Act Fast - Cash for Clunkers to Be Revived

Cash for Clunkers is another of the economic stimulus programs designed to help kick start America's downward spiraling economy. The program began July 1, 2009. Its initiators expects 250,000 Americans to take advantage of the rebates and stimulate new car sales which should thrive from July thru November. But there was a problem. The target of 250,000 vehicles was been reached in the first month. Because of this, the Cash for Clunkers program ended at Midnight Thursday 7/30. It appears the program has run out of money. Following an over-ruled congressional statement, the Obama administration stated the program is currently under study, not suspended. They also confirmed transactions that are officially on the books to date will be honored.

The Cash for Clunkers program offers consumers and automobile dealerships nationwide, which follow the official guidelines, federal incentives between $3500.00 up to $4500.00 as trade-in credit/stimulus/rebates, for their old car. If you would like to take advantage of this program and trade your clunker in for some cold hard cash, which you then must use to buy yourself a new car, the first thing that you need to do is to check the list of Cash for Clunkers eligible vehicles. The program is only opened for selected vehicles. If your car is not on the list then you cannot trade it in for a credit/stimulus/rebate.

The majority of the Cash for Clunkers eligible vehicles/cars are early model 1992 to 2001 vehicles manufactured by Volvo, Toyota, Chevrolet, Acura, Audi, BMW , Cadillac and a few other manufacturers. There are a few exceptions. The exceptions include vehicles that had small and limited production runs, such as the 1984-86 Buick Regal T Type Turbo, the 1985-89 BMW 6 Series 635CSi, and the 1987-89 Porsche 911 Carrera. Also included are a number of fancy collector and vintage vehicles. If you have a vehicle of the 1984-89 model year vintage, you should check the Cash for Clunkers eligible vehicle list also. There are some vehicles of that class listed. Be sure to review the Eligibility Guidelines to determine whether your vehicle meets the eligibility requirement.

Since the start of the Cash for Clunkers program, the EPA has issued revised new combined MPG numbers for an unknown number of vehicles. This report came out on July 24th 2009. These newly revised MPG numbers mean some vehicles that had previously qualified for the Cash for Clunkers program may no longer qualify. Vehicle mileage of 18 MPG or less was one of the eligibility requirements. Visit the U.S. Government web site, FuelEconomy.gov or check out Edmunds.com to review the new revised list.

If the Cash for Clunkers program has ended why do I mention all of this eligibility crap? Well according to new reports about the program, the U.S. Senate will be voting to approve further funding for the program. The vote is expected to take place early during the second week of August, 2009. The $2 billion dollars in extra funding should allow the program to continue running until Labor Day. The Department of Transportation fears the new $2 billion dollars funding for incentives has already been used up. Therefore if you want to take advantage of the next wave of Cash for Clunkers stimulus money...Act Fast!

Resource: The Economic Stimulus Packages Revisited - Time - July, 2009