Cash For Clunkers May be Done?

The Detroit Free Press is reporting the Cash for Clunkers program has been so successful that it may already be finished, four days after its official start.  It was supposed to last up to three months, but the government made it clear it would only last until the money was spent.

On Wednesday night, sources said the National Automobile Dealers Association surveyed its dealers to gauge how many Cash for Clunker transactions they had in the works. The average number of working deals for the 1,900 dealers who responded amounted to nearly 14 transactions, with more deals qualifying for the top $4,500 voucher than the $3,500 voucher. (Source; Edmunds AutoObserver)

$1 Billion, blown through in four days.  That's mind-blowing.

The big question may be what vehicles have been scrapped, and what cars have been put out on the road.  Autobytel looked at the vehicles being searched for on their site and came up with a list of trucks being checked for their eligibility:

1. Ford F-Series
2. Ford Explorer
3. Chevrolet C/K/Silverado
4. Jeep Grand Cherokee
5. Dodge Ram
6. Chevrolet Blazer
7. Jeep Cherokee
8. Dodge Grand Caravan (minivan)
9. Dodge Dakota
10. Ford Ranger

I hope the government puts some numbers out on what cars were bought using the taxpayers money. 

In the meantime, consumers and dealerships are starting to get worried.  What happens if the CARS program gets suspended, even though a dealership has already sold a new car?

Ken Czubay, Ford Motor Co.’s vice president of U.S. sales and marketing, said many Ford dealers are worried that they will be out thousands of dollars per car if they sell a vehicle to the consumer, disable the engine, and find out later the funding has been exhausted.

Oh, and remember the 'refresh' of the mileage data which forced some people who had already made the deal to suddenly lose out, when their 'clunker' went from 18 mpg to 19 mpg, making them ineligible?

Federal officials also said today that the government would honor any deal agreed to before changes made in a federal database of mileage figures last Friday.