COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Cash for Clunkers worked so well, Congress recently authorized billions of dollars more to keep it going.
But now, auto dealers say they're having difficulty getting their money from the government.
The allure of a $4,500 rebate is working as Cash for Clunkers is bringing buyers into showrooms and sending them home with new vehicles.
"It's such a good deal, they believe they can't afford to pass it up," said Bob McDorman, of Bob McDorman Chevrolet.
But the government has been slow to pay the auto dealers.
"So far, we haven't received the first check back on any of ours yet," McDorman said.
McDorman's dealership is waiting to collect $70,000 that could have been used to pay staff or pay back bank loans.
"We're not having to bounce checks or anything like that, but we need it now," McDorman said.
"We were hoping for a little faster payment than that, but I'm sure a lot of dealers are really suffering," said Tom Carpenter, President of Saturn of Columbus.
Carpenter said his dealerships are waiting to collect about $500,000 from the government -- just like a loan.
"The rebate and the risk we take for collecting the rebate is far greater than the profit that any dealer is going to get on a single transaction," Carpenter said.
The Ohio Auto Dealers Association said that roughly 2 percent of dealers have been paid -- mainly due to early paperwork errors.
The impact on customers is that some dealerships have decided not to participate or limit their participation. But most still offer the deals.
For McDorman, the delay comes as part of a double-whammy. Not only are they waiting for tens of thousands of dollars in payment from the federal government, they are also waiting on new cars.
Due to production cutbacks at factories, the dealer only has 12 new cars on the lot currently that are eligible for the program.
"We'll have cars coming in. The problem is they're going to come in about the time the thing is over," McDorman said.
Dealers who spoke with NBC 4 said they are confident that the government will eventually pay, but the program started so fast, many of the details are still being worked out.
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