Money wasted setting it up. I thought it was a good idea at first, but later I thought it was dumb to scrap perfectly good working cars (like my son's) for a couple extra MPG's but a lot of natural resources used to build a new car. If that makes sense.

I agree about the stupidity of scrapping decent cars. Was there some rationale for that?

One thing I didn't understand is why the cars had to be no older than a certain year. If they were going to scrap them anyway, why should the age matter? So many much older cars had dreadful gas mileage.

It just wasn't well thought out. The government thought it would be be an incentive to car dealers to help move their backlog of new vehicles. They thought the $1 billion would last until Nov. 1.

It's out of money after 6 days. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 22,782 vehicles worth $95.9 million had been sold. Local car dealers are worried because they're afraid they'll be on the hook for the rebate because the program was ended early and the web site to register the sales kept crashing.

Some of the regulations were strange, the government even changed the mileage of some of the cars after the program began. Here's some more waste- the dealers weren't allowed to sell the engines. They were allowed to scrap other parts but not the engine because that would defeat the purpose of getting a low mileage engine off the road. But just think of how many people rely on older vehicles and don't have to money to buy a newer one- they might have been able to utilize that motor. And that would have spread the incentive beyond it's original scope- it would have helped parts dealers.

With the current economy, I'm surprised so many folks could afford to purchase a new vehicle even with this incentive. I would think the 'clunkers' were paid for and with the purchase of new wheels comes another payment..not feasible or practical for some people.

I'm surprised the cash is gone already..no time to even think about making a deal with my clunker. :(

Susan, where did you learn that the program ended at midnight?
That isn't what they are showing on the Cars.gov site.

"The dealers weren't allowed to sell the engines."

That is insane. Now people like me with older cars who prefer to fix them rather than toss them in a landfill when something breaks on them, will be stuck without an inventory of used parts to utilize.

"Where did you learn that the program ended at midnight?
That isn't what they are showing on the Cars.gov site."

The huge headline in today's paper in my town, says the program is finished because they ran out of money to hand out. Obviously the website has not been updated.

Where are all these people who bought these new cars with the money???? I get the feeling there was some sort of corruption and the money never went where it was intended.

It was on the national news last night they may have to end the program early. Later in the evening we got a breaking news email from our local paper that said it had been suspended.
I wondered about the part of sending these vehicles to the junkyards. I thought there would be a huge deficit of "collectibles" in the future! LOL I saw an article about a guy that traded in his "junker" for a vehicle that only got 2 MPG more than his junker. Didn't make much sense to me.

Dilly Dally answered Okwriter's question, but just to chime in I heard it on the 11:00 o'clock news last night.

They fear that the money is already gone, but they don't know for sure because government is very inefficient. They can't handle medicare, social security, post office and much more and they want us to let them take care of health care? nu uh!

Car dealerships will be the big losers when there isn't enough $$$ left to cover the "cash for clunkers" $$$ that they already gave the customers.

This is what happens when the bozos in Congress pass legislation without reading AND understanding it. If you think this is bad, imagine what Cap-and-Trade and Health Care will be like.

We have a 1999 Chevy 4WD on/off-road truck in mint condition with 30,000 miles on it. If we had traded this in under the "cash for clunkers" program, it would have been crushed/scrapped. It is in better shape than 90% of the trucks around here. Wouldn't it make more sense to sell (or even give our truck) to the guy who is driving a 1980 pick-up that's held together with baling wire?

Congress suffers no consequences for their stupidity. This mess will fall on the shoulders of the car dealers, junkyards, and consumers.

My fondest dream is that the 535 incumbents breathing air on Capitol Hill will be defeated in their next bid for re-election.

This whole program was a farce from the gitgo. Aimed at the people who bought houses they couldn't pay for and who ran up credit card debt just to stay afloat or to buy things they didn't need. For heavens sake! As much as I hate saying this. The only way they will learn is let them dig themselves out of their mess. Don't bail them out and if anything is regulated let it be the greedy B******ds who talked them into getting in over their heads to begin with.

End of Rant.

who had a 1984 car? and if they did, lay you odds it's in better working order...

Applause for Wanda!!!!!!!!

As of noon CST, a CNN report shows the program is still ongoing.

Here is a link that might be useful: CNNs story - noon CST

"House Approves $2B More For 'Cash For Clunkers'"

Here is a link that might be useful: 2 B more.............

One of my best friends got a new Ford mini-van for $16,000. after all the discounts. They were thrilled but sad to know their old car would be disabled and basically destroyed. It had a lot of good miles left.

" They were thrilled but sad to know their old car would be disabled and basically destroyed. It had a lot of good miles left."

Reading this makes me sad.

Me, too. I have a lot of affection for my '92 Chevy Caprice--which is not a clunker, by the way!

Most of the dealerships I passed today on the Freeway...still had the advertising up...so apparently someone is still doing it.

Today, the federal government has added a couple of billion to the fund so it can keep going.

These are the basic rules for turning in a clunker.

# Your vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date

# Only purchase or lease of new vehicles qualify

# Generally, trade-in vehicles must get 18 or less MPG (some very large pick-up trucks and cargo vans have different requirements)

I think the last one is the big reason for the government doing this. Getting gas-guzzlers off the road. And of course helping out the dealerships with their backlog.

Of course, no one is saying you have to turn in your car. It is strictly voluntary.

Times are bad for many, many people, but there are many, many more who have the ability to get cars or anything else they want. I don't happen to be one of those, but I know many who do.

Sue