Most of the 'clunkers' traded in were US suv's & large trucks.
Most of the new cars purchased were US & Japanese compacts.
Ford F-150 was also popular purchase.
Program lasted approx a month from June 24-Aug 24th w/ around 2.77 bil in rebates.
I'm glad the program stopped at 3 billion.
What worried me the most would be that the program lasted indefinetly & cost taxpayers much more.
3 billion isn't chump change, but it is better than say some 36 bill annual budget
I guess if I had to criticize the program,
it would be that there wasn't higher mpg standards for the new cars purchased.
you're not exactly being eco-friendly if you're trading in an old guzzler for a new F-150 truck.
Still, the average car being traded in had approx 16mpg.
The average new car bought as a result of CARS was around 26 mpg.
660,000 auto transactions occurred with the CARS program.
About some of the nicer cars worth well more than $4,500 being traded in (Volvo S80 twin-turbo, maserati, etc),
that's the owner's stupidity and not the government's fault per say.
The government didn't force anyone (other than the taxpayer & their funds).
Car owners choose to trade their cars in.
You also have to figure there are existing government rebates on hybrids and diesels on new cars.
think the prius, jetta tdi, civic hybrid all get some $1,400 tax rebates as is.
If I had some ford exploder sitting around,
I wouldn't mind trading it in & getting some $5-6k off a civic hybrid.
Car Allowance Rebate System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia