Holy Diver

'Clunker' sales nearing quarter-million; what now? - Yahoo! News


Damnnnnn.......


The money ran out in a week? Supposed to last for several months....

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WASHINGTON – The popular but overwhelmed "cash for clunkers" program is zooming toward a quarter-million trade-ins with the initial $1 billion in rebates, but the White House warns the special deals could sputter to an end by Friday unless the Senate quickly approves $2 billion more.

Senate skeptics appear to be in no hurry.
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is it a good idea to keep this program going? are 10 MPG gains enough to offset the costs over the lifetime of the car in less fuel, and less pollution? The article states that enviromentalists think the standards should be higher.

BelichickFan

Two (main) problems :

1) It's human nature that the less it costs the more you do it so although the new cars are getting better mileage, I bet they're using more fuel by doing more miles.

2) While the stimulus for the industry is nice, I suspect it's a sugar high; while some people are buying cars who otherwise wouldn't, a lot of people who were going to buy one later have probably moved the timetable up some - so while the sugar high is nice, I foresee a crash coming when the program ends and an inordinate number of people bought now leaving fewer buyers for later.

efin98

Some environmentalists will never be satisfied no matter what is done to improve the environment. Doesn't matter what we do, humans will be blamed for something new by them...

And the program was a great idea, only problem I can see is that it would have been better had it not sprouted out of the automaker "crisis". It's still a great program to nonetheless...

__________________
"As long as we have Belichick, I always think that we're going to be just fine."...Tom Brady, in reference to his coach.

“It is what it is, but it ain’t what you think.”...Brandon Spikes

BelichickFan

It's only 5 MPG for $3,500, 10 MPG for $4,500.

BelichickFan

It's not that well thought out. Why limit it to people with 18 MPG ? My car gets 21 MPG - why not allow me in if I got a car rated at 31 ? It's an interesting concept but the problems I have mentioned are real problems and it's still really just more automaker bailout by a different name.

apple strudel

That's precisely the point of stimulus, and exactly how even this administration posits it is going to work. Obviously these funds are not going to last in perpetuity. The argument is that the economy will, in the next several quarters, rebound to the extent that the gains can be built on, while at the same time minimizing the losses. Of course, we will see if that works, but early indications are promising.

efin98

I agree and was going to say something along that line but thought against it...

The reasoning may have been to get the oldest and worst offending vehicles off the road only to just get rid of some of their overstock cars that they couldn't get rid of because of the craze in favor of the "fuel efficient" cars before the bottom fell out in the industry. They should have gone higher up on the milage requirements to do more.

__________________
"As long as we have Belichick, I always think that we're going to be just fine."...Tom Brady, in reference to his coach.

“It is what it is, but it ain’t what you think.”...Brandon Spikes

BelichickFan

The very likely scenario, IMO, is that if X cars would have been bought in the next 12 months and Y cars were bought due to CfC, we will not see a total of X+Y being bought but something like X + .1Y. In other words, I doubt many additional cars will be bought over the next 12 months but we've pushed forward some of the purchases and will then lose them later. That's not a stimulus to me, that's a sugar high. A stimulus would stimulate now without hurting later. We've pushed all these car purchases forward but what about when they would have been made later ?

apple strudel

You've got to draw the line somewhere.

Yes, and it's a temporary program that targets the most egregious automotive emissions offenders. While not perfect, it's progress.

Holy Diver

I know....what I'm asking is over the life of a car, and average miles driven...is that enough of a cost offset in gas and pollution to cover the cost of the rebate.

10,000 miles a year (avg)
1,000 miles saved (10MPGs)
gas is 3 bucks (avg)

lest say you got 20MPGs and now you have 30MPGs
20MPGs - 500 Gallons bought per year - $1500
30MPGs - 333 Gallons bought per year - $1000


SAVINGS
$500/yr
167 gallons of gas.



9 years and the cost to the taxpayer would even out, strictly for the gas. This doesn't account for pollution. But we should assume the emissions would be less too, right?

sounds like a decent thing to do.