Comments on: Cash for Clunkers: We Never Learn

By: car insurance help

car insurance help — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:33:18 +0000

The scheme was to try and get people spending again by offering customers a chance to get a new car that could save them money with better fuel efficiency and cheaper tax due to better standard of car. Like you said the problem with that is the cash for clunkers scheme takes only a chunk for the full price so they have to either have the remaining cash or borrow it through a loan. The scheme was only a short time thing to get a boost for the car sales as they were one of the main industries suffering during the recession which are part of the American economy.

By: David R. Lampsen

David R. Lampsen — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:46:05 +0000

That’s a fair point, Finance Phi. I guess I wonder if this is really the best way to get that money off the sidelines because it does carry some risk of creating net financial havoc for those who aren’t in the same position as your neighbor. Additionally, I tend to believe that your neighbor’s car is worth enough that he’d get a better deal buy selling it or trading it in than he would under the clunker bill.

By: Finance Phi

Finance Phi — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:21:55 +0000

I don’t think the intended demographic for this program are those who are driving a rust bucket because they have to, but rather the people who have the money and are still on the fences about a new car. Take my neighbors for example. My neighbor only lives 3 miles away from work, so he drives his old gas guzzling Mercedes. Does he have the money to buy a new car? Definitely. Does he want to? Not necessarily. There’s a lot of money sitting on the sidelines that the government wants to get into the economy.