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Date Posted: 07:58:53 01/16/09 Fri
Author: -Steve Fisk
Subject: Congress considers 'Cash for Clunkers' ----- Program would offer people turning in their old gas guzzlers a voucher worth up to $4,500 for a new vehicle.



Think this would help the economy? I do. This would make me run out and buy a car. And yes- I would say the Xterra is considered a "gas guzzler". If you drive a Prius, you're not getting a voucher, Bucko.

But you know what I think? I think over the past 100 years, people have become numb to offers of money to buy cars. I think it would be ignored as just another gimmick to get people into showrooms. "Yeah, yeah. $4,500 off. Whatever."

This time it would be real, however. Congress would be handing out$4,500 to go out and buy a car. (Not sure how you prove you have a gas guzzler. Perhaps your local DMV would have a list of owners of certain models.)
Seems to me this would help stimulate the economy like nothing else. But having spent most of my adult life in the car biz, my view is a no doubt a tad skewed. And I do have to wonder what would happen when they "xclude" a certain Nissan as being a gas guzzler. Wouldn't that be weird if the Government gave you a huge incentive to get rid of your X and get something different?

So what do you think? Good idea- or just another billion dollar blunder?
________________________________________________________

Congress considers 'Cash for Clunkers'
Program would offer people turning in their old gas guzzlers a voucher worth up to $4,500 for a new vehicle.
Jim Abrams / Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Congress is mulling a proposal to pay people to get rid of those old gas guzzlers sitting in their driveways.

Under legislation introduced Wednesday in the House and Senate and called the "Cash for Clunkers" program, drivers could get vouchers of up to $4,500 when they turn in their old fuel-inefficient vehicles for scrapping and buy vehicles that get good gas mileage.

The bill, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., "would be an important part of helping getting America's struggling automobile industry back on its feet."

Taking gas guzzlers off the road, added Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a co-sponsor, "would stimulate the economy."

The bill envisions the program operating for four years and encouraging the retirement of up to 1 million vehicles a year, saving between 40,000 and 80,000 barrels of motor fuel a day by the end of the fourth year.

Drivers would be eligible for reimbursement for purchase of a new or used vehicle with a fuel economy rating that exceeds federal targets for that class of vehicle by at least 25 percent. The vehicle must have a manufacturer suggested retail price of less than $45,000 and be a 2004 model or later.

The vehicles turned in must be drivable, registered in the United States and have a when-new fuel economy rating of less than 18 miles per gallon.

In the first year of the program, a person trading in a vehicle that is model year 2002 and later would be eligible to receive $4,500 for purchase of a new vehicle, $3,000 for purchase of a used vehicle or $3,000 for transit fare credit. For model year vehicles 1999 to 2001, drivers would get $3,000 for the purchase of a new vehicle. Those who trade in vehicles that came out in 1998 or before could get a credit of $2,000 for a new vehicle.

Initial estimates set the cost of the program between $1 billion and $2 billion a year.

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