C.A.R.S. aka Cash for Clunkers
 

If you've got an older car that gets less than 18 MPG and isn't worth shit, but want to trade it in for a new car then the new C.A.R.S. program from the gov't can help:

http://www.cars.gov/

It's a bit convoluted but if you get a brand new car (never titled) with at least 4 MPG higher (IE minimum of 22 combined MPG) you get $3,500 trade-in (and then they crush your old car). If it's 10 MPG higher you get $4,500 trade-in value for the new car. If you're trading in for a truck, van, or SUV, then it's only 2 MPG higher and minimum of 18 MPG you get $3,500, and 5 MPG higher or better then $4,500.

This is better than the original proposed one which was just for American-made cars, because I think figuring out what counted and what didn't gave them a serious headache. Foreign company cars can be assembled in the US, etc.

So I'm looking at my 1997 Chrysler LHS which according to http://www.fueleconomy.gov gets 18 combined MPG and it looks like it doesn't qualify for a $3,500 trade-in for the CX-9 I was looking at. The CX-9 FWD gets exactly 18 MPG (so the AWD version doesn't qualify ever) but it isn't at least 4 MPG higher than what I have. If I had a car with shittier gas mileage then it would. Bummer.

Just deflate your tires, leave the handbrake on, leave the windows open and drive with the a.c. on all the time.

And yet the EPA estimate remains the same!

A lot of dealerships and such are offering double money on C.A.R.S. instant rebates, like Ford, Chevy, and BMW, on select models. I believe Ford is for the Focus, and BMW on the 335d.

Too bad there is no Focus RS in the US, $9K towards it might be worth it then. I wonder if Mazda is offering it towards a 3 hatch, I could do with a '09 Sport.

We just got an '09 3 but we would have only had a '98 Civic to trade in for it which actually got better mileage than the 3. Oh well.

That "double cash" offer is against full MSRP I bet.

funny the program is already broke...congress is haveing a bitch of a time finding the cash to support the program..OH WELL another Obama admin. failure.

Apparently, we're supposed to be participating in this here at Nissan. Awesome thing is, when we take a car in on this program, no matter the condition, we're supposed to drain the engine oil, start the motor, and let it run until it seizes. Then the car will be collected and crushed. Pure win.

They just tripled the money available to the program.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aZQsGa9XbZGY

OH well deeper in debt we go.

What's another $3B? :lol:

At least this money is putting cash into the pockets of car dealerships/manufacturers and selling a bunch of new cars, rather than just pumping money into banks and lenders that just sit on it instead of lending it out like they were supposed to.

Yeah bailin out AIG just let Goldman Sachs execs swim around in big Scrooge McDuck sized pool of money

Don't you mean congress? How does Obama relate to this at all when it was bipartisan designed in both houses of congress and run by non-appointed bodies of government? Stop parroting republican pundit bullshit, please.

Pwned.