Mike Valentine says he'd had to give the program a "C" grade overall. He's talking about Cash for Clunkers. Valentine, who works for Chatham Toyota, says there have been pluses. "Oh definitely, we've sold a lot more cars in the last month," he tells me. But he says dealers are still waiting to benefit financially. "We have to do paperwork for each and every clunker and then submit it. So we're still waiting to get paid. Everyone probably is."
Valentine says local dealers are likely owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and so far, there's still no word on when payments will be received. "We have advanced the rebates (of $3,500 and $4,500) to the customers to buy new cars. However, no one is paying us back yet."
Valentine says if you want to know if the program was a success, ask dealers once they've gotten their money. "I do think a lot of people who would not have purchased cars did so because of this program and I'm sure a lot of old clunkers that were gas guzzlers are off the roads as a result."
Valentine says the program ends at 8 p.m. Monday and he assumes they'll have a very busy weekend. "We'll need to be processing forms and all of that, and the government website has crashed in the past. We hope that doesn't happen again."
The program definitely has had its share of critics. Some say the older cars traded in should not be destroyed, that it will hurt the used car market and low income consumers who may have been in the market to purchase one of the older cars. Some also worry there will be fewer used parts down the road for repairs.
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