New Jersey car dealers were smiling this evening at 8:15 pm when the Senate finally approved an additional $2 billion in funding for the Cash for Clunkers program.  The additional monies will keep car dealer showrooms in New Jersey filled potential buyers.

The CARS funding passed by a 60-37 vote but it had to overcome many attempts to kill the measure by adding amendments to the bill.

New Jersey consumers are encouraged to get out of shop for a new car as soon as possible. Dealers  in the Garden State have been blessed with heavy floor traffic and interest in the CARS program but the money will not last forever.

New Jersey Cash For Clunkers Checklist

New Jersey consumers are reminded to prepare for the CARS program requirements BEFORE going to a local car dealer.  Here are some steps that can save you time and aggravation.

1. Download the New Jersey Cash For Clunkers Checklist
2. Using this checklist, go to www.cars.gov and qualify your clunker.
3. Understand that if you don’t qualify, your local dealer cannot change the rules.
4. Review all factory rebates that may be added to your CARS credit. Check our list
5. Negoitate your best deal and keep in mind that you may not be able to drive away with your new car untill all your paperwork is approved by the government.

New Jersey Cash For Clunkers Dealers

New Jersey residents who would like a local dealer to contact them about their Cash for Clunkers reade-in should request a call by going to: www.cashforclunkersfacts.com and completing the dealer contact form.  A participating CARS dealer in New Jersey will contact you and help you with your questions and new car purchase.

Senate Coverage of CARS Vote on C-SPAN

Senator Richard Shelby says the Cash for Clunkers program is a “clunker”. He claims that many clunkers that were traded in would have been traded in normally without any stimulus needed.		Senator Johnny Isakson is an advocate for a Home Buyer Tax Credit plan to help stimulate the housing and real estate industry. Refers to Cash for Clunkers as a successful program and wants a similar plan for housing.
Senator Debbie Stabenow encouraged the Senate to continue the stimulus bill saying it is a tangible program that consumers can see and feel. She calls the bill a winner. She also asks that no ammendments be adopted which would derail the bill since House is out of session.		Senator Carl Levin urged the Senate not to add any ammendments to the House Bill which would put the death spike in the heart of the Cash for Clunkers Bill. He pointed out that many good amendements would have to be considered when the Senate returns in September.
Senator Jon Kyl wanted to introduce an amendment that would put the CARS program on hold to review spending and make sure deals that were submitted get paid. If the amendment was approved the CARS funding bill would be killed.		Senator Judd Greg claims that his amendment would make sure that the $2 billion in CARS funding debt is not passed to our children. If the Gregg amendment was approved the CARS $2 billion funding bill would have been killed for immediate future.
Senator Tom Coburn’s amendment proposed to give the clunkers to the poor and not to crush them. If his amendment was approved it would have killed the Cash for Clunkers spending bill since the amendment would require a House vote.		Senator David Vitter proposed an amendment on the TARP program which has nothing to do with the CARS program but any new amendments introduced today would kill the Cash for Clunkers funding measure.

My company has polled dealers over the past week regarding Cash for Clunkers sales. The number of qualified transactions is staggering considering that many dealers waited to start booking sales until Monday July 27th.  The dozens of dealers that PCG contacted had completed the paperwork on at least 15 Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) transactions.

David Wilson, CEO of the Preston Automotive group in Maryland  told PCG that the Preston Autoplex outside of Baltimore had completed over  60 car and truck sales. Classic Chevrolet in the Dallas Fort Worth area has 30 deals done according to General Manager, Hagen Durant.  John Cleaves, GM at Midway Chevrolet in Phoenix said that his Chevy dealership  has been flooded with car buyers and that over 20 deals were completed.

Conservative reports say that 18,000 dealers will register for the NHTSA CARS program.  If 50% of the dealers were very cautious and waited to do CARS transaction until the official starting date of July 27th, that leaves 9,000 dealers that have been making deals for at least for one week.

To create our projections, we also had to figure in the Hyundai franchises that started selling CARS deals on July 1st.  When you consider these numbers you can see how the $1 billion in funding could be exhausted in the first 30 days of the official start.

Close to 250,000 cars could be processed under the Cash for Clunkers bill without additional funding.  If 9,000 car dealers have completed 15 deals by today (9,000 x 15 = 135,00 cars) the money for the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) will be gone in a few weeks. 

Our prediction earlier this month  that the CARS funding will run out by Labor Day weekend is looking very solid.  Dealers are writing into our Cash for Clunkers blog (www.cashforclunkersfacts.com)  with feedback that confirms this prediction.  Each registered dealership could easily have 10 sales in the wings.  If that is true, funding could run out by August 10th.

The NHTSA should pick up the phone and call President Obama as soon as the data from CARS sales can be analyzed; the NHTSA will be the first to know the true numbers.  Someone has ask Congress to start the process  of requesting additional funding.  If the program will only get the initial $1 billion allocated, then all the hard work the NHTSA did to get the program started will come to a quick stop.

The NHTSA has indicated that they will be posting the remaining funds for the program on the official website for the CARS program (www.cars.gov).  The countdown clock has yet to be posted but we predict that dealers will have to stop taking deals when the funds get near zero due to processing delays.

Congress will have to act quickly to allocate additional funding before the program comes to a screeching halt.  If that is the case, consumers hope that Congress will amend the language of the bill according to the Cash for Clunkers petition located at:  www.nocashforclunkers.com .  The petition has over 3,000 signatures and will be sent to sponsors of the original legislation next week.

The Cash for Clunkers bill goes into effect on Friday July 24th and the NHTSA launches their Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS).  The program will give consumers $3,500 or $4,500 toward the purchase of a new fuel efficient car or truck.  For program details visit http://wwwcashforclunkersfacts.com or the NHTSA website at http://www.cars.gov.

The government program is their own version of Cash for Cars but the key is to make sure your “clunker” qualifies.  If you qualify there is a small window of opportunity to buy a new car at significant savings.

Cash for Cars

For example, a 2009 Kia Spectra that has an starting MSRP of $13,550 can be reduce 59% if a consumer qualifies for the CARS $4,500 rebate since Kia is also also offering a $3,500 rebate. That’s a total of $8,000 bringing the car price down to $5,550. Every car that a Kia dealer sells at this price is a public relations bonanza.

Another example is a 2009 Hyundai Accent which has a started MSRP of $13,818.00. Consumer who purchase this car in July get a $1,500 factory rebate and if their clunker qualifies for a $4,500 credit that gives them a total of $6,000 toward a new Accent. This would reduce the cost of the MSRP by 43.4% which is like getting the car for half price.

On the domestic front, Ford car shoppers can get similar savings when they purchase a Ford Focus Coupe in July. With a $2,500 factory rebate and a $4,500 CARS credit consumers can deduct $7,000 off the price of a 2009 Ford Focus Coupe SE. This brings down the starting MSRP of $16,875 over 41% to $9,875. That’s a great story to tell and Ford dealers are ready to take advantage of this limited time program.

Without additional funding I predict the CARS program will run out of money by Labor Day weekend so consumers are encouraged to start shopping on Friday 24, 2009 and not delay their purchases until September or October.