The Pasch Consulting Group polled car dealers on Monday, July 27, 2009 and the number of Cash for Clunkers deals that have been completed is very high.

Dealers that PCG contacted had at least 10 Cash for Clunkers deals done.  

Preston Motors   in Preston Maryland had over 60 deals done.  Preston is the dealer that had the most sales of those we interviewed.

Classic Chevrolet in Fort Worth  Texas had over 30 Cash for Clunkers deals completed.

Midway Chevrolet in Pheonix Arizona had over 25 Cash for Clunkers deals completed.

Marlboro Nissan   in Boston Massachusetts had complete 28  Cash for Clunkers deals.

Findlay Chevrolet in Nevada over 15 deals and Bartow Ford in Florida 20+ deals.

You get the pattern. This is a very popular program for a select group of American consumers.

Cash for Clunkers Projections

If you start to do the math, conservative reports say that 18,000 dealers will register for the program. If 50% of the dealers were “asleep at the wheel” and waited to do deals until today to start, you would have 9,000 dealers that have been pushing the envelope at least for one week.

Add to this number all the Hyundai dealers that started selling CARS deals on July 1st and the 9,000 number is a no-brainer.

If 9,000 car dealers have done 15 deals by now (9,000 x 15 = 135,00 cars), the money for the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) will be gone in a few weeks. Our prediction that the CARS funding will run out by Labor Day weekend is looking very solid.

Call President Obama

If anyone knows how to call President Obama, please call him immedately. Someone has to speak up and tell him that the $1 billion in funding will be used up in the first 30 days of a 90 day program.

Congress will have to act quickly to allocate additional funding before the program comes to a screeching halt. If that is the case, we hope that Congress will amend the language of the bill to acomodate the largest Cash for Clunkers petition: www.nocashforclunkers.com

Consumers are disgruntled over the government’s standardized fuel ratings which are posted at www.fueleconomy.gov.  The fuel ratings do not take into consideration wear and tear to vehicles which prevents them from attaining the MPG numbers the vehicle was originally estimated to achieve. 

Add your name to the petition.

Most consumers understand that the NHTSA is only responsible for implementing the program and is not responsible for the restrictions of the bill.  Therefore, a new website was established as an outlet for consumers to be heard by the sponsors of the bill. 

This website, is taking comments from consumers who want their voices heard.  By joining the online petition, consumers will add their names to the petition list that will be sent to the original sponsors of the Cash for Clunkers legislation.  The goal is to make sure Congress hears their voices if additional funding is requested. 

The most common complaint from consumers is that the Federal website rates their “clunker” at 19, 20 or 21 combined mpg.  Consumers are adamant that their vehicle’s condition prevents it from getting anywhere near that mpg number.  For example, one reader wrote in to the site, “I have a 2001 Infiniti I-30 with 220,000 miles. The EPA MPG says I am getting 20 mpg. That is a joke. I have 220,000 miles on my car. I would be lucky to be operating at 18 mpg.”  These types of complaints are flooding the www.cashforclunkersfacts.com blog site in the SPEAK UP forum. 

Another consumer wrote, “Regarding the Car Allowance Rebate System. I currently drive a 1995 model car that I have owned for 12 years. According to the website fueleconomy.gov, it has a “new” mpg rating of 20 which means that I do not qualify for the CARS program. The MPG when the car was new was 22. This is disappointing as I do not understand how a change of ONLY 2 mpg is calculated on a 14 year old vehicle!”

NET-10 Cash for Clunkers Proposal

The ‘No Cash for Clunkers’ website suggests an alternative qualification model called:  NET-10.  If a consumer trades in their “clunker” for another new vehicle that gets at least 10 mpg  more than their current clunker, they would qualify for the $4,500 credit. 

This type of revision will accomplish the fuel conservation and environmental goals of the bill and will also remove the penalty from consumers who have a car that is operating at much less of a fuel efficiency than the government’s standardized estimates suggests. 

For more information on the No Cash for Clunkers petition, consumers are encouraged to visit http://www.nocashforclunkers.com/