Toyota "Biggest Winner" Of Cash-For-Clunkers Program

[Michael Meier]

As predicted in a previous post when this started!



Toyota "Biggest Winner" Of Cash-For-Clunkers Program.

The New York Times (8/27, B1, Vlasic) reports on the front page of its Busines Day section, "The cash-for-clunkers program turned out to be a boon for Asian automakers and the small cars they specialize in," with Toyota being "the biggest winner," accounting "for 19 percent of all sales and...two of the top three best-selling models."

*I guess that kinda backfired on the bailout promotion folks??





The Wall Street Journal (8/27, B1, Burns) reports on the front of its Marketplace section, with almost 700,000 "clunkers" being swapped for more fuel-efficient vehicles, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called the program "wildly successful." According to USA Today (8/27, Woodyard), "the taxpayers' cost will be nearly $2.9 billion. Now there's a calm after the storm. Car-shopping service Edmunds.com says half as many people are researching a new car purchase on its website as were looking during the peak of the clunker frenzy."

*For all the folks that took advantage of the program that I/we and the poor farmers in Iowa paid for, I hope you like your new Toyota! It will be required that a form of food stamp style decal be displayed on the rear so we know who we donated to. :lol::lol::lol:

 

[ND Bass]

So I paid / am paying for houses for people who bought more than they could afford, cars for other people while I drive vehicles I can afford and now...I hear of some kind of appliance 'cash for clunkers' where I'm gonna pay for someone elses refridgerator or dishwasher?

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Let me put a little slant on this that nobody has covered yet.



Let's look at the majority of the people who were driving "clunkers". Chances are they were paid off and older vehicles and the clunker drivers, as a group, consist of people who don't buy "new" cars on a regular basis. Even with the $4500 rebate, they now have a car payment and higher insurance/taxes. Just how long do you think it is going to take before delinquencies in the financing of these new cars start showing up? My guess is it's not gonna be long and the banks that have financed these purchases are going to experience a lot of defaults. We will end up paying for this program in the long run and I'll get to close more banks, just another straw on the camel's back to a sick institution. For those that don't know, car loans are bundled, securitized and sold just like mortgages.



TOXIC

 

[Chris F.]

It might only be a few months and there will be alot of "repo's" for sale. Chris F.

 

[Brian Ingersoll]

I agree with ya Tox, we've been talking about that at work since they announced the program. We can only hope that the banks were very stringent with who they gave loans to and got down payments, but that would probably make to much sense.

 

[Bill McElroy]

...the funniest part is the gov't can't even get a computer system in place to pay the dealers the $$ they owe them!!! Less than 3% of the total amount owed,...has been PAID,...and you're going to see dealerships go bankrupt 'cuz of the "sales promotion"!!



...and they want to take over "Health Care??"....yeaahhhhhhh riiiight!!!:lol::blink:

 

[byron cooley]

Isn't "Obammunism" great --- NOT!:angry:

 

[Bill McElroy]

General Motors had the second highest sales of any manufacturer in the program with 17.7 percent, behind Toyota with 19.2 percent. Overall,

489, 269 dealer transactions with a dollar value of $2,037.5 million were recorded.



Cars purchased under the program are, on average, 19 percent above the average fuel economy of all new cars currently available, and 60 percent above the average fuel economy of cars that were traded in. This means the program raised the average fuel economy of the fleet, and got the dirtiest and most polluting vehicles off the road.



And what happens to all those old clunkers? More than 95 percent of all end-of-life vehicles go through a market-driven recycling infrastructure with no added costs or taxes to consumers. More than 84 percent (by weight) of each end-of-life vehicle is recycled.

 

[Jody Woodruff]

Tox, I was wondering the same thing and that is when will the auto loan default bailout start? Go to www.usdebtclock.org and ask yourself how much longer can we operate before the bottom really falls out.

 

[Gene B]

I wonder what the total U.S. emmisions of "green house" gasses were reduced by, at a cost of nearly 3 Billion. Or even the amount of fuel consumed as a nation. I'm guessing not much.

As far as dealerships going out of business, their plan was to close a bunch of them anyway wasn't it? :angry: They just found a back door to get it done.



Gene

 

[Bruce Freeman]

This means the program raised the average fuel economy of the fleet, and got the dirtiest and most polluting vehicles off the road.

So just how many big trucks and busses where traded in a taken off of the road?



BF

 

[TrepMan]

What's funny around here is most of the vehicles in the CFC lots are Caddies, Lincolns, Minivans and a few SUVS. Having reviewed the program requirements (as Rich mentioned) you could have traded in a few yearold SUV/Truck for a new one that only got 1-2 mph difference, so honestly I don't see the long term value. A friend in the auto industry here in GA has told all the stories about Dealiers having 100,000's of dollars in loans they are having to hold/pay till the US Gov't makes due on the payments, the very SLOW sales this week since it closed down, and the numbers of dealers who opted OUT of the program due to poor execution.



I agree with the others, we'll see high bankruptcy/repo's in 1-2 years, we killed the used/secondary market for lower cost cars, and is the guy driving the new H3 he traded his 10 yearold Subaruban info really helping the "green" Movement NO! Sorry Washington DC, a poorly concievned, poorly executed and poorly managed federal program. I'll take my chances with the insurance companies, having had my years of business experience with GSA, Conselor Affairs, IRS and other agencies.

 

[Texas Transplant]

While I'm absolutely sure that the dealers and the mfg's were glad to move cars, I suspect that the 'hang over effect' will now be in place. I think once again, it's a bad move to try and simply do a short term benefit for a small group of people/industry.



Consumer confidence is still lagging; unemployement is not improved. Politicians wanting to get elected to new positions (President, Congress, Senate, State, Local, etc) spent 1 1/2 - 2 years telling us how bad the economy was. Well, the public finally believed them and turned off the spending, which in turn caused the economy to sour even worse and the credit crisis arrived. No matter what they say now, the public isn't buying it.



Tex

 

[Greg J.]

My brother did the clunker deal and traded-in his older gas-guzzling Dodge Dakota for an '09 Nissan Altima. Almost a twin to my wife's '07 Altima. I'm still driving my '01 Triton V8 SuperCrew F-150.