Shes DEAD Guys :(

[Fummins]

The Canadian cash for clunkers program wasn't as good of a deal as the US one. We got $300 off a new car, a bus pass or a rebate on a bicycle or something else not worth flogging a $1000 car for. Car was then sold to wreckers for $25-300 at random, they'd just fire off bills of sale via fax or email and we'd go pick up vehicles from dealerships around the city or sometimes from people's residences if they didn't trade in their vehicle. The wreckers weren't allowed to sell drivetrain components...But nobody checked up on that, there was no way to know anyways. Couldn't resell the vehicles either....But the vin's weren't being flagged(deemed non-repairable) so yeah. Nobody followed the rules, drivetrain parts were sold, and entire vehicles got resold too lol.

There was a similar program that ran for a couple of years for old lawnmowers. The home depot near my old work called up and asked if we'd pick up the traded-in stuff and scrap it. SURE! Picked up truckloads of lawnmowers, weed whackers, hedge trimmers, and even a bunch of chainsaws! We got most of the stuff running and everyone at work ended up with upgraded lawn equipment lol Most of the stuff traded in was fairly new. Customers would walk out to the tire rack at work and come back in the office pushing a lawnmower asking how much...So a lot of those got sold.

[7milesout]

The Canadian cash for clunkers program wasn't as good of a deal as the US one. We got $300 off a new car, a bus pass or a rebate on a bicycle or something else not worth flogging a $1000 car for. Car was then sold to wreckers for $25-300 at random, they'd just fire off bills of sale via fax or email and we'd go pick up vehicles from dealerships around the city or sometimes from people's residences if they didn't trade in their vehicle. The wreckers weren't allowed to sell drivetrain components...But nobody checked up on that, there was no way to know anyways. Couldn't resell the vehicles either....But the vin's weren't being flagged(deemed non-repairable) so yeah. Nobody followed the rules, drivetrain parts were sold, and entire vehicles got resold too lol.

There was a similar program that ran for a couple of years for old lawnmowers. The home depot near my old work called up and asked if we'd pick up the traded-in stuff and scrap it. SURE! Picked up truckloads of lawnmowers, weed whackers, hedge trimmers, and even a bunch of chainsaws! We got most of the stuff running and everyone at work ended up with upgraded lawn equipment lol Most of the stuff traded in was fairly new. Customers would walk out to the tire rack at work and come back in the office pushing a lawnmower asking how much...So a lot of those got sold.

Big gobment at its best ... sadly, that is about as good as it gets. It does get worse.

[Top_Fuel]

During Cash for Clunkers in the US, if you bought a new car that got at least 10mpg EPA rating better than your trade-in, then you would get a $4500 rebate. Only 2 new cars would get me $4500: A Chevy Aveo 5-speed (Oh h*ll no!) and a Chevy Cobalt/Pontiac G5 XFE 5-speed.

2009 was the perfect storm for buying a Pontiac...$4500 Cash for Clunkers...huge GM rebates...and big discounts because Pontiac was being terminated. I bought a new Pontiac G5 XFE with a sticker price of $17,500 for $7,900. A new car for 55% off MSRP that will cut my fuel costs almost in half? Count me in.

I was driving 25,000 miles/year back then and the G5 averaged almost 38mpg. It saved me enough gas money to pay for itself in about 4 years.

Don’t get me wrong. That program was a really bad idea. But I ran the numbers and decided I might as well get some of that gubmint cash while they were printing it. Kinda like they are doing now with EV rebates.

[7milesout]

I bought a new Pontiac G5 XFE with a sticker price of $17,500 for $7,900. A new car for 55% off MSRP that will cut my fuel costs almost in half? Count me in.

I was driving 25,000 miles/year back then and the G5 averaged almost 38mpg. It saved me enough gas money to pay for itself in about 4 years.

Your financial reasoning is / was solid. It just hurts me the thought of stepping away from such a nice car. I knew of the CFC program, but didn't know the details, as I wanted nothing to do with it. I wonder what happened to your Crown Vic. Was it crushed?

[Top_Fuel]

...I wonder what happened to your Crown Vic. Was it crushed?

It wasn't crushed. I tracked the VIN after I traded it in. The car ended up in a local salvage yard.

Now here comes the crazy part. In order to receive their reimbursement from the government for the Cash for Clunkers rebate, the dealer had to 'destroy' the engines on every car they took in. They didn't want people pulling these engines from the salvage yard and putting them back on the road. That might hurt the environment.

Here is how the dealers made sure that the engines were made inoperable.

[7milesout]

Do you think yours got the liquid gas treatment? If so, what a shame.

[Top_Fuel]

Do you think yours got the liquid gas treatment?

I would like to think that it didn't. But if the dealer did everything by the book, I suppose that's the way it went down. I think dealers could be fined heavily if one of these cars somehow ended up back on the road.

I actually detailed the car before I took it in. It looked great...even with 200K+ miles. I was hoping that someone would figure out that this wasn't the typical oil-burning, rusty junker trade-in and that it might somehow (under the radar) find its way into somebody else's garage. But like I mentioned before, I tracked the VIN about 6 months after I traded it in, and it appeared to be in a salvage yard close to the dealership where I turned it in.

The government eventually released a list of all the cars that were traded in. Here is a link.

There were some cars listed on there that had to be misprints or errors. Because there were some valuable cars supposedly on the list that had to be wrong.

[7milesout]

I meant liquid glass, not liquid gas. Anywho - Watching them liquid glass that nice looking Ranger on the video was just sickening. There might still be some remnants of that car in that salvage yard.

[MrMPG]

I don't think he made any money off the deal. Insurance is paying off his loan on the vehicle, & that doesn't put any money in one's pocket. His loan for this car may be less than the Mirage, however.

Yep, ill break even on the mirage, No extra cash minus the sales tax on the marquis or mirage (gotta let progressive decide what to re imburse) took out a 5k loan for this thing and they auto set it up for a 3 year term at $170 a month (gonna pay it off a lot faster), But insurance is $38 a month for full coverage

[MrMPG]

Its got a few little things i need to eventually take care of. (it sat a looot) its gonna need shocks/bushings all around eventually and the tail shaft seal on the transmission is weeping a bit, No clunking and drives nice but all the bushings under it have dry rot cracking, Just did tires today for the same reason. But it floats down the highway like a dream even getting 20-24mpg out of that old boat