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What is Cash for Clunkers (C.A.R.S.) Doing for YOU?

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#21
Call me a skeptic, but I think more than one dealer is going to be burned by this program before it is all said and done.

Someone mentioned cash flow before, let's say you did a great job like Checkered Flag, but when the money runs out you have 20 clunkers that you have destroyed that you are now unable to get funding on. That leaves the dealer with a loss of $70,000 to $90,000 in funds they will never recover and without the option to retail out of those 20 vehicles. I know of a lot of dealers that a loss like that could close their doors.
 
#23
I am so with Jon on this one. I have watched over the past few weeks car deals get written up under this program before the money was even officially planned to be released. I can see dealers easily lost $90,000 on this program because of how quickly they panicked to make deals.

Also, I was in a very affluent area where 70% of the buyers pay cash and can buy cars whenever they want. We are talking Princeton, NJ. What pisses me off is how these people have the money and can buy a new car at anytime that they want and get rid of their clunker. However, most of them wait for this program to come and take advantage of it. This program should have been created for the average American with certain guidelines.

This is another case of the rich stealing from the government. It is ridiculous.

Also, you would think that this clunker money would allow you to push for holding more gross on the new car. Well, it does not work. So if you want to make money, just sell used cars because it is where it's at.
 
#24
So this cash for clunkers program in my opinion will cause more problems then good. It is great for the customers that take advantage of it now right away. But the dealers that write these deals and cannot get the money are going to be losing a ton. I am willing to bet that there will be an average of $40-50k lost by dealerships. Remember, a lot of giveaway artists working as a sales people out there too. This is the main cause of profits lost in the first place.
 
#29
Four days to run out of money, that sure lasted long. Go to the link Alex posted, here's an excerpt that I think will cause a majority of the problems

"But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told dealers Wednesday that a vast majority of transactions submitted were being rejected for incomplete or illegible paperwork."

A vast majority, as in a vast majority of the dealers may not see their money. Remember this is the same government that encouraged Chrysler and GM shut down over 2000 dealerships without any consequences, do you really think the ones left really matter that much more to them?

Nick if you are still reading this, now aren't you glad you are on the used car side of the industry.
 

✨ AI Highlights

Dealers and consumers collide in this Cash for Clunkers (C.A.R.S.) program thread, covering payment delays from NHTSA, document submission headaches, and the financial risk dealers absorbed by fronting rebate money. A key tension emerges between frustrated consumers who felt misled by dealerships and dealers defending the operational complexity of processing nearly 700,000 government-backed transactions while waiting months for reimbursement.

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