Cash for Clunkers hurts everyone

I was amazed at how many really nice cars were being traded in as clunkers. It was quite sad really.

I agree with your list. Here’s another way people were hurt by the progam: Those who used the program purchased cars that were worth 25%-30% less than they paid for them the minute they drove them off the lot.

Example: If you paid $30,000 for a new truck, the government gave you $4,000 of our tax money so you only paid $26,000. But in your driveway that truck is only worth about $22,000. You lost, period. If you financed the vehicle you lost even more.

I’m extremely annoyed that my money was taken from me forcibly by the government and handed out to people who bought new cars. If you were annoyed by this redistribution of your wealth, you might want to write to your Congressperson. While you’re at it, you might as well tell them what you think of government-run healthcare.

I’m personally very happy about it, but in a direct way – we scored an AWESOME deal on a car with great fuel economy. Our Jeep had over 200k and had reached the point of too much money needed to keep it running, more than it was worth. We didn’t take out a loan but got a $16k car for $6500 plus tax which is deductable as well, and couldn’t be happier. Hard to tell what the long-term effects are but right now I need to look out for my family and our backyard and this REALLY helped us, saving on constant parts-buying, repairs and most importanty high gas bill each month. And this car is MUCH better for the environment than our Jeep for sure! But to each their own… I’m an Obama supporter which isn’t always the popular stance to take.

Why do taxpayers have to “help” everyone? Can’t we be responsible to help ourselves? The church can act as needed to help others and would do more if there wasn’t a backup plan. The government can’t get into the business of bailing everybody out. Amen?

I am so glad someone else sees what a short sighted, wasteful program C4C was!

As a person who currently drives a 1993 Mercury and loves it, I came close to tears when I heard that perfectly good automobiles were having their engines destroyed and being scrapped.

The two positives in my town were 1) the scrap metal dealer reopened to crush the clunkers and 2) our steel plant stayed open a couple of months longer to sell steel to Toyota Kentucky.

I agree with your points, Kim. I hope I don’t need a used motor any time soon.

I agree with your post! Great insight.
This is just the beginning however… There is also planned (in the Cap and Trade bill) a cash for refrigerators program and a cash for mobile homes (you know if they don’t have a 5 star rating) program. We do indeed need to be writing to our representatives and senators!

Those are all very interesting points and seem very valid. I never thought of it from that perspective. I hope that what you say isn’t true, but it sure does seem likely doesn’t it. How do we prevent things like this happening that will just hurt us in the end? Is writing to our representatives enough?

I agree with brandie. While some points are valid, I would disagree some of these points. While CARS (as it is known ’round these parts) used taxpayer money, I was keen on the idea. I’d rather my tax money go to benefit a family in a way that was necessary, such as a car to take someone to work, than to see it used in a program that is benefitting no one. I feel the same about the healthcare program. We could take some of the money needed from “pork-barrel” programs that don’t really benefit anyone. What we need is to hold the government responsible for the money they do get. It does appear that it is something that is trying to be reconciled, but with the media portraying things with such a bias, I don’t see anyone being happy. Snippets here and there will not help people understand what’s going on. The dribs and drabs only help to add to the negativity that we all feel.

The car I used to drive before August was terribly unsafe for a young girl who works nights and works 25 minutes away from home. I had a breakdown while visiting my grandmother two hours away from home that was basically the end of my 12 miles-to-the-gallon car. My stepdad drove those two hours on a day when he had lots of plans, and spent two hours in the hot Texas sun in a concrete mall parking lot, getting the car to run to get back home. Incidentally, this two-hour job would have to be done every time to get the car to run again. you can see why that would be a problem.

So I purposed to see if a new car would fit in my budget. I didn’t do it because the government was advertising money, but I figured if I qualified, it would put some of my own tax dollars back in my own pocketbook.

My car, though it only got 12 miles to the gallon in August, got great gas mileage when it was new fifteen years ago. Therefore, it didn’t qualify.

I still bought a new car. I have no idea what happened to my clunker (which really was a clunker) since it didn’t qualify. Would it be scrapped in the same way the qualifying-but-nice cars others are mentioning? Probably. I know it was used for advertisement for the program, even though it didn’t qualify, which saddened me, as I feel as though I should have been payed for that advertisement as part of the trade-in deal.

I actually have lots of money now. Yes, I have a car payment, and my insurance doubled, but I still have much more money left over after car-related-dollars at the end of the month. Between how much I was paying in gas and repairs, the new car is SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive than the old one. I cannot lie, I will admit you also have to factor in the raise in minimum wage, because that 70 cents an hour really helped.

I feel as though having bought a new car in August, that I should speak up. However, I didn’t qualify for the program, and August was forced on me. I hadn’t planned to begin car shopping (knowing that was coming, the state my car was in) until October or November, which is after the program ended, but the timing was forced on me.

I did consider buying used, but I had a date/mileage combo in mind that I wouldn’t budge on, based on my previous pouring-money-into-for-repairs-experience, but the used cars were going for such a high number, that buying new, and getting a car with only a few test drive miles on it was worth it to me. (I bought probably the lowest priced four seat car the company makes.)

I would also point out, that I bought a Chevrolet, so yes, I stimulated one of the failing American companies, not Asia. In my case.

That is my experience.

I drive what some might call a ‘clunker’ but what someone else might be very grateful to have. The time for replacing our vehicle is quickly approaching, and as I perused the postcard I received in the mail encouraging me to take advantage of the CFC program, it was a tempting proposition. However, as someone who is opposed to almost everything that the government does (on the grounds that it goes against the constitution), I had to exercise the discipline and self-restraint to reject any funds the government wants to dish out to me. A chance to recoup the taxes I’ve already paid? It would seem a logical argument. But it’s also the taxes that someone else has paid–money that they worked for that I have no right to (see 8th commandment). As to its environmental impact, well, even the enviromentalists aren’t impressed with the ‘positive’ impact this was to have on the environment. And it is incredible to me that there are cars being destroyed that are nicer than the car I chose not to turn in as a ‘clunker’. What is wrong with a society that, in general, believes that they deserve the best of everything, and when something is no longer good enough for them, they just destroy it. Even if the short term environmental effect would have been OVERWHELMINGLY positive, the long-term impact of encouraging a people to continue in their wasteful materialism will have tremendous negative impact in years to come.

Cash for Clunkers comment
Not all cars that were accepted in the program where in such a state that they were destroyed. Many used cars can and will be resold. The ones that were or will be destroyed the steel and aluminum mostly gets recycled, melted down and used in new cars and construction industry. If a car owner was having some problem with their old car it can be less expensive to buy a new one than to keep refixing the old car.

Melissa you hit the nail on the head when you said “A chance to recoup the taxes I’ve already paid? It would seem a logical argument. But it’s also the taxes that someone else has paid–money that they worked for that I have no right to (see 8th commandment).”

according to this link http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/do_40_percent_of_americans_pay_no.html

almost 40% of us don’t even pay federal income tax.

I recommend Lew Rockwell’s interview here http://www.stannespublichouse.com/newdraught/ to help understand why bailouts are bad for the economy.

I SOOO agree that ‘Cash for Clunkers’ was a failure of a program all the way around. Why would we expect the government to put together a worthwhile program??

While driving last week, I caught this take on CFC named “Cash for Codgers”, you’ll LOL!!!

Keep up the good work blogging!

Kelly
Morristribe mom

http://www.themorristribe.net/2009/09/cash-for-codgers.html