Cash for Clunkers: Is Your Car Eligible, and How Long Will it Last?

Are you trying to get in on the cash for clunkers car deals? There's been a lot of rules and regulations flying around, but if you act quickly, it might be possible to trade in your gas-guzzler before the government runs out of (our) money.

Just yesterday, a woman in my area traded out her beat-up, gas-guzzling Chevrolet passenger van for a more chic, environmentally-friendly Ford Escape. While it won't fit nearly as many passengers (no word on how many kids she has), there's no way the Ford Escape can suffer from as bad of gas mileage as the Chevy passenger van.

But if you were hoping to take advantage of Chrysler's $4500 cash for clunkers price match, you're probably a day too late. Just today Chrysler is ending that deal, leaving it in place for select cars such as the PT Cruiser, but changing it out for a $2500 to $3500 voucher on most other vehicles, like Dodge Avengers, Dodge Challengers, the Chrysler Sebring, and many more. The plus side to this is, you don't actually have to trade in a car to take advantage of the cash back.

So how do you know if your car is eligible for a Cash for Clunkers deal? Here's just a sampling of the rules:

One: Your car must be under 25 years old

Two: It must get less than 18 miles per gallon in combined fuel economy, as reported by the EPA, not based on your own guess-timations or wishful thinking

Three: It must be in drivable condition, not a piece of rust car that you've had sitting in the back yard for the past fifteen years

Four: The vehicle you plan to buy cannot exceed a price of $45,000.00. Sorry everyone, no cash for that new Mercedes.

Five: You have to be willing to give up its trade-in value. If your car's a real piece of junk, you're probably not going to be too broken up about it. However, if the car dealership estimates your trade-in value at anything above $5000, you're probably going to want to take them up on it instead of cashing in with the government.

Rules also vary based on whether you're trading in a car or a truck.

So is this cash for clunkers program all that great of a deal? Well, if your car's trade-in value is less than $3000, you're probably thrilled.

However, it's not going to last forever. The government is already starting to run out of money for the program (surprise, surprise), and as I recall, there wasn't really a surplus of cash floating around the economy to begin with (remember that several trillion dollar debt we used to hear about? Well it didn't just disappear!)

So if you want to take advantage of the cash for clunkers deal, there's no time like the present.

Source:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/29/autos/clunker_tips/index.htm?postversion=2009080313