Tag: cars.gov

Car dealer survey says Cash-for-Clunkers is a lemon

The National Automobile Dealers Association wants the federal government to put Cash-for-Clunkers out of its misery immediately. NADA surveyed nearly 800 dealers and the results may be the Obama administration’s worst nightmare.

Cash-for-Clunkers is leading to piles of problems for car dealers.
Cash-for-Clunkers is leading to piles of problems for car dealers.

The National Automobile Dealers Association, a nationwide trade group, wants the federal government to put Cash-for-Clunkers out of its misery immediately.

NADA surveyed nearly 800 dealers and the results may be the Obama administration’s worst nightmare:

  • 97% of dealers who responded, say the government is not reimbursing fast enough
  • 13% of dealers have dropped out the program because the government is not reimbursing fast enough and overall concern payment problems
  • 87% percent of dealers are concerned the money will be exhausted
  • 3% of CARS program deals have been reimbursed
  • 66% of dealers have not received one payment from the government
  • 25% of dealers are experiencing servere cash flow problems that require short-term loans to fix
  • 11% of submitted applications have been approved (though dealers still are waiting for the money)
  • 16% of submitted applications have been rejected
  • 55% of dealers are not confident they will get reimbursed for every deal
  • 40% do not want the program to continue, even if changes are made to the CARS program

Hell, times are tough. It’s time for the President to improvise. Let’s consolidate two less than successful Obama programs and turn the out-of-business car dealerships into death counseling centers.

Two birds, one stone.

Source: CarDealerReviews.org

Cash-for-Clunker program leads to life of crime

Kissida is hoping a liberal judge will suspend any sentence based on the fact that he may have killed a man, but he helped save the earth.

Timothy Kissida, suspect in a fatal hit-and-run accident
Timothy Kissida, suspect in a fatal hit-and-run accident

Charles Waldrop was peacefully riding his bicycle home from work a few minutes after midnight last Saturday when he was struck and killed by a car driven by Phoenix-area resident Timothy Kissida.

That’s the tragic part of the story, but not the interesting part. Kissida was apprehended later and booked on one count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident and another count of tampering with evidence.

Police knew the suspect vehicle was a “silver BMW” because parts of the car were found at the scene of the crime.

Hours after the accident, Kissida drove to a Phoenix-area auto dealership and traded in his 1992 BMW as part of the “Cash for Clunkers” program.

Kissida told the dealer that his car had been damaged when he hit a javelina. (Don’t feel bad. We didn’t know what the hell a javelina was, either. Turns out it’s a wild boar found in semi-desert areas of Mexico and southwestern United States).

The javelina has been cleared of any involvement in the incident
The javelina has been cleared of any involvement in the incident

After receiving an anonymous tip, police swooped in, search warrants in hand, arresting Kissida and seizing his clunker from the dealer.

“I think it shows that people go to drastic means to try to avoid apprehension,” said Phoenix Police Sgt. Tommy Thompson.

Kissida is hoping a liberal judge will suspend any sentence based on the fact that he may have killed a man, but he helped save the earth.

Source: KTAR

“Cash-for-Clunkers…is horseshit beyond repair”

Bruce Luther of Rock & Roll Auto Recycling in Pleasanton, California apparently expressed the opinion of many wrecking yard owners when he said the “The CARS act, as written…is horseshit beyond repair.”

Piles of clunkers do not translate into piles of money
Piles of clunkers do not translate into piles of money

Question: Who would give Cash-for-Clunkers such a harsh assessment? Answer: One of the guys directly impacted by the program.

Bruce Luther of Rock & Roll Auto Recycling in Pleasanton, California apparently expressed the opinion of many wrecking yard owners when he said the “The CARS act, as written…is horseshit beyond repair.”

Why?

Because the Cash-for-Clunkers law requires the car dealer to destroy a clunker’s engine and transmission, which typically accounts for around 60% of a vehicle’s salvage value. Then, after they receive a clunker, salvage yards are given just 180 days to make whatever profit they can from scavenged parts. After that? The law says the vehicles must be destroyed.

Current scrap value is a mere $140 a ton, so the average clunker is worth about $280. But it costs about $200 to “detox” a clunker as federal law requires. That leaves the salvage yard with a net profit of just $80 per car.

Hmmmm. Seems like the thing that should be scrapped is this whole Cash-for-Clunkers fiasco.

Source: Jalopnik.com

Unsurprising Headline of the Day:
“Most Oppose Cash for Clunkers, but Many Willing to Take the Money if Offered”

Duh. The results of a new Rasmussen poll indicate that human nature is alive and well in regards to the Cash for Clunkers cars.gov program.

cadillac-ranch-cash-for-clunkersDuh. The results of a new Rasmussen poll indicate that human nature is alive and well.

A Rasmussen Reports survey conducted in mid-June showed that 17% of Americans were Very Likely to take advantage of the “Cash for Clunkers” program. Another 18% said they were Somewhat Likely to do so.

Despite the willingness of people to accept the money if it was available, 54% opposed the “Cash for Clunkers” proposal and just 35% were in favor the plan. Twelve percent (12%) were undecided.

In a similar vein, we don’t want to sell IHateTheMedia.com to Google, but if they pony up enough cash, we’ll take it.

Aw, hell, who are we kidding? We’ll swap this sucker for one of those clunkers.

Source: RasmussenReports.com

Rookie “Cash-for-Clunkers” Cars.gov technical error saves taxpayers billions

A simple rookie error is causing the government’s cash for clunkers web site to not come up for many, if not most, people.

“Honey, don’t get excited about that new Lexus just yet, the Cars.gov website is still down”
“Honey, don’t get excited about that new Lexus just yet, the Cars.gov website is still down”

We’ve been trying to get on the cars.gov “cash for clunkers” web site for the last few days. But, it just wouldn’t come up for us. Given all the failures of the federal government, both in concept and execution, we figured that they simply over-promised the free money and under-delivered on their web server horsepower.

If you’re thinking to yourself, wait, I’ve been on the the site and it works just fine, well, you are also correct. But that’s only because you keyed in www.cars.gov, not cars.gov. It works the www prefix just fine; but on most browsers, without the www, it doesn’t. Click the links above and try it for yourself. That’s just not how a website is supposed to work. Try our site to see what should happen: if you key in ihatethemedia.com, it moves you over to www.ihatethemedia.com. No server error, right to the home page.

It’s an very simple problem to overcome, one that every rookie website owner runs into, unless it’s automatically taken care of by the web host. What is the fix? Ha! You think we’re going to tell the federal government how to give away more money? If they had their site done right, they might now be requesting $8 billion for this disastrous program, not $4 billion

The federal government: a bunch of rookies, in every way, every day.

Quote of the Day:
“If someone estimates funding of a plan is adequate for 90 days, and the money runs out in a week, how much of the American economy would you trust that person to run?”

If someone estimates funding of a plan is adequate for 90 days, and the money runs out in a week, how much of the American economy would you trust that person to run?

Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal

Cash-for-Clunkers Comment of the Day

Cash-for-Clunkers Comment of the Day: “Let’s imagine the same program for the housing problem. Destroy all the foreclosed properties and give the former owners a free down payment on a new home.”

“Let’s imagine the same program for the housing problem. Destroy all the foreclosed properties and give the former owners a free down payment on a new home.”

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