The Conservative Cave
Current Events => Economics => Topic started by: Chris on August 04, 2009, 07:46:37 PM
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The Ten Most Traded-In Vehicles
1. Ford Explorer 4WD
2. Ford F-150 2WD
3. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD
4. Jeep Cherokee 4WD
5. Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 2WD
6. Chevrolet Blazer 4WD
7. Ford Explorer 2WD
8. Ford F-150 Pickup 4WD
9. Chevrolet C1500 Pickup 2WD
10. Ford Windstar FWD Van
The Ten Most Purchased Vehicles
1. Ford Focus
2. Toyota Corolla
3. Honda Civic
4. Toyota Prius
5. Toyota Camry
6. Ford Escape FWD
7. Hyundai Elantra
8. Dodge Caliber
9. Honda Fit
10. Chevrolet Cobalt
http://jalopnik.com/5329973/ten-most-traded+in-and-purchased-cash-for-clunkers-cars-updated/gallery/
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I never paid attention to them as gas-guzzlers, but the Ford F-150s are popular around here. I wasn't aware they were considered gas-guzzlers, at least excessive gas-guzzlers.
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Notice six of the new are not domestic, two are Ford and then one each for UAW motors
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Notice six of the new are not domestic, two are Ford and then one each for UAW motors
I wonder where/how they got their numbers? I just read an article that the government isn't releasing the numbers yet, even though several FOIA requests have been filed. Supposedly , they want to wait until after the vote on the additional $2B.
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It's based on the first 157,000 trade-ins... the information was released this morning.
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No one should be surprised. There are probably more F-150s on American roads than any other single vehicle. If I had an old worn out one, I might be tempted to sell it to the jug-eared Kenyan for $4500, and buy a Corolla or Focus for one of the kids. I imagine the market for beat up junkers is soaring right now.
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There are a couple of used car lots near town...I wonder if I could pick up a junker for a few hundred $, and trade it in for the $4500 credit on a new car. :uhsure: :innocent:
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Read the fine print... your trade-in has to be insured for 12 months uninterrupted before it is eligible. Also, the EPA shorted a bunch of people that were going to trade in their cars by altering the "official" MPG rating for dozens of vehicles without telling anyone (it was discovered last week).
(http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk252/tibble/Cash_For_Clunker_Chart2.jpg)
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There are a couple of used car lots near town...I wonder if I could pick up a junker for a few hundred $, and trade it in for the $4500 credit on a new car. :uhsure: :innocent:
There is a provision requiring the trade-in to have been owned and licensed for a certain length of time, close to a year or something. I was surprised that they thought that far ahead.
I think in the long run that this program is going to hurt the car makers and hurt the economy overall. They have created an artificial demand for new cars, and most of these were already sitting on the lot. Much of this money going for new cars would have been going into other areas of the economy, but no more. Most people taking advantage of this deal are those who were considering new or newer cars in the near future is my guess.
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Three months ago, dealers were complaining about having too much inventory. They will move those cars off their lots, the manufacturers will build more, and the dealers will be back in the same situation in another three months.
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If you haven't seen this, you should watch it all the way through. The engines in the clunker cars are "disabled" before the cars are crushed. :bawl:
[youtube=425,350]waj2KrKYTZo[/youtube]
Engine Disablement Procedures for the CARS Program
THIS PROCEDURE IS NOT TO BE USED BY THE VEHICLE OWNER
Perform the following procedure to disable the vehicle engine.
1. Obtain solution of 40% sodium silicate/60% water. (The Sodium Silicate (SiO2/Na2O) must have a weight ratio of 3.0 or greater.)
2. Drain engine oil for environmentally appropriate disposal.
3. Install the oil drain plug.
4. Since the procedure is intended to render the engine inoperative, drive or move the vehicle to the desired area for disablement.
5. Pour enough solution in the engine through the oil fill for the oil pump to circulate the solution throughout the engine. Start by adding 2 quarts of the solution, which should be sufficient in most cases.
CAUTION: Wear goggles and gloves. Appropriate protective clothing should be worn to prevent silicate solution from coming into contact with the skin.
6. Replace the oil fill cap.
7. Start the engine.
8. Run engine at approximately 2000 rpm (for safety reasons do not operate at high rpm) until the engine stops. (Typically the engine will operate for 3 to 7 minutes. As the solution starts to affect engine operation, the operator will have to apply more throttle to keep the engine at 2000 rpm.)
9. Allow the engine to cool for at least 1 hour.
10. With the battery at full charge or with auxiliary power to provide the power of a fully charged battery, attempt to start the engine.
11. If the engine will not operate at idle, the procedure is complete.
12. If the engine will operate at idle, repeat steps 7 through 11 until the engine will no longer idle.
13. Attach a label to the engine that legibly states the following:
This engine is from a vehicle that is part of the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS). It has significant internal damage caused by operating the engine with a sodium silicate solution (liquid glass) instead of oil.
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This guy lays out the way to scam the government on this program.
Clunker Cash and Me [Benjamin Zycher]
Let’s face it: After 17 years and 232,522 miles of faithful service, my Jeep’s best days were long past. Time for some new wheels — but money’s a bit tight these days, for me as for so many others.
But, as good fortune would have it, not for the federal government: They’re willing to pay me $4,500 — $4,500! — to turn that clunker in for a new car satisfying the combined demands of political correctitude and the auto-dealer lobby. Alas, the rules specify that the big, powerful, safe truck that I want does not qualify.
And so I asked the question on the minds of millions of my fellow concerned citizens: How can I get my snout into this trough? Easy: I buy a small car qualifying for the $4,500, and keep it for a few months until the cash-for-clunkers boondoggle has run its course. At that point, the supply of used cars will have shrunk and their prices driven up; I will sell the almost-new small car for what I paid for it ($12,629 last Saturday) or more, at worst having driven it for free, and then buy the truck I covet.
I am deeply ashamed of myself, having worked the system while the poor get shafted by higher prices for the used cars they demand and by higher prices for the used parts needed to repair them. (Under the rules, the clunker engines have to be destroyed, the real-life Beltway version of the old joke about the fate of dairy farming under socialism: The government takes the milk and shoots the cows.) This is hardly the first time — nor will it be the last — that modern environmentalism has harmed those less fortunate.
As for me, I remain ashamed, but not sufficiently so to have forgone the $4,500. And, to be blunt, I am hardly the only sinner in this congregation. When the federal government starts writing checks so as to implement half-baked ideas in pursuit of yet another cause for do-gooderism, gaming the system is the system, an eternal truth relevant to the ongoing debates over health care, taxes, and much else.
— Benjamin Zycher is a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/
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If you haven't seen this, you should watch it all the way through. The engines in the clunker cars are "disabled" before the cars are crushed. :bawl:
[youtube=425,350]waj2KrKYTZo[/youtube]
My younger brother is a master mechanic at Ford. He tells me he has been doing this a few times a day everyday! :o
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I'm no fan of Volvos but that considered a clunker??????? Looks quite new to me.
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Once again, the gov isn't helping ME. I get no benefit from this program since we don't own "clunkers". I got no benefit from the mortgage 8k incentive, because we already own a home. Life just sucks when you play by the rules, pay your bills on time and love your health insurance plan :thatsright:
Oh, and reading about disabling the engine.....was sad really. Something about destroying a perfectly fine car just seemed like such a waste when a poor unemployed family could have used it to get to WORK AND PAY TAXES ! :banghead:
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When the federal government starts writing checks so as to implement half-baked ideas in pursuit of yet another cause for do-gooderism, gaming the system is the system, an eternal truth relevant to the ongoing debates over health care, taxes, and much else.
:thatsright: Too much truth in that statement!!
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Once again, the gov isn't helping ME. I get no benefit from this program since we don't own "clunkers". I got no benefit from the mortgage 8k incentive, because we already own a home. Life just sucks when you play by the rules, pay your bills on time and love your health insurance plan :thatsright:
Oh, and reading about disabling the engine.....was sad really. Something about destroying a perfectly fine car just seemed like such a waste when a poor unemployed family could have used it to get to WORK AND PAY TAXES ! :banghead:
I think there will be little or no environmental benefit from this program, which was one of it's stated purposes. Sure the older cars may have burned more gas and oil, but how much energy is used to produce a new car? Instead of being resold or donated to charities, the majority of these serviceable cars will end up in junkyards. (Charities are already seeing a decline in the number of vehicles donated.)
I get no benefit from this program either, but I'm still forced to pay for it.
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Today's updated figures...
The Ten Most Traded-In Vehicles
1. Ford Explorer 4WD
2. Ford F150 Pickup 2WD
3. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD
4. Jeep Cherokee 4WD
5. Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 2WD
6. Ford Explorer 2WD
7. Chevrolet Blazer 4WD
8. Ford F150 Pickup 4WD
9. Chevrolet C1500 Pickup 2WD
10. Ford Windstar FWD Van
The Ten Most Purchased Vehicles
1. Toyota Corolla
2. Ford Focus FWD
3. Honda Civic
4. Toyota Prius
5. Toyota Camry
6. Hyundai Elantra
7. Ford Escape FWD
8. Dodge Caliber
9. Honda Fit
10. Chevrolet Cobalt
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Don't you know that places like CarMax just love this program? Used car dealerships will be going under daily.
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Then there are the people that can't afford new cars, but have always relied upon being able to a good used car.
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Question is....all these people getting new cars.....are they going to still be able to afford them in 6 months?
Or is this going to be a car loan meltdown just like the mortgage meltdown?
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Question is....all these people getting new cars.....are they going to still be able to afford them in 6 months?
Or is this going to be a car loan meltdown just like the mortgage meltdown?
Not to worry. I'm sure Lord Zer0 has a plan to save the day when that happens. He and his fellow dimrats will spend more money we don't have to "fix" another problem that they will blame on Bush.
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I think that it is interesting that people are actually figuring out how to "game" the system........our neighbor across the street wants to trade her son's old '91 Dodge caravan in on a new one........
So......she is trading it in (initially) on a new Toyota Corrola, collecting the $4500, and when the program is over, she plans on trading the Corolla in on the Caravan that she actually wants.......
She will likely take a $1000 hit trading in the new Corolla, but the '91 Caravan is only worth about $300, so she will ultimately come out about $4000 ahead at the taxpayer's expense........
doc
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We have a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd that qualifies as a "clunker"...but it's paid for. I lease my car - and the lease is up Sept 9.
No way are we taking on 2 car payments right now.... :(
We don't qualify for the housing credit.
We get killed on taxes...plus since we are both self-employed, we have to pay employer social security taxes, too.
So far....my household is getting screwed by "hope and change"..... :censored:
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'Clunkers' Program Hits a Speed Bump
ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports: The effort to inject another two billion dollars into Cash for Clunkers has hit a potential road block in the Senate that could kill the bill.
Republiicans are throwing their support behind an amendment offered by Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, that would limit clunker rebates to individuals with annual incomes of 50 K or less. With Republican support the amendment stands a good chance of passing unless the majority of Democrats, who mostly favor the amendment, vote against it.
Why is that a problem?
If any amendment passes it means the House has to take up the bill again and the House, of course, has already adjourned for its August recess.
The Democratic leadership is now scrambling to get rank- and -fille Democratic senators to vote against an amendment almost all of them favor. It would be a very tough vote.
"It does seem to be out of character for Democrats to support allowing millionaires access to borrowed money to buy cars," said Don Stewart, spokesnan for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
ABC Blogs (http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/08/clunkers-program-hits-a-speed-bump.html)
I think this is a minor matter for 0Bama to expend political capital on by forcing Dims to cross their own ideal to suit Dear Leader. OTOH, CARS is about the only thing that has even been mildly successful for this administration.
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The only thing I would defend about the program is that it applies to work vehicles that small business owners can purchase as well as personal vehicles. I don't see what good it would do to put an income cap on the program, but then I don't see why this administration doesn't just offer a tax credit for vehicles meeting the same criteria instead of going through the existing CARS process.