Cash for clunkers 2009 program

Dealers have complained that the Transportation Department has been slow to process rebates -- slowing their rebate checks and putting them in a financial squeeze. In response, the department recently hired additional personnel. Cash for Clunkers has been credited with boosting auto sales, sparking several automakers to re-open closed plants in an effort to refill ravaged inventories.

Industry analysts at J. Power and Associates forecast that August retail auto sales, a figure that excludes fleet sales to businesses, will pass the 1 million unit mark, thanks largely to the program. That would make it the first million-plus retail sales month in a year. Power and Associates, in a statement. Overall auto sales are still expected to be down slightly, mostly due to low inventories hampering fleet sales, J. Power said.

The company has boosted its overall projected sales for the year due to the success of the program. Special Report Detroit's downfall.

See all CNNMoney. In contrast, the CEA's September 10 economic analysis of the program argued that a substantial proportion of the CARS sales were pulled forward from a far more distant future, and thus represented an important increment to aggregate demand at just the time when such demand was sorely needed.

Download the data in this chart as a CSV file. With seven months of post-Clunkers sales data in hand September through March ; see dark blue line in figure , now seems a good time for a reckoning.

The 'short-term pull-forward' view was perhaps most vigorously articulated by automotive industry website Edmunds. In late October, Edmunds. Edmunds furthermore argued that, had the CARS program not existed, the pace of sales would have been higher, about But according to the final data now in hand, the actual pace of sales in November and December was about Last Thursday's announcement of a strong pace of sales in March also belies Edmunds' pessimistic trajectory.

Outright purchase or lease. Used car purchases are not eligible. See this website to find out the mileage for your car or this site to find your car. Programs ends on November 1, or when the program funding 1 billion dollars is depleted. Trade-in must occur on July 1, or later.

Applies to new cars of any country — domestic and foreign cars are all eligible. The new car must have a combined fuel economy of at least 22 mpg.

The credit will be applied to the purchase of the new car. The credit will not be considered as income for the car purchaser. The trade-in car must have been owned by you and insured for the past year ie days.

You must provide documentation for this. Car must be driveable!! How do I know exactly how old my car is? To find out the manufacture date of your car — check the following: The month and year of manufacture e. If the car was built in or later then it is less than 25 years old. If the car was built in and the car manufacture month and day is greater than the trade-in date then it is less than 25 years old. If the car was built in and the car manufacture month and day is less than the trade-in date then it is greater than 25 years old and not eligible.

Is it worth doing? This program is worth taking advantage of only if both of the following scenarios apply: Your old car is worth less than the rebate.