Another stupid idea by congress: "Cash for Clunkers"

[pavyracer]

You trade in your old gas behemoth for a new car for $4500 cash. So basically all you have to do is buy an 80's gangsta mobile from craiglist for $100 take it to the dealer and get a new car with $4500 cash back. Then sell the car and make $4500.

This may be the most stupid idea since no child left behind (like all children are supposed to be rocket scientists). If they are dumb as a rock leave them behind!

[pico]

but you do have to buy a new car.

[pavyracer]

That's why you sell the new car the day after you buy it pico.

[mathdotcom]

but pavy, it was well intentioned

and that's all that matters

[pico]

That's why you sell the new car the day after you buy it pico.

you lose more than $4.5k after you drive off the dealer lot

[TPowell]

I'm guessing that you have to have the car a certain amount of time

[daggerkobe]

I like the idea.

Not only does it get gas guzzlers off the road but also stimulates auto sales.

Doubtful anyone can make $4500 since new cars lose like 30% of its value as soon as you drive it off the lot. Maybe on the Mini Cooper since it has a strong resale value but not the full $4500.

[mathdotcom]

dagger you're ignoring the cost to taxpayers of paying $4,500 for each car.

A salesman selling one more car is not worth the cost to society of paying $4,500 for that transaction to take place.

[Enforcer_23]

I like the idea.

Not only does it get gas guzzlers off the road but also stimulates auto sales.

Doubtful anyone can make $4500 since new cars lose like 30% of its value as soon as you drive it off the lot. Maybe on the Mini Cooper since it has a strong resale value but not the full $4500.

No way are you losing 30% on a civic or accord. Try 5-10 if lucky.

[daggerkobe]

This program is suppose to cost $4 Billion.... similar to what Dumbya gave Cheney's Haliburton.

All new cars lose around 30% no matter if it's a Honda or Ford. The difference is Honda's resale value slows down and loses just 50% after 4 years..... while Ford loses over 70%. Look at the Ford Taurus for example.... you can buy a 2005 for like $5k. Can't get an Accord for less than $10k.

[Enforcer_23]

This program is suppose to cost $4 Billion.... similar to what Dumbya gave Cheney's Haliburton.

All new cars lose around 30% no matter if it's a Honda or Ford. .

[reno cool]

sounds like a gimmick to create more business for the corporations as usual. The consumer will never benefit. It will just allow the company to jack up price and collect the difference from the govt. That's how business is done my friends.

[daggerkobe]

On average, cars (and trucks, too) lose more than 20% of their value in the first year. Some vehicles lose as much as 40%.

http://www.fool.com/car/car01.htm

Here's an example. Let's say you buy a Honda Accord for $20k with a dealer invoice of $18.5k. And there's a $1k dealer incentive which makes the dealer's cost $17.5k. A month later, you try and sell it back to the dealer. They, of course, won't give you anywhere near $17k since that's how much a brand new Accord costs to them. And they won't offer $16k either because they want to make as much profit as possible. And according to Black Book, used '09 Accords are selling for $13.5k at auction. So they lowball $12.5k and finally settle on $14k. So you lost $6000 in 1 month... which is 30% (not including TTL).

[Willie Bee]

This is just a copycat idea of what Germany is trying, and the only reason they're trying it is it's an election year ploy for chancellor Angela Merkel. It's nothing more than attempt to buy a vote over there and it's not working as it was 'intended.' Some reports are 1 in 10 Germans isn't even using the money to buy from a dealer in Germany, much less buy from a German manufacturer.

If your intention is to get gas guzzlers or old polluting clunkers off the road, then it needs to be restricted to, for example, anything getting less than 18 MPG or older than 12-15 years. If the intention is to stimulate sales for American manufacturers, then it needs to be restricted to only cars bought from GM, Ford, Saturn, etc. And any company that has received a penny of bailout shouldn't get to keep the check from the government; instead it should be applied to their loan payback.

So what else has been happening while I was away?

[tacomax]

Willie, it has been utter chaos around here. Welcome back.

[pavyracer]

Uncle Willie is back! Thank God. Anarchy is over.

Now put this place in order Willie.