House votes $2B to replenish Cash For Clunkers fund. 316 to 109.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House of Representatives voted Friday to rush $2 billion into the popular but financially strapped "cash for clunkers" car purchase program, heeding calls from U.S. consumers who hope to keep taking advantage of the trade-in incentives.

Senate will vote next week.

US House approves $2B car purchase program - Yahoo! Finance

Last night while watching television, the ten o'clock news reported that the Cash For Clunkers program was being halted because it ran out of money. After the news, I saw about five different commercials from different car manufacturers advertising the Cash For Clunkers program.

Haha!! This photo is great!
Multiple dealers, including Pelosi, have said that most motorists have been trading in guzzlers for fuel efficient cars, and very few have tried to misuse the program by just getting a few mpg increase. The President of AutoNation said that either way, this is a stimulus boost for the auto industry.
House Approves $2 Billion Boost for 'Cash for Clunkers' Program - Political News - FOXNews.com

(I'm guessing this was advertising/marketing/publicity stunt for one of the dealers)



http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1165753.html
.

 

"Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the average mileage of new vehicles purchased through the program is 9.6 miles per gallon higher than for the vehicles traded in for scrap."

"LaHood said some 80 percent of the traded-in vehicles are pickups or SUVs, meaning many gas-guzzlers are being taken off the road. The Ford Focus is a leading replacement vehicle."

"Making its case for more funding, the administration collected information on 80,500 vehicle transactions logged into the government's operating system through Saturday afternoon. Gibbs said the fuel efficiency improvements would save a typical customer $700 to $1,000 a year in fuel costs. The new vehicles were getting 25.4 miles per gallon on average, a 61 percent increase over the models traded in."

Doing the math, 25.4mpg - 9.6mpg = 15.8mpg avg on clunkers.

'Clunker' sales nearing quarter-million; what now? - Yahoo! News
.

 

"Through early Tuesday, the clunkers program had recorded 157,000 transactions worth $664 million. Eighty-three percent of the vehicles traded in were trucks or SUVs,
while 60 percent of the vehicles purchased were passengers cars, for an average increase in fuel efficiency of 61 percent, he said."
Dem leader says Senate will extend 'clunkers' - Yahoo! News

 

.
"Toyota Chairman and President Akio Toyoda said that the supply of the company's Prius model is running tight because of the Cash-for-Clunker program."

Toyota Exec: Prius Supply Low Due To Clunker Program - Automotive * US * News * Story - CNBC.com

(this article also reveals a new Toyota sports car, and plug-in and EV plans)

I'm glad to see so many of those guzzling Explorers being traded in for F.E. cars.

 

Sometime before the end of the day on Friday. Senate goes to recess for one month beginning this Friday. Several key republican senators were quoted yesterday and today casually implying that it will likely be approved. Originally, several republican senators were planning on delaying, filibustering, or blocking the vote. Now, they are saying they will allow the bill to go to vote but they will vote "no" on it. This is okay because the democrats say they have enough votes to pass the additional $2bill (essentially, the same votes that passed the original $1bill.

 

.
Senate Approves Additional $2 Bill Cash For Clunkers by 60-37 Vote.

Good Article, Lots of Data:
Senate Adds $2 Billion to 'Clunkers' Plan - WSJ.com

 

Even Edmund's list doesn't show the whole picture. They show the Escape as number one and the Focus as number two, but how many of each were sold? Did the Escape outsell the Focus by one car or by 50% ? We don't know. I think if the two are close, meaning the Escape only outsold the Focus by a few vehicles, then the Cash For Clunkers program was a success. Sure, I would rather see a requirement saying the new vehicle must get a minimum of 31mpg, but this is better than having all of those old Explorers still on the road. You could make the case that Explorer drivers are SUV drivers and would choose the Escape naturally, but I'm sure there are just as many Explorer drivers that are fed up with spending such a huge chunk of their paycheck on gasoline.

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The popular U.S. government "cash-for-clunkers" program, offering rebates of up to $4,500 to car buyers trading in older, fuel-thirsty vehicles, will end on Monday, the Transportation Department said.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement that the program, aimed at boosting vehicle sales while helping the environment, has recorded more than 457,000 dealer transactions worth $1.9 billion in rebates as of Thursday.

U.S. "cash-for-clunkers" program to end Monday - Yahoo! Finance

 

Toyota and GM both announced they will send money to dealers now for Clunkers program, so that dealers won't immediately have to worry about getting reimbursement from the Fed so they can pay their bills for this month. GM, Toyota to Give Cash to Dealers for 'Clunkers' Deals - FOXBusiness.com

I went to my local Toyota dealer tonight (When I went out to go for my evening walk tonight, I decided to go to the Toyota dealer and walk around and look at cars. ). Power Toyota in Irvine, CA is a HUGE dealer. As a result of this, they had about 200 clunkers (I counted and estimated, this is an systematic estimate). About 70% of the clunkers were SUVs or trucks and about 30% were cars. I snapped a few photos. I'll attach them here. (The last photo is not a clunker. It was a Camry that I really, really like. Now, if I can just find it in a hybrid. But, I'm still going to wait and maybe get the 2010 Prius. I can dream about the Camry and Prius, right? )