Clunkers, where did the jobs go.

[beak]

I'm amused at the number of responses complaining about the Japanese cars sold. Yet these same people for the most part gave a thumbs down to giving the US car companies a loan to get them through this economic mess. Stating that if the American companies were managed better and didn't have union labor they wouldn't need any help so s***w them. You can't have it both ways.

As far as low income people not having any clunkers left. The 3 billion that was spent on the program replaced approximately 750,000 cars. With 50 million or so cars on the road in the US, I would imagine there's still a few left out there.

 

[beefy]

i wouldnt mind having a little toyoter tocoma to scoot around in. i also need a f250 or f350 or dodge dually tho.

 

[WalkingWolf]

It only took about 50 years for politicians on both sides of the isle to shaft this country with carp and gimmicks. More carp will only smell like rotten fish as it sits in the sun. The only way to have full and sound recovery is stop throwing carp against the wall to see what sticks and start paying bills, that means cutting a whole lot not spending more.

 

[PattiXmas]

Quote:
Kind of makes you think about all the foreclosed homes doesn't it? I believe that the Repo man will be very, very busy.

 

[WalkingWolf]

Quote:
Kind of makes you think about all the foreclosed homes doesn't it? I believe that the Repo man will be very, very busy.

It is exactly like the homes, the government again enticed people who could not afford another bill to go in debt further.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Personally I LOVE my Chevy Aveo. It's my mini-farm truck!

 

[wombat]

I admit I have not read the six pages posted on this, but the OP's allegations are incorrect on several fronts:

1. Many of the "foreign" cars on the list are made in the USA, and those that are not are still assembled in the US by US workers.

2. Ford and GM had much higher sales figures than the OP's list indicate, because they have numerous models of the same vehicle, such as 2wd vs 4wd, several different engine sizes, etc. The Govt. counts all these as separate vehicles, but if you add up all the different models, several US makes come out at the top of the list. Ford Escape and Ford Focus finish 1st and 2nd if you count all the variations as one model. The Honda Civic finishes 6th and the Toyota Corolla comes in at 9th, and are the only two foreign makes in the top ten.

3. Many of the parts made for all of the cars on the list are made by US workers at US owned companies, regardless of whether the car manufacturer is foreign or domestic.

Cash for clunkers was not meant to be a long-term solution. It was intended to get the auto industry through the worst of the recession. It seems to have done that, and the $3 billion spent on it was probably money better spent than the tens of billions thrown at various financial institutions.

It was not a ideal program, but I think it has worked out ok. There are a lot of people putting distorted information out there to support their own agendas.

Personally, I don't really care much about the program one way or the other ... but I've seen enough about the "news" that the program mostly benefitted Japanese manufacturers to know that it is BS.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/07/autos/cash_for_clunkers_sales/index.htm?cnn=yes

Just my $.02.

On a side note:

I've heard some dealers are not allowing customers to take possession of their new car until the government reimburses the dealer. If this has happened to you or someone you know, check out this FAQ from Edmonds that indicates that practice is illegal.
http://www.edmunds.com/cash-for-clunkers/faqs.html

 

[wombat]

just wish that they could have salvaged some parts from those clunkers.

how many people out there have a great vehicle but it needs a starter that they cant afford right now

it seems strange that a little thing like a starter or a oil pump could make the difference between someone feeding their family this week or not...

There is nothing in the cash for clunkers program that prevents most of the parts on a car from being salvaged. Only the engine itself must be disabled. The government-recommended approach is to replace the oil with a sodium silicate solution and run the engine for about 5 mins. Anything that needs engine oil or is in contact with the oil is ruined ... hence, no salvged oil pump if the car is disabled by this method. The starter would be salvageable, so would a water pump, alternator, any body parts, etc.

There are other legal, but more time-consuming methods. You could strip more parts off the car and then destroy the engine block through physical means. That's a lot of extra work just to recover a few extra parts, though.​

 

[Dar]

Quote:
There is nothing in the cash for clunkers program that prevents most of the parts on a car from being salvaged. Only the engine itself must be disabled. The government-recommended approach is to replace the oil with a sodium silicate solution and run the engine for about 5 mins. Anything that needs engine oil or is in contact with the oil is ruined ... hence, no salvged oil pump if the car is disabled by this method. The starter would be salvageable, so would a water pump, alternator, any body parts, etc.

There are other legal, but more time-consuming methods. You could strip more parts off the car and then destroy the engine block through physical means. That's a lot of extra work just to recover a few extra parts, though.

a lot of work.....hmmmm smells like job creation to me..... a lot of the parts can also be recycled like the rotors or drums, they can be truned and reused

reduce, reuse, recycle.... vs. landfill or wrecker

 

[wombat]

The clunkers are going to salvage yards. The dealer is required to list the estimated salvage value on the clunkers form. You can, as the buyer, even ask for the salvage value to be considered "trade in" and get this from the dealer in addition to the clunkers cash.

I don't know where people are getting their information about "NO PARTS CAN BE SALVAGED" and such. You can find the federal forms on the Internet and read them yourself ...

btw -
One person I work with traded in his really old, gas-guzzling pickup truck under "clunkers" for a new Ford Focus for his wife. Got the full credit. Then he traded in her older Honda for regular trade-in value and bought a 2-year-old pickup for himself at Carmax. Worked out well for him ... I was considering doing the same thing with my Jeep Cherokee and my wife's Celica, but we tend to drive our cars til they drop, and the Jeep is only 10 years old and has less than 150k miles on it.