WASHINGTON – The wildly successful $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program has generated more than half a million car sales. Now dealers hope to get paid.
WASHINGTON – The wildly successful $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program has generated more than half a million car sales. Now dealers hope to get paid.
The deadline for car dealers to submit reimbursement paperwork for the federal car incentives ended Tuesday night, a day after the government halted new sales under the program. Dealers received extra time to submit records for the car rebates as the government’s Web site set up to handle the program struggled to accommodate dealers’ rush to submit last minute claims.
With hundreds of thousands of consumers having driven off in new fuel-efficient vehicles since the program began in late July, many car dealers worry about further delays in getting repaid for the $3,500 or $4,500 per vehicle incentives despite assurances from the Obama administration.
Through early Tuesday, dealers had submitted 665,000 vouchers totaling $2.77 billion. Many dealerships have worked overnight in recent days to submit each trade-in vehicle’s 13-page reimbursement application, including the title, proof of registration and proof of insurance.
Chuck Eddy, a Chrysler dealer in Youngstown, Ohio, completed more than 100 Clunker deals in late July and August and wrapped up his final deal on Saturday afternoon. He considers the program a “true, true stimulus” but said he’s still owed $390,000. “I still haven’t been paid my first dollar,” Eddy said. “That just makes you a little nervous.”
“It’s the best program we all hate,” Eddy said.
Jim Arrigo, who owns two Chrysler dealerships in south Florida, estimated that his two stores are owed more than $1 million for 270 deals through the program. He has only received payment for six vehicle sales.
“Thank god that we have the cash flow to make it but in some cases, a lot of dealers, it’s been very difficult for them,” Arrigo said.
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In photo: Ford employees work on the 2010 Ford Focus at the Wayne Stamping and Assembly plant in Wayne, Mich., Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Gary Malerba)
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