Cash for Clunkers

Aug 28, 2009•Automotive•Blog Posts• by cmassa

The Cash for Clunkers program that provided rebates of $3500 to $4500 towards the purchase of a more fuel-efficient vehicle ended Tuesday (August 25), well before the original scheduled end date of November 1.

In the original bill that passed the House earlier this summer, $4 billion was allocated to the program, but the Senate reduced that to $1 billion in the version passed to the President. With the $2 billion funds refreshment earlier this month, they were still $1 billion behind the original allocation.

NADA and The U.S. Department of Transportation are reporting some preliminary statistics from the program. By the deadline at 8p.m. on Tuesday, dealers had submitted a total of 690,114 claims on deals totaling $2.88 billion, just shy of the $3 billion budget. Those numbers are subject to dealer reapplications for rejected claims that can be turned in after the deadline date.

The top five automakers to sell the most vehicles were Toyota, Honda, Ford, Hyundai and Nissan with an average trade-in mileage of 15.8 mpg.

Ray LaHood, the U.S. Transportation Secretary said, “American consumers and workers were the clear winners thanks to Cash for Clunkers program. Manufacturing plants have added shifts and recalled workers. Moribund (or declining) showrooms were brought back to life and consumers bought fuel-efficient cars that will save them money and improve the environment.”