Cash for Clunkers

[springer]

Hopefully the gov will pop in some more $$$.

I believe they did not expect such a high demand in our "depressed" economy.

Especially considering how many cars $1billion gets you.

Example: $1,000,000,000/$4500/car = 222,222 cars (rounded)

Currently there are more than 250,000,000 registered cars.

(222,222/250,000,000)*100%= 0.088% of registered cars.

So, for ever billion $$ we can change the number of registered cars in America by 0.088%. Doesn't go far especially with the car obsessed people here in US.

I think it is a great idea, but not enough funds or thinking.

OT: I won't be taking advantage of it. Our cars are just fine.

no not really the # stays the same because the car you turned in goes to the scrap yard .

I wont be either my truck will paid off in January and the wife's car is a company car they even pay the gas . And the Firebird isnt going anywhere

 

[IrregularPulse]

Hopefully the gov will pop in some more $$$.

I believe they did not expect such a high demand in our "depressed" economy.

You underestimate the ability and willingness of the American public thinking they can afford something just because the dealership is willing to stretch a payment far enough. I had a dealer actually try and approach me with a 75 month loan! The sad thing is there are plenty of people that only see, "I can afford that monthly payment". Who cares if I end up paying 35,000 for a car with a sticker price of 21,000. I get to drive a brand new car!

 

[Brew-Happy]

no not really the # stays the same because the car you turned in goes to the scrap yard .

I wont be either my truck will paid off in January and the wife's car is a company car they even pay the gas . And the Firebird isnt going anywhere

Correct. By "change" I thought and should have used "exchanged"

Sorry about the confusion. With the govt $$ we can only alter the # of cars by much less than 1%. Drop in the bucket.

Thanks for the editorial.

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

They just appropriated an extra $2B... or at least the house said yes... The Senate votes on Monday... So things should resume on monday or tuesday... Looks like I'll have to wait until then to get my car...

 

[Revvy]

You underestimate the ability and willingness of the American public thinking they can afford something just because the dealership is willing to stretch a payment far enough. I had a dealer actually try and approach me with a 75 month loan! The sad thing is there are plenty of people that only see, "I can afford that monthly payment". Who cares if I end up paying 35,000 for a car with a sticker price of 21,000. I get to drive a brand new car!

AND I decided that I don't want a monthly car payment no matter what the amount is, so I didn't even bother checking to see if my car qualified. I think it is too new. But I bought it off craiglist and paid cash for it. I like not having an extra bill.

 

[IrregularPulse]

ditto here. I love not having a car payment. And I kind of enjoy having a clunker truck. Who cares what happens to it.

 

[bob1852]

You underestimate the ability and willingness of the American public thinking they can afford something just because the dealership is willing to stretch a payment far enough. I had a dealer actually try and approach me with a 75 month loan! The sad thing is there are plenty of people that only see, "I can afford that monthly payment". Who cares if I end up paying 35,000 for a car with a sticker price of 21,000. I get to drive a brand new car!

I actually had a friend roll ALL of his debt (school loans, car payments x2, motorcylce payment, credit card debt) into his home loan when he refinanced in 2005. I asked if he was crazy because he was gonna lose a TON of $$ on interest and his response was "well, I'll only have one payment a month for all my debt." that's the problem with this country and people don't look long term - it's all short term thinking. They'd rather have a $200 payment for 7 years than a $500 payment for 3 years because "I can't afford 500/mo., but I can afford 200/mo.

As many know the housing market in Phoenix, AZ is so bad that mean prices of houses in Maricopa County are down 50% (yes DOWN 50%) in just over 1 year. I've talked to people that got caught in no-money-down 3-year ARM's who now are facing HUGE balloon payments and interest rate increases and can't sell their house because of the market - and when I ask why they took a risky loan, their response is: "hey I was only planning to live here for 3 years." when I asked why would you buy a house if you only plan on living their for 3-years, their response was "I'll either sell it at a huge profit, or refi." And now they can't do either....

/end

 

[BlindLemonLars]

I had a dealer actually try and approach me with a 75 month loan! The sad thing is there are plenty of people that only see, "I can afford that monthly payment".

It's amazing...I was car shopping with my SO for the past few weeks, and the dealers kept shoving scraps of paper at me with dollar amounts scrawled on them: $279, $350, $330. Instead of telling me the price for the car, they were telling me how much the monthly payment would be! Everywhere we went, it was the same. I had to keep telling them to quote me the TOTAL price for the vehicle, and let me worry about how we intend to pay for it.

Ended up paying cash, which seemed to really irritate the dealer. Crazy world.

 

[PseudoChef]

Get a loan through a credit union. I tried to have Suntrust process my loan because I was already a customer, but they needed all this garbage and documentation to do it - was taking 3 days to process, yada yada yada.

Went to a credit union, got a 4.25% rate, and walked in 5 hours later to get my check.

Needless to say, I'm no longer a Suntrust customer.

 

[Yooper]

Well, I don't know how this turned into a rant about debt, but rest assured that the dealer took my check just fine, and I remain debt free. I don't even have a credit card bill, or a mortgage so you don't have to worry about me!

 

[IrregularPulse]

It's amazing...I was car shopping with my SO for the past few weeks, and the dealers kept shoving scraps of paper at me with dollar amounts scrawled on them: $279, $350, $330. Instead of telling me the price for the car, they were telling me how much the monthly payment would be! Everywhere we went, it was the same. I had to keep telling them to quote me the TOTAL price for the vehicle, and let me worry about how we intend to pay for it.

Ended up paying cash, which seemed to really irritate the dealer. Crazy world.

This is excatly what they did to us on the Galant. it took 3 times of me telling the lady, there's still no price on that sheet, only monthly payments! The first two didn't even have the Load Period on it. Once the manager came out too, she actually looked at him and said "now wasn't such and such sales person working with someone else on a deal with car also?" I literally laughed out loud a little and the Manager changed tactics real quick. You expect me to believe you wouldn't have mentioned that the first 1.5 hours we were here talking about that car! Yes Salesman I look young, No salesman I'm not the idiot you're used to.

Well, I don't know how this turned into a rant about debt, but rest assured that the dealer took my check just fine, and I remain debt free. I don't even have a credit card bill, or a mortgage so you don't have to worry about me!

Seems this forum is full of intelligent people. Whats wrong with the rest of the country?

 

[olllllo]

Where do these cars go? Are they actually scrapped? Or do they go to people in Malawi wearing Arizona Cardinal Superbowl Champions t-shirts?

 

[IrregularPulse]

Where do these cars go? Are they actually scrapped? Or do they go to people in Malawi wearing Arizona Cardinal Superbowl Champions t-shirts?

haha we have to make sure the 3rd world countries are taken care of first and foremost, It's the American Way

 

[Yooper]

Where do these cars go? Are they actually scrapped? Or do they go to people in Malawi wearing Arizona Cardinal Superbowl Champions t-shirts?

Yep- they go for scrap. The dealer is required to "kill" the car by running silicon in the gas tank until the engine seizes up, and then they are dismantled and destroyed.

 

[Brew-Happy]

Yep- they go for scrap. The dealer is required to "kill" the car by running silicon in the gas tank until the engine seizes up, and then they are dismantled and destroyed.

That sounds like fun!!! I wonder if the dealer would let the customer (old owner) do that!!!

 

[IrregularPulse]

I'll give them 1k back to let me push the button on the crusher

 

[PseudoChef]

Seems this forum is full of intelligent people. Whats wrong with the rest of the country?

Dunno. My car payment is my only debt - oh well. I even got paid to get an edumacation, whoda thunk it.

 

[BlindLemonLars]

That sounds like fun!!! I wonder if the dealer would let the customer (old owner) do that!!!

Pack a lunch, it could take a while!

There was a Mythbusters episode where they abused a GM V8. Bleach, drain cleaner, sugar, etc. in the fuel. Coins in the intake manifold. Eggs and cola in the radiator. Damn thing wouldn't stop! Finally they put bleach in the crankcase, and it eventually froze up.

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Got mine on Monday... here she is outside of work this morning.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Very nice BowTie

 

[jpc]

Got mine on Monday... here she is outside of work this morning.

With a name like "bowtie" I'd expect you to drive a Chevy. Congrats, though, on buying a nice car, and be sure to enjoy the 50+ mpg you get with the oil-burner. I've driven them in Europe (Audi A3, Audi A6, BMW 318d)... diesels are very economical, not noisy or dirty like most people think, and still fun to drive.

 

[uglygoat]

Howzit go in the snow?

I guess you will find out next month.

they do alright in the snow if you have good tires on em. it's a good little car yoop, you'll enjoy it.

 

[Yooper]

Wow- nice Jetta! What was your "clunker"?

 

[springer]

To destroy the engine most places use sodium silicate mixed with water.

"The prescribed and approved method of disabling a car according to law involves replacing the engine's oil with sodium silicate, more commonly known as liquid glass. When the car is run with a mixture of water and sodium silicate the liquid quickly evaporates and the solids are left behind, causing most of the oiled surfaces to seize and break."

here is a Volvo being disabled


get to smoking around 2 minutes in then catches fire

 

[captianoats]

I think it's a great idea. I would have taken advantage of it, but I traded my s**tbox truck for an S10 a couple months ago.

 

[BlindLemonLars]

here is a Volvo being disabled
get to smoking around 2 minutes in then catches fire

Ohhh....that is just painful to watch! Looks like a nice Volvo too.

Of course I don't like watching cattle slaughtered either...doesn't mean I don't want steak for dinner!

 

[AJ_in_HD]

nice Jetta TDI, bowtie! I've wanted to test drive those. Reviews say those TDIs have decent low end torque that make it a bit fun.

I have a 2005 Jetta GLI that is a blast to drive, though averages 25 MPG.

 

[Stratotankard]

SWMBO really wants a Jetta TDI Sportwagon, unfortunately we drive pretty fuel efficient cars. One is a 2007 Honda Fit (34mpg avg over its life) and she drives a 2001 Nissan Sentra that averages about 26mpg. I understand they want to get true clunkers off the road, but I can step up nearly 20mpg by trading in her Sentra. Oh well, no shiney new car for SWMBO.

Terje

 

[mmb]

I loved my '02 Golf TDI when I was driving it. Best mpg I got was 49 mpg on an expressway trip.

The turbo can really bark the tires too. Feels odd in a little 4 banger diesel.

 

[jpc]

nice Jetta TDI, bowtie! I've wanted to test drive those. Reviews say those TDIs have decent low end torque that make it a bit fun.

I have a 2005 Jetta GLI that is a blast to drive, though averages 25 MPG.

Diesels inherently have buttloads of torque at low RPMs... makes them pretty fun to drive, even if the redline is only around 4500 or so; by comparison, my previous Audi redlined at 7100.