Two Billion Dollars – Can You Get a Piece of That?

Congress passed a law and Obama signed a $1,000,000,000 (that’s billion) offering to consumers who would be willing to trade in their “clunkers” or older vehicles, in order to buy newer, more gas efficient vehicles. The purpose of the program was twofold: to “go green” by getting these older, gas-guzzling cars off the streets and to help stimulate the flagging economy of the United States.

Whether the program achieved its secondary goal of stimulation remains to be seen, but the program proved much more wildly popular than Congress or the President ever imagined and that $1,000,000,000 (that’s billion) incentive for trading in cars was gone within a week.

ONE week.

So today, President Obama signed a new bill, hot off the Senate voting floor which dumped an additional $2,000,000,000 (yes, that’s billion) into the program. Does this mean that the money will be there for another two weeks? Probably a little longer, but if you are interested, even slightly, in purchasing a new vehicle to replace an older one you have, now is the time to jump on this deal.

How Much You can Get

The Cash for Clunkers program offers a “trade-in” value offered by the government to owners of older vehicles when they are traded in to buy a new car and a new car only. The amount you can receive in this program is up to $4,500, and how much you get for your particular clunker depends entirely on how old it is and how much of a gas-guzzling, pollution-spewing anti-green machine it has been determined to be. Any car eligible for the rebate must have a fuel economy rating of 18 MPG or less. You can find out in advance of visiting a dealership how much your particular year, make and model of clunker will be worth, and any incentive you receive from this program will be in addition to any rebates or other incentives offered for the car you purchase. In this way it is possible to walk out the door with a new smaller economy car for next to nothing (literally).

Not Likely to Come Again

In this time of financial distress, unemployment and worry among Americans some see it as irresponsible for Congress and the President to push Americans to spend money on a new car they might not otherwise have bought, picking up extra debt, but if you’re going to act on this, you have to act now because the program is not likely to get extended again according to Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich..

Don’t miss out if you happened to purchase a new car back in early July before the first Cash for Clunkers bill was passed, you are still eligible to receive this rebate. You don’t have to do much but go back to the dealer and apply for your rebate.

Good-Bye Trucks Hello Compacts

The first part of the program has been a success in its drive to get gas guzzlers off the road and replace them with more efficient vehicles. According to an Edmunds analysis, of the top 10 cars being purchased on the program, the average fuel rating is between 27 to 33 miles per gallon, based on whichever specific model of car is chosen. One truck, the Ford F-150 is 5th on the list, surprisingly. Hybrids and compacts are topping the list of sales, but you should move quickly because dealers all across the country are reporting that inventories on vehicles are low and out, with an average of 2 weeks in wait time for many of the more popular cars.