Is the Cash for Clunkers Program Working for You?

Not everyone has been pleased with the way the Federal Government's program "cash for clunkers" has worked out. While it is very true that thousands of people have good experiences with the "cash for clunkers" program when they traded in their older model cars for the $3500 to $4500 rebates, many people have not. In my area of the USA, in Oregon, many people and their older clunkers are falling through the cracks.

It is the requirements of the older trade-ins that is often preventing people from using the "cash for clunkers" program. Take for example the case of our family. We have a 1989 Ford F250 pickup truck. It would qualify because of it's age and the fact that it only gets 6 miles to the gallon of gas but it fails 2 other factors. You see, last year when the price of gasoline was nearing the $4 mark we decided to take the truck off of the road. A few months later it's annual registration ran out and we did not bother to renew it because it was too expensive to run. Of course we also dropped the insurance on it. So there it sat, unregistered and uninsured because it drank gasoline like an elephant drinking water at the local watering hole.

Now the Federal Government comes along with a glimmer of hope that we can unload that elephant sitting in the side yard. We get our hopes up until the requirements about the registration and insurance. Of course there is another factor here as well, the fact that the truck has now sat idle for almost a year. Will it run or has something deteriorated?

After a quick look at the truck we start it up. It runs like a champ. Now to drive it, the steering column is now stiff. After further investigation it seems that the power steering pump may have gone bad. So does that mean the truck runs and can be driven, but I would not call it reliable, that the other clause in the "cash for clunkers" is valid? After all, they are only going to smash the truck anyway when it is traded in.

The 4 factors that the trade in must have to qualify for the rebate is to be insured, registered, in "running" condition and built after 1984. Another factor that come into play is that it must get lower than 18 miles to the gallon of gas.

In my own humble opinion the requirements for the trade-ins should have been modified to take into account the past year's events of high gas prices. Many people parked vehicles when the prices became outrageous, they had no choice.

Not everyone can afford a new car under this program so it might just be a case of the Federal Government subsidizing only those people with incomes to pay for the new car or those with enough savings to spring for the car with cash. Those people who have older gas guzzlers that are reliable cars to own but can't afford to buy a new car will still be spending more money in gas and using more oil resources. It is those people that the Feds forgot about, the working class poor.