Tremelune

It looks like there's a good chance some kind of Cash for Clunkers plan will go through, but the details are moving targets, as the exact definition of the proposal is modified so that it will pass. I'm talking about this:

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/03...g-plan-in-u-s/

Anyone know what the current state of the proposal is? I'd like to know time frames, which vehicles count as clunkers, and which vehicles qualify for purchase.

Specifically, I want to trade my leaky '96 Chevy Astro for a Smart ForTwo...Holla...I don't want to wait a year to do it.

white924s

looks like any car over 8 years old is eligible, but the trade-in you buy has to be built in america and get over 27mpg. Unless I'm mistaken, I think the Smart fails on the second count

I can't wait to hear how much this one is going to cost taxpayers...

tinklybear

Mmmmm thinly veiled corporate welfare.

Daily944

Doesn't look like it, the new Smart fourtwo's are imported and i think mostly funded by Mercedes.

puffin04

Bingo!!!!

Daily944

Come to think of it, Honda would qualify under this "Assembled in North America" policy. in the end of last year Honda opened their new "Civic Assembly plant" in Indiana. With all the American motor companies being in trouble or dying off(Pontiac) they might limit it to just the not so "Big three".

Tremelune

But I remember there were competing proposals--One said $5000, 27mpg, and made in USA, and the other was $4500 max, any car that was in the top 25% of fuel efficiency or some such...

So they solidified the language for the proposal that is being voted on? I guess the van'll soldier on unless they extend the plan to include 30-year-old Minis assembled in Britain...

tifosiman

At research stations in the Antarctic they used to use specially made facial tissues that came in sealed containers and were laced with powerful germ killing chemicals. The research stations wouldn't have any outsiders drop by for stretches of several months, so the germ killing Kleenex would make disease less likely to spread. Then some engineer at the facial tissue maker realized they could use less abrasive chemicals for the same effect and get rid of the sealed packages and try to market it as the first altruistic Kleenex. They'd cost a bit more than normal Kleenex, but they wouldn't get the people around you sick. They were called Cold Busterz or something like that. So the question was, would a sick person pay extra to stop people around them from getting sick? And the answer was, "Hell no." The product bombed when it came out. A few years later it was repackaged and marketed as having some additional benefit and resold, and it sold well. So after I looked up "altruism," I found out what this guy was trying to say to me: Sick people are cheap, selfish bastards.

Tremelune

I do like that story, but I can only assume it was intended for a swine-flu thread...

tifosiman

No, it was meant for this thread~

944Ross

You can check the status of any auto-related proposals at the SEMA Action Network, www.semasan.com. Not a bad idea to join up (free). They were instrumental in defeating several onerous laws related to older cars in Calif.

Tremelune

Looks like the ol' rape van might qualify afterall:

http://www.freep.com/article/2009050...h+for+clunkers

loxner

I guess it's time to trade in the old girl...

Anaheim944

Looks like our 44's qualify. 18 mpg. http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/auto...NoLWNsdW5rZXJz hmmm

xsboost90

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress approved a "cash for clunkers" program Thursday to provide government incentives of $3,500 to $4,500 to motorists who trade in their gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient vehicles after Senate Democrats narrowly defeated a Republican effort to kill the plan.



Auto state senators said the program would help hard-pressed car dealers and automakers by bringing buyers into showrooms, and they got help from President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who made calls to wavering Democrats urging them to keep the plan alive.