While we’re happy to hear that the government is set to announce the “winding down” of the Cash for Clunkers program, we’re suspicious that the words “for now” should be added to the announcement. This catastrophe will most definitely be repeated in the future.
The NADA made an announcement on Wednesday, calling for dealers to abandon the program due to the horrible backlog of payments owed and the stark reality that program rules are such that even pending deals do not have to be paid back if the program runs out of money. Many dealers are waiting on a million or more dollars in payments. The government claims that the hangups are due to incorrectly filed paperwork, but we find that a little tough to believe. After all, delaers processing financial paperwork left and right and that never seems to get hung up or kicked back.
The LA Times website has a great story regarding the end of the program and the situation that many dealers find themselves in. The story contains the quote of the year from Fritz Hitchcock, a California Toyota dealer. On the program he said, “I agree with the guy who said this is the most successful, worst run program ever.”
Click here for the story.
