A question about "Cash for Clunkers"

[Plaid Adder]

This is not rhetorical. I have not been following the news well this summer and I really don't know the answer to this question:

OK, so you trade in your SUV for a Ford Focus. You save money on gas, and you don't pollute as much. My question is: What then happens to the SUV you traded in? Does it then get resold to someone else who puts it right back on the road?

The Plaid Adder

[datasuspect]

1. i was wondering the same thing

the trade ins represent an inventory of sorts, do they disappear somewhere? will they be sold to third world countries?

[dhpgetsit]

2. No the dealer is required to junk it.

[guitar man]

18. I saw a report on the local news last night

They went through the details on what happens to the vehicles and interviewed a salvage yard owner who was taking them in and disassembling them.

It's really kind of sad in some instances. I have an '03 Dodge pickup that is on the cash for clunkers list. It only has 80,000 miles on it and if I traded it in under the program it would be scrapped. That seems a bit wasteful to me, I know it doesn't get the best gas mileage in the world but it could be very useful to a carpenter/tradesman, plumber, lawn care business or anybody else who needs a basic pickup truck.

[MNDemNY]

3. No, it must be "disabled" and crushed.

Parts from the engine and drive train can not be resold. Other parts can.

[dkf]

4. They have to destroy the engine by pouring some

very bad stuff into it.

[Oceansaway]

5. i heard the engine is ruined and the

junk lots get the cars for scrap....

[Skink]

6. Obama gets kickbacks.

[Bluzmann57]

7. It gets crushed

Maybe become part of an airplane wing or something.

[ThomWV]

9. And sent to China where it will be remanufactured into junk resold at Wal Mart

[theoldman]

10. Absolutely right.

China buys tons of scrap metal from the US.

[brendan120678]

8. Engine gets acid poured in it...

the rest is scrapped.

[elehhhhna]

14. oh no. that's mean.

[NNN0LHI]

15. Sodium silicate

[sinkingfeeling]

11. They disable the engine and the rest may be sold for parts in the next 180 days.

[Schema Thing]

13. That makes sense.

[elehhhhna]

12. bet it gets on a boat to the third world.

[ensho]

16. no - the crushed cars are a boon to the crushed car business

they are and will be hiring

[Statistical]

17. I was thinking that too.

If there were any large national publicly traded scrap yards I would buy some stock.

[cbdo2007]

19. If the cars run and aren't complete wrecks...why don't they give to someone who can use them?

Kinda stupid to just crush cars and resell the parts when they work just fine as cars.

Seems like kind of a waste to me.

[sinkingfeeling]

20. The purpose is to get them off the road. Replace gas guzzlers with more fuel efficient cars.

[brendan120678]

22. Exactly...

The government is giving people money to get gas guzzlers off the road.

It would kind of be silly to give people money for their car if the car is just going to go to someone else and remain in use. That's why the whole program is, in my opinion, stupid. Yes, we should be encouraging people to get more fuel efficient cars. But then destroying cars just because they are guzzlers when they can be sold used is idiotic.

[ensho]

23. cleaner air is not idiotic - driving cars that dirty the air is idiotic

begone clunkers!

[JVS]

21. The trade in is destroyed