đź“° Auto News Proposed bill will give $5,000 voucher for your clunker

Bru

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I would hate to see classic cars get crushed because of this bill. Especially if someone has a rusting away old classic that's still drivable and they use it for this program.

But we also have a 1989 Civic wagon AWD that's rotting away in the garage and we could take advantage of this and make out crazy like.

$5,000 voucher pushed for new fuel-efficient vehicles
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- An Ohio congresswoman has proposed a wide-ranging program to give consumers up to a $5,000 cash voucher to buy new, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, proposes giving consumers vouchers in exchange for turning in vehicles at least eight years old, dubbed the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save bill, or CARS Act.

"The CARS Act will achieve many goals: consumers will finally get a break to purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles; we will all benefit from a reduction of CO2; and the auto industry will get a jumpstart to spur sales," Sutton said. "This legislation will help consumers, stimulate our economy, improve our environment, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and help our domestic auto and related industries, upon which millions of American families depend for employment."

Consumers would have to buy a more efficient vehicle than their current model to qualify.

The vehicles would also have to have a price-tag of $35,000 or less. It would also give higher-value vouchers for vehicles assembled in North America -- up to $5,000 -- versus up to $4,000 vouchers for vehicles assembled outside North America.

GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner told reporters today in Washington that a bill to offer cash for older cars could benefit the industry.

"These kind of programs can have a huge impact," Wagoner said, adding that it could boost consumer confidence. "It would be very helpful to have something like that here in the United States."

He pointed to a roughly 15 percent increase in auto sales in Germany last month over the same period a year ago after they introduced a similar program.

Consumers could also turn in their vehicles in exchange for a mass transit voucher.

"By providing a transit voucher option, this bill will also encourage the use of mass transit, which will similarly benefit our economy and environment," Sutton said.

Ford Motor Co. praised the bill.

"The 'CARS Act' legislation is a win-win-win for consumers, the environment and energy independence. By providing incentives to purchase a new vehicle, the legislation would help reduce consumer costs, jumpstart the economy and help support millions of good jobs in every state across the nation," Ford said in a statement.

The bill could also help speed the improvement of the auto fleet's fuel efficiency. Automakers must increase the efficiency by at least 40 percent to a fleetwide 35 mpg by 2020.

Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag told reporters Tuesday that the administration is "on track" to finalize the first new requirements -- the 2011 model year fuel efficiency standard -- under the 2007 energy law by March 30.
 

Bru

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A $4,000 to $5,000 voucher is pretty significant, however. Especially considering the stimulus tax credit is a joke when they're goal is to stimulate the new car market.

In our case, the old Civic wagon would be traded in for a new Fit. The Fit starts just under $15,000 and with the voucher it would be roughly $11,000 for a new Fit. Not too shabby if you ask me. Obviously it's not for everyone, but with it aimed at cars less than $35,000, their target is the average car buyer.
 

Primalzer

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nope, get rid of the stratus and the van thats sitting in my driveway.. thats 10g on a new car.. if i wanted to get rid of the 3rd gen to, then itaht would be 15g.... thats a nice chunk on a new camaro lol

I don't think you would be able to add as many cars as you want 1 for 1.

This would be a sweet deal if it actually came true, I'm looking to buy a new car. I would trade in my contour US made $5k, plus i want to buy a TDI so i get another $1300 in tax credits for it being an alternative fuel. That would be SWEET!
 

Bru

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So I dug a little more on this, and the original bill also says:

  • In the legislation, new car purchases that qualify for this incentive must achieve a minimum of 27 miles per gallon on highways for Domestic cars, and 30 mpg minimum for foreign cars, while new trucks must achieve a minimum of 24 mpg for highway driving. The bill provides graduated incentives based on greater fuel efficiency.

  • The legislation also offers transit vouchers in exchange for older, high emission vehicles. "By providing a transit voucher option, this bill will also encourage the use of mass transit, which will similarly benefit our economy and environment."

^^^ Fuck that, gimme $4,000
 

moviebuff

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nope, get rid of the stratus and the van thats sitting in my driveway.. thats 10g on a new car.. if i wanted to get rid of the 3rd gen to, then itaht would be 15g.... thats a nice chunk on a new camaro lol


now what happened the last time you got a new car?!?! ..... let's think about that .... let's... let's just think.... might as well just buy a tonka truck and "mod" the crap out of that and call it a race car. worry about ur debt first there sparky
 

Primalzer

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this is stupid. whose $5000? my taxes? fuck that. hmm i want a new car. ooh i'll just buy some $250 piece of shit off of craig's list and barely drive it into the dealer and it will magically turn into $4750 more that i get from the taxpayer. uh, fuck that noise.

I was thinking the exact same thing, hopefully they have a stipulation about how long the car has been owned by you.
 

sickmint79

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But we are going to have to pay it back, its not like its free money

it is free money, it is a voucher. it's a subsidy. it's not a loan. the individual does not need to pay it back.

by "we" if you mean us citizens through taxes, their children through taxes, and anyone holding us dollars through an inflation tax, then that part is correct. it's also the kind of path to ruin franklin is talking about.

here's another good one:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been about 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: '>From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage."
-Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747–1813)
 
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