Cash for Clunkers buyers regretful

I think the dealers are also regretting getting involved since they are not being paid.

A gal I know did have a clunker and she desperately needed a new car. She bought a new (to her) used car and drove it home. Three days later, the dealer called and said there were problems with her credit and she had to bring the car back. They gave her another car, also used, but in good shape and definitely better than what she traded in. So, apparently, some dealers were even bothering to do the proper credit checks.

I bet she doesn't know she's going to have to pay income taxes on the "gift" from the government. And, I've never been nosy enough to ask her if she could really afford the monthly payments, so I hope she can make it. She works her tail off and really needed a decent, dependable car.

I have a 2001 F250 V-10 with 74,000 miles on it. Was used when I bought it and paid cash. It may be a gas guzzler, but it runs like and top and I'm gonna drive it till the wheels fall off.

Just wait till the idiots get audited a year or two from now. The government will get all of that money back and then some. That bitch whom was talking about the FREE stuff on the video will be screaming HELP ME LAWD!!!!!!

This story illustrates why America is in the trouble it's in perfectly.

The government provided a plan to make it easier for people to buy a new car.

People thought they could get something for nothing, and jumped at it - without bothering to think ahead.

Low interest rates, easy credit, cash for clunkers - none of these things were mandatory. Every single person caught in a credit debt situation signed their name on the dotted line, of their own free will. Every bad mortgage was signed by someone who didn't read the fine print. Every car traded in for a new car - same thing.

Sooner or later, Americans (not all, but you know who they are) are going to have to take some responsibility for their own household finance decisions....

People are just now waking up from a bad Obama nightmare.
Didn't people learn their lesson about acting their wage?
Obama made tons thanks to Fannie and Freddy, I wonder how much he made from clunkers.

Car dealerships around here have near empty lots. One dealership went out of business. It seems the government hasn't made good on the credits, but the businesses are having to pay taxes to the state for the credits anyway. And the car lots are unable to order cars because their cash flow has been tied up.

The problem is that new cars are more than $4500 overpriced. Even with that massive gift, they aren't worth it.

I have a "clunker," otherwise known as a perfectly good car that costs me little, and I thought about it for about five minutes. My conclusion: Why buy a $20,000 Chevrolet that will be worth $10,000 in two years when I can buy a $20,000 used Mercedes that will depreciate half as much in the same time?

Wow... funny... some trivia:

The average "clunker" was not a clunker, it needs only meet mpg ratings..
Thus average clunker is a big suv...

Assuming in this example the suspected clunker is a 2006 hummer.. bought used, $10k left as the ballance...... owner goes to a Ford lot to buy a Focus, gov gives him 4k towards the car...

What happens to his car loan on the Hummer?

Gets attached to the new car.. because he must except the trade in, so he gets the cheap smaller car, with the ballance of the old car in a new compact loan.

What about the money the gov gave him? Money isn't free. Ever. At the very least it must be counted as income and taxes paid on it next spring.

Helping the economy? Nah..

If you have a set number of customers, does it make sense to hold a sale so big almost everyone jumps in and buys all at once, then for the next few months have very little business?? NO.. watch as car sales slump big time..

Deflation, hulllllooo .. we are in a period of deflation at the consumer level, the gov just inticed hundreds of thousands to add a financiak burden. While this helped toyota, honda, ford, gm, ets.. the hundreds in added bills will decrease consumption power.. right in time for Christmas, what dumbass chose this timing??

This is why Governments can't be trusted, everything they touch dies, and sadly they have their grubby hands all over this economy..

Originally posted by mikerussellus
Cash for clunkers is exactly what this administration wanted though. Now MORE people will go broke, more people will have to rely on the government, more people will be screaming for Obama to help them.

The people in DC aren't stupid. They saw this coming.

Hi again!

Just a question: did you feel the same way after 9-11 when the Bush administration told the citizens of our country that the best way we could help the United States in a time of crisis was to go out and spend?

Not to conserve on gas and car pool so that the Saudi a-holes who cam claim 17 of the 19 terrorists lose a little money.

Not to band together and donate blood.

Not to sacrifice, save, and contribute like they asked of Americans during WWII, but

go out and buy more crap that you don't need.

How was that different than "cash for clunkers"? We were still struggling from the recession Greenspan gave us in the late 1990s, and he said go and shop.

I hope your answer, because I really think you're a fair person, is that you criticized Bush, too.

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II


LOL, that lady in the video is hilarious! I've never seen that video before. If the majority of people think like this we are all doomed. I really hope that this is not the case.
What ever happened to a little hard work and saving up for what you really want or need. Now some people are in a really bad position but they should have fully looked into it before trading in for cash for clunkers.

Ensnaring people in debt is not the only nefarious thing that CfC did. It took a multitude of serviceable running vehicles and removed access to them from the lower level of the economic ladder. During the time frame that CfC was going on, pretty much everything that fell withing the MPG and time limits of the program was artificially made worth $4500. That means a young driver, low income familly, or whatever was priced out of car ownership by the government.
(Example1: Young family has 3 + kids and limited income but two vehicles are needed for a family outing. Before CfC you could usually find an older model but serviceable mini-van or SUV well under $4k if you looked hard enough. Owners of such vehicles were incentivized by the government to trade it in for a new vehicle instead of maybe letting it go for $2 grand to a neighbor/church member/friend of family in need of a bigger ride. Example 2: Junior just turned 16 and he keeps his grades up, not in trouble, and just started his first job. You were going to help the kid buy his first car like your old man did for you you and Junior now have to both come up with more money because used car's like you were thinking of finding Junior were artificially inflated to a value of $4500.)
Those are just two unintended consequences of CfC. The program is over, but the removal of the supply of working cars available to a struggling consumer has shrunk leaving that struggling consumer to pay more for a used car going foward.

I am in very much agreement with Kosmic in that the time to buy a nearly new car will be in 6 months or so when a still crappy employment situtation leads to a rise in reposessions right about the same time the bulk of ARMs reset in 2010.

Originally posted by Rockpuck

The average "clunker" was not a clunker..

You are exactly right.

Just yesterday I heard a commercial on the radio advertising a post "cash for clunkers" sale.

Obviously these are autos that were traded in and now they are going back on the road.

I couldn't understand how people would be suckered in to these deals. It's as if they counted on compulsive shoppers. SUPER SALE!! TODAY ONLY!!

One of the dealers was saying he sold everything he had on his lot? That just didn't make sense either. Especially since many newer cars and trucks weren't much better on gas.

I'm curious to see how many will still be turned down after buying one and end up paying that other 4,500.

These people were supposed have had good credit. Whatever that means these days. Here today........GONE tomorrow.

At some level you have to wonder how much demand got pulled forward as well. How many people were thinking about a new car in the 3month-1year timeframe went ahead and bought while CfC was going on? I wouldn't be surprised at all if the next 6-12 months are really nasty on car dealers.

I've got to wonder how many will buy something like a new car with the advertisement: NO payments until 2013 !!! in the fall of 2012.

Well who didn't see this one coming?!
I can't believe anyone expected anything other than this to
occur with this scam.

This is why i didnt get a new car, despite mine is 14 years old, but still runs good(i do my own maintenance). Thats the problem..people are are that lazy, they dont wanna learn or do thier own oil changes, theyde rather take it back to the stealership or god forbid, jiffy lube, get raped in the charges, and in some cases, they put the wrong oil and fitler on. LEARN PEOPLE LEARN..its not that complicated, to drain and refill your own coolant once a year, replace a thermostat, and drain and replace oil+fitler.. and it isnt expensive at all. A car, is an investment..thats how i look at it, like you bought a house or cloths, normally most take care of that. It jsut seems, poeple look at thier new 4 wheel toy, as a disposable appliance. it isnt..it too needs attention and care.
I was talking with some at work, WHY i wont participate in this. Suppose i buy a new car..i already knew ide be stuck with a monthly bill of $170 and up. What if i get laid off next month? Not so much a job market out thier yah know. It was buisness..a way to help auto dealers makes some xtra cash$$$ screwing those who parrticipated in the end. I already knew this.
What bothers me is...these people are only just now realizing what knida bill thier stuck with. Are we that dumb and slugish now, they didnt plan or froesee this from the very idea? i am really baffled over this...

A friend at work, plays with stiocks, says the cash for clunkers was just a way to help stimulate the economy, thats all. Seems the fed knew people were that desensitized that theyd jump on it... as for cash for aplpiances, im baffled over that one too. It dosnt make any sense, other than to help boost sales for business. what are they gunna do with my 12 year old mixer, blnder, toaster, after ive used it god knows how manyt imes..rebuild it and sell it for 3 times what its really worth???/

The same thing happened in the UK, I got a call from the garage that I bought my car from a year ago for 5 grand and they said I could get 2 grand off my next purchase and recommended a new model at only £14,000. I recommended that by suggesting I drop 3 grand on a car in a year to put in their pockets and take on an additional 10k of debt is not a good way to sell me a car, laughed and hung up. I am shocked that some people are so stupid, sorta drives home why we are in this financial hole and shows that if anything the government like the casino will always win

I wondered what was going to happen to the traded in clunkers, did they put them all in the crusher????

This whole thing was simply another government ploy to keep Americans in debt, period. OH, don't forget now ladies and gentlemen that WE are paying for this either! It is impossible to feel one iota of sympathy for people that keep getting in over their head, really!

I am one of those people that is in need of a good used car, sad to hear the market of used cars is now so much smaller, thanks to Uncle Sam. Great!

So now WE are going to have to pay for the "stimulus cash for clunkers" and end up footing the cost of all the loans that are going to be foreclosed on. How nice for us.

Really it seems the wise consumers are always the ones taking it up the...well you know what I mean.

I also was taught that method of testing to see if you can afford something. It is a great plan, you put that money up to see if your budget can really handle it then you have a nice down payment.

I also was taught a similar way to get out of debt. You commit say $100 to paying off a particular bill in addition to the regular premium. Once that is paid off you then use that same amount (the $100 plus the regular premium) to work the next one down and so on and so on. I watched my parents pay their mortgage and car notes down this way my entire life. My mom has AAA credit because she has ALWAYS handled her bills that way. She never gets in over her head, there fore no late payments. HMM, it would seem our government could learn from mom!

Originally posted by Alxandro

Originally posted by Rockpuck

The average "clunker" was not a clunker..

You are exactly right.

Just yesterday I heard a commercial on the radio advertising a post "cash for clunkers" sale.

Obviously these are autos that were traded in and now they are going back on the road.

The cars that were traded in will not be back on the road. The government required a caustic solution to be poured into the engine. They are now undriveable and will be destroyed. These were typically perfectly okay vehicles that are now gone.