‘Cash For Clunkers’ Enters Its Final Day

CENTRAL OHIO—In a matter of hours, the federal government’s “Cash-For-Clunkers” program officially will end and so will your chance to get $4,500 off a new car by trading in your gas hog.

NBC 4 reported with the FAST FACTS.

As Central Ohio dealers tally the results, they are giving the program a big thumbs-up as being beneficial to dealers, consumers and the economy.

Nearly 140 vehicles line a lot at Hugh White Honda in Columbus.

The vehicles come in all shapes, sizes, makes, models and colors. They have one thing in common, though. They’re clunkers.

Over the course of the last month, the vehicles were traded in by people looking to take advantage of a $3,500 to $4,500 federal rebate on more fuel-efficient vehicles.

General Manager Don Smith said the abundance of clunkers and lack of new vehicles on his lot are a testament to the fact the program worked.

In fact, as of Monday, around 80 new vehicles remained on the lot. The inventory usually includes around 300.

Nearly half-a-million vehicles have been sold through the program nationwide.

At Hugh White, clunkers have made up 60 percent of new-vehicle sales so far in August.

“It was just as busy as it was at the beginning because they knew it was the end,” Smith said about the past weekend’s sales.

Saturday alone, the dealer sold 17 new vehicles, two-thirds of which were under the clunkers program.

As more vehicles were bought, the selection dwindled.

One thing many dealers have told NBC 4 is they believe the paperwork for the program could have been a lot easier to do.

For each sale, they have to upload around 16 pages of documents to the government Web site, which can take an hour or two.

Hugh White stopped selling vehicles under the clunker program Saturday night to make sure they could have all the deals processed by Monday.

“If we don’t input them by 8 p.m. (Monday), we’re out,” Smith said.

Smith is confident and hopeful the sales numbers will remain after Monday.

“This will help our economy, which will help my sales for September going forward, and I think we can look forward to a pretty good fall,” Smith said.

For additional information, stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com—Where Accuracy Matters.
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