If you watch the news or read the paper, i'm sure you have heard of the government proposed plan for "cash for clunkers". I will sum it up for you if you havn't... basically, the gov. will give you $3500 voucher for your car if you trade it in on a new vehicle that will get 4 more MPG. If you get a new car that will get 10 more MPG you will get a $4500 voucher. Of course in order for your vehicle to be considered a "clunker" your car must be a 1984 or newer vehicle that gets less than 18MPG and has to be registered for at least a year and in running(road worthy) condition(NOT totaled). If you want more info on this matter either Google or read this...
http://www.usnews.com/articles/busin...-clunkers.html
Not that i am considering my SC as a clunker by any means but I wanted to know if our SC's fell into this category. I went to Edmunds.com and they have a list of the "clunkers" and sadly our SC's are on there. To be specific, the 92-95 SC3's and the 92-97 SC4's.

So my question to my CL buddies.... Has anybody considered this? Is anybody thinking about trading in their SC for a $4500 down payment on a new ride? Just keep in mind, all "clunker" trade-ins will be crushed, they will not be re-sold or parted out....


I will start....i think if i had an older SC that was bone stock and had a ton of miles that was worth even half of what they wanted to give me.... i think i might jump on this. To get $4500 on trade in for an old stock SC as opposed to $2000 or less to to sell privately would be really tempting...

 

Depends on whether you can afford a new car. Typically, the people driving old clunkers are not in a position to buy a new car.

 

^^ x2 well my buddy is trying to sell his 1994 SC400 with rebuilt title and 1JZ swap i wonnder if he qualifys and the car is not in the best of shape

 

i guess you have a good point there ncred. i guess nobody is considering this.... good news for all the SC guys...more parts for everybody!

 

The parts can't be used, all cars in the program must be crushed or scrapped to qualify for the money, dealers face a $10,000 federal fine if the car doesn't end up in the scrap yard.

 

i know this. if you read my 1st post, i stated the same fact.
what i meant by my last post is... if nobody is considering trading in their SC for the clunker voucher there will be more parts for everybody in the future.... due to the fact that they will not be crushed....b/c nobody is trading them in... are we on the same page now?

 

I was kind of thinking about doing it when it first came out but found no cars better(IMO) than my sc300 that gets more than 28mpgs. If they are going by the combined city/highway then since our cars new got 18mpg combined we would have to buy something that got a minimun of 28mpg to get $4500.00 for a new one. So i mean if u looking for something that does get good gas milage and is probably a four cylinder than this is probably a good deal but i doubt if u driving a sc3 or 4 u probably like something with some git up and go.

 

This just screws it up for those of us who are looking for project cars or good deals. a barely running POS is now worth how much??? Also, what do you think this is all about? Better gas mileage? At what expense, a new car at thousands of dollars or a big car payment?

This is just here to make buyers buy new cars and help bail out automakers, it has nothing to do with energy efficiency. Get a bit better gas mileage, get a depreciating asset and most likely a big fat car payment and we create more landfills instead of keeping existing cars on the road.

Hot Rodders make up less than 10% of the driving population in this country.

**** on this administration. We are doomed.

rjp

 

They wont fill up landfills cause theyll recycle them. If I had the cash flow Id think it was a good deal, but since I dont right now Ill just pass.

 

I think I'd go crazy looking at perfectly salvagable, servicable cars being traded in under this deal because the PO didn't know or care about what they had.

Also- Considering the average domestic vehicle sale results in an operational loss the the business (they typically make money off the financing) this should be interesting to see what happens to vehicle costs in the near future.

It's also the primary reason a vast majority of dealers are getting the axe- if every car sold "costs" the manufacturer cash, why have so many cars sold??

Nothing is free. Government does not create or earn the money it spends, it gets it from us.

rjp

 

The cars need to be insured continuously for one year, and it has to be running for this, so people with extra sc's laying around cant just up and decide to get it crushed for a new car, and it doesnt even last till the end of the year, this isn't going to be a long time thing. Hope this helps rest some peoples worries.

 

That used to be true, but now if the gov't doesn't have enough money, it just prints a bunch more. Yet they still find more and more ways to tax us to death, too. Don't even get me started on this BS that our so-called President and the rest of the gov't are foisting on us.

 

It's all a sales tactic, with big brother trying to help dealerships sell cars. I bet if you go in there and try to get a new car "at dealership cost" with a clunker to deduct an extra $4,500 they will say KMA lol. It will be mandatory for dealerships to pad the price to get some of the gov't scrilla. Funny how they picked the number $4,500 b/c that is about same amount of depreciation you lose when you drive a new car off the lot.

 

this may be true. my father is actually going through with this w/his winter beater dodge dakota. he is trading it in for the clunker voucher for a honda ridgeline. I will be sure he goes into dealer and try and get the best price available before he hits them w/the clunker voucher business.... of course none of this will happen until after the 24th(the gov. has yet to finalize all the loose ends of this "clunker for cash" thing). we'll see what happens...

 

rand p is one smart fella, got good point

anyhow, steer clear of car payments, if you cant afford it DONT BUY IT,
also we have great used car market, roads are good and cars are serviced(majority) and nothing is gonna go wrong with couple year old car but do math and see how much cash stays in youre pocket going with used car

also i sure as hell drive 2000 lex that '09 kia(not a bad car at all but image is shady and cheap)