Money Matters, Simplified.
CARS may come to a halt before Aug. 24 deadline
by Jamie Anderson - August 22, 2009 - comments
Two rounds of the clunkers program are already over, and that too successfully. Barring the complaints of slow reimbursements of the rebates by the government, all the stakeholders were extremely happy with the program and lauded it
New York, August 22: If you are thinking of exchanging your old gas guzzler with a brand new fuel efficient car under the clunkers program, there is really no time left to think.
Its time for action and its time to swap the car before it’s too late. Many dealers are witnessing an influx of customers as the cash for clunkers program nears an end.
Bernie Saric, who intends to purchase a car, said of the Aug. 24 closure of the program, “I definitely felt the pressure to make a decision and say, ‘If I felt good about a car I test-drive, I have to go for it. It’s like a mad dash to get a deal done now.”
Premature end to the program
Last-minute shoppers, however, have limited options as many dealers across the country have already downed the shutters on the program.
Two of the country’s largest dealers, AutoNation Inc. and Group 1 Automotive Inc., have opted out of the program citing unwieldy officialdom in the reimbursements of the claims. AutoNation has already completed close to 11,000 deals and the CARS ends at the dealership on Friday itself.
A fourth of the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association member dealerships have already opted out of the program, citing similar fears of uncertainty over getting paid for their deals.
Don Hall, president of the association, noted that many more dealers will close the clunkers program well before the Monday deadline. He opined, “By Saturday evening, they'll cut it off."
Government’s take
The government has declared that the program will officially close on Aug. 24 even though the entire budget of $3 billion has not been exhausted.
Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive officer of research firm Edmunds.com in Santa Monica said, “Given that the funding could run out at any time, the government is erring on the side of caution so neither consumers nor dealers are left holding the bag.”
“We expect there will be a flurry of activity over the weekend as the program comes to a close,” he added.
Although the program is closing well before its scheduled closure in November, it has achieved the objective it set out to achieve; prop up the sagging auto market in the U.S. And it has done so in a short time.