In a final crescendo of this debacle of a program, the end of the Cash for Clunkers came in a hail of last minute peperwork submissions, computer system crashes, and general calamity. So much that the deadline for the program has been extended a day to allow dealers to get their final submissions in. In another plot curve, most of the dealers think they’re going to get boned, according to Automotive News.
With many dealers across the country abandoning the program in the last week or weeks before the official deadline, due to a suspicion that they will never be repaid by the government, most experts expected that these last couple days of the program would be busy but not crushing. Never trust experts, as the last day saw the government computer system crashing harder than the economy in general.
Here’s a Cleveland Plain Dealer story on the end of the program. Not exactly inspiring stuff.
Autoblog reported on a poll taken by automotive trade publication Automotive News which quizzed dealers on their experience and feelings about Cash for Clunkers. Of those polled, it was found that a decent percentage have had to borrow money to cover costs while waiting for payment, others have said that their dealerships are at risk due to the amount of risk they have tied up in the program.
We’re not sure how to exactly quantify something as a disaster, but we know one when we see one. On many levels, this stinking, rotten program qualifies. We should probably make mention that we’re not huge fans of Cash for Clunkers, in case you didn’t catch that.
Here’s the Autoblog story. Thanks for the tip Kris!
