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Smart Shopper Cash for Clunkers - Does it Work for You?
2647 messages, Last post on Oct 01, 2009 at 6:33 PM
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I Traded My Clunker and Bought a....?
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Replying to: dtownfb (Jun 30, 2009 5:16 am) A buyer could strip all the good parts from the trade before bringing it in....and he should if he has the interest and wherewithall to do so ... as long as the vehicle is drivable. Or, the dealer could strip out everything except the engine which must be crushed ( but most dealers don't want that junk hanging around ). Or, the junkyard/scrapper could strip off the good parts ( most likely scenario ) and keep them for future usage. A $1500 'junker' probably has about $500 to $1000 worth of useful parts excluding the engine. This is a bit of windfall for the junkyards. They're getting these vehicles and parts essentially free of charge except for the cost to go get them from the local dealers. Then after they crush the vehicles they sell the scrap steel and iron at the going market rate to overseas buyers and to the new steel mini-mills which use scrap metal as the primary feedstock for the furnaces. |
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Replying to: binarylogic (Jun 29, 2009 1:26 pm) How does the dealer know that the junkyard doesn't resell the drivetrain to be rebuilt? Or what if the junkyard simply has a backlog, or wants to remove more parts, and doesn't crush the vehicle for 4 months? Is the dealer responsible for that? Does the dealer get the voucher, or get fined if any of these things happen at the junkyard? If I were a dealer, particularly not entry-level vehicles I might avoid this clunker-program, and not signup for it.
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Replying to: kernick (Jun 30, 2009 6:43 am) It would be foolish for a dealer to not participate in this program. No upfront fees to join and no telling how many sales you may be able to get from it. In today's market, you can't afford to exclude yourself from this program. it will be interesting to see the advertising from the dealer's once this bill goes into affect.
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Replying to: joel0622 (Jun 30, 2009 5:12 am)
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Replying to: dtownfb (Jun 30, 2009 7:01 am) Let me better define "not entry-level vehicles" for you and give some reasoning. There is quite a list of Makes that do not sell entry-level vehicles: the obvious are Mercedes, Jaguar, Cadillac, Lincoln, Lexus, BMW, Infiniti, Acura, Buick, Land Rover, and maybe a few others. Now while there will always be a few millionaires driving around in the '88 Ford Bronco, there really are very, very few, who all of a sudden are going to say "gee, I'm going to trade in the ol' Bronc for an Infiniti G37 coupe". The typical person with a clunker a) can not afford the payments on a new $25K+ non-entry-level vehicle, and b) probably couldn't get financing. Secondly there are not many people driving clunkers who are going to come in the dealership looking like they work a decent job. All that marketing money and the $ spent to make the dealerships look really nice and shiny - all to create an atmosphere - can be brought down by having the '88 Bronc in the customers' spot, and the customer wearing the Walmart happy-face shirt. Appearances and atmosphere are very important to many businesses. Show up looking like a bum, and it doesn't matter if you can squeak by with the $; they don't want you in.
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Replying to: binarylogic (Jun 30, 2009 7:24 am) We called 3 different times asking the same question and got 3 different answers. The best advice for now is for everyone to sit tight, ignore everything you have heard, and wait for the final word on it to come out
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Replying to: kernick (Jun 30, 2009 10:57 am) The typical person with a clunker a) can not afford the payments on a new $25K+ non-entry-level vehicle, and b) probably couldn't get financing From daily experience this is simply not true....and why does the new vehicle have to be $25K+. I'll go out on a limb and guess that most of these clunkers traded in by the buyers on the edge will result in the new owner driving off in a $17000 vehicle that cost less than $13000....or lower.
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Replying to: kdhspyder (Jun 30, 2009 12:30 pm) Remember, in order for this program to make sense you have to be driving a broken down,nasty, POS. Most older used cars are worth more than $3500. The people driving them aren't coming in the door as it is. |
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Replying to: kdhspyder (Jun 30, 2009 12:30 pm) That's what I was saying. Higher end brands will be lucky to see 1 or 2 customers over many months who are trading in a clunker. So why would one of these higher end brands want to have to deal with getting at least their administration and finance people up-to-speed on the many pages of what this bill entails. If I run a BMW dealership, I say let the 1 or 2 customers I might get, go down the street and bug the Lexus dealer, and park some junk out front on a Sat. afternoon. I wouldn't want the oil-stains in my driveway. |
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Replying to: volvomax (Jun 30, 2009 3:15 pm)
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