The downside of cash for clunkers

[Thalan]

So I went to see some family today at the dealership they run and was saddened to hear details about the govt's "stimulus".
Apparently, any vehicle taken under this offer is to have its oil drained and replaced by sodium silicate, which when heated up solidifies and renders the engine useless, then scrapped. So if you're like me and love your old car and scoff at all the hippies trying to get you to drive a battery in a box then this means a shortage of parts in the near future. The angry paranoid side of me is grumbling about how the govt is using enviromentalsim as an excuse to tell us what we can and can't drive, but really it's just destroying bits of history and thats sad.
And then there's the part about how much of a raw deal the whole thing is for the automotive industry but I wont go into that except to say that its absurd. Well there's my vent for the day....

 

[hmoobvwj]

That would suck! Thank god I don't own a car....yet....

BTW is that avatar a character from Pom Poko?

 

[swede]

you really wouldn't take money for an old car just b/c it will be scrapped?

 

[hithesnoozebutn]

I have to agree that this sounds like little more than an attempt to push newer cars and stimulate a hurting industry. I am not too knowledged on the issue, but I am not sure that brand new F-250 is better for the economy than that old honda civic that just got clunked.

 

[Cashlaw]

I think it was a horrible idea . . . the cash payment is nice, but is it really smart to encourage people to go into debt for car loans in this kind of economy? What if something happens to their jobs, later, and they're stuck with a new car and a big new car debt? Isn't this a lot like the federal subsidies for subprime mortgages, a few years back, that started this mess in the first place?

Scrapping the cars isn't bright, either. Why aren't those being resold with a purchase subsidy to lower-income folks who need a car, but can't afford a new car? Just think of all of those used cars that could get struggling people to their jobs and things like that. Wouldn't that stimulate the economy, too?

 

[jcardona1]

i think its a good idea, but i dont know why the car NEEDs to be scrapped

 

[Thalan]

i think its a good idea, but i dont know why the car NEEDs to be scrapped

Because the unstated goal is to remove non "green" cars from the road. Thats why you get more money the more you improve your gas mileage.

Oh and for the avatar I have no idea what pompoko is, it's just an oddly taxidermied racoon.

 

[rajuncajun]

As far as encouraging people to go into debt if you cant afford the notes then you should not get the car in the first place gov. money or dealer rebates regardless. I agree they are trying to get old cars off the road but if they are rendered useless now that means that when someone does restore one (not saying a 1986 honda will be worth it but some others) 25 years from now they will be that much more valuable. It may not be an easy fix but someone out there will be able to fix these cars or put rebuilt engines in them.

 

[armac]

I have to agree that this sounds like little more than an attempt to push newer cars and stimulate a hurting industry. I am not too knowledged on the issue, but I am not sure that brand new F-250 is better for the economy than that old honda civic that just got clunked.

that transaction would not qualify for any money back, read the program, it is to get people into better mileage vehicles

 

[Vicious_Fish]

As far as encouraging people to go into debt if you cant afford the notes then you should not get the car in the first place

Yeah but when these people have a car that has a normal trade in value of $900 bucks, the $4500 cash for clunker deal is too good to resist.