Cash for clunkers has ended and has left car dealerships in a panic.

According to a July 27 press release issued by the United States Department of Transportation, the Cash for Clunkers program – also known as the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) – was a “buyer incentive program designed to help consumers purchase new fuel efficient vehicles and boost the economy at the same time.”

The program officially stopped accepting applicants Aug. 25, and car dealerships throughout the DeKalb area are still trying figure out the consequences it may have.

“Cash for Clunkers depleted the market,” said Tim Jennings, Internet sales manager of Tom Sparks Auto, 216 S. First St.. “It put all of September, October and November business into August, so now were having a Cash for Clunkers hangover.” For other dealerships, the negative impact is viewed differently.

“It took some vehicles that had at least one more sale on them and forced us to take them off the road,” said Ben Manning, sales manager of Brad Manning Ford Inc., 402 Manning Drive. “That cost us the sale on the trade on vehicles, and we end up losing sales in the long run.”
Manning also stated that the government took too long to reimburse car dealers for the clunker cars.

“There was no burden put on the government, customer or manufacturer; rather, it was on the car dealer,” Manning said. “We had to float the money customers qualified for until we got paid by the government, so at times we were down a large chunk of money and some bigger businesses were out close to 30 million dollars.”

Despite the negatives of the government-inflicted CARS program, some dealers have been able to remain positive.

“It definitely helped to boost sales,” said Mike Forde, sales manager of Mike Mooney Chevrolet and Cadillac, 204 N. Fourth St. “Unfortunately, I think it stole from future business, but at the time the program was in effect, we were in a [lull] and it was nice to see the activity.”

Forde, like other dealers, has also anticipated a lull in sales in the coming months in result of the “Cash for Clunkers hangover,” but is happy with the overall results of the program.

“I think it was definitely a beneficial program and was well-needed,” Forde said. “It goes to show that if the manufacturer and the federal government work together in sequence, that there [are] still people out there that are willing to spend money and put the money back into the economy.”

Other dealers are persistent that there are no positive results of the program.

“The government has depleted the market, we’ve sold everything out and manufacturers are not making cars,” Jennings said. “I think it [CARS] was a mistake from the beginning. The next three months are going to be very interesting.”

Regardless of the auto dealers’ views of the CARS program, it did have a positive impact on our economy.

“In the short term, there is a positive impact because it did, for a short period of time, increase car sales,” said Jeremy Groves, assistant professor of economics. “Was it a short term boost for the economy? Yeah.”

However, Groves said that judging whether the program was successful is a matter of how you view the program’s intended purpose.

“If it was something to reinvigorate auto rates or the automotive industry, it’s not going to be viewed as really successful,” Groves said. “In order to reinvigorate the auto industry, they will need more than just a shot in the arm.”

As for the chance of a similar program in the future, dealers are reluctant to believe there is a chance for it.

“If they tried to make another program, auto dealers would certainly fight it,” Manning said.

All comments are moderated before being published. We will not edit your comments, but we also will not approve those that are abusive, off-topic, attack another poster or contain information we know to be libelous or false.

During peak weekday viewing times, most comments will be reviewed within six hours. For more detailed information, click here.

After submitting your comment, check below for a confirmation message.

• Your name:
• Enter text from image:
  

• Your comment:

* 300-character count. HTML formatting will not display.