks standard response is “I am waiting on this or that” in order to do my job, check back in a few weeks when I run out of BS to talk to my fellow apparatchiks about.

[Buddy B]

"and placed many buyers in debt for that new car."

[Nachum]

I was noting the huge number of very negative stories that appeared today regarding Obama and his fellow democrats:

If you see "the list" at nachumlist.com, it is an average daily phenomenom of this administration. I have had days where the there were 20 stories about Obama alone, let alone the rest of the Democratic party.

[supercat]

What? Seems the gov't used the wrong word - instead of saying application 'received' it says 'accepted'. They didn't mean that and the final word coming back is "rejected." NOT DELAYED - get it?

By my understanding, according to an earlier draft of the rules, an application wasn't complete (and thus the government couldn't actually "approve" it) until the dealer signed off on the fact that the car had already been destroyed. It seems the rule has been changed, but I'm not sure exactly when. In any case, I don't think the confusion was accidental.