Your junk car may be worth $4500

[jeffrey]

Car shoppers could take advantage of government incentives worth up to $4,500 this summer to send their old gas guzzler to the scrap heap in favor of a more fuel-efficient new vehicle.

President Barack Obama is expected to sign into law the "cash for clunkers" program, which was approved by the Senate on Thursday. A clunker is an old, worn out car. For owners of low gas mileage vehicles, the plan could give them a reason to visit their local car dealer during an economic downturn.

"I've been sitting on the fence for about a year," said Jim Seegraves, 44, who has been looking to replace his 2000 GMC Sierra pickup truck. "This legislation will help me get over the hump and get the car that I want...

US consumers could get up to $4,500 toward new car - Yahoo! Finance

[GREENBACK]

I haven't paid a lot of attention to this but I have a '98 "gas guzzling" Sierra that runs great. Four questions:
1. Can I replace my current gas guzzler for a modern gas guzzler that equals my current gas guzzler? GM doesn't even make the same large block(5.7L) anymore.

2. Do I have to get one of the little go carts they are going to now make?

3. Will they just inflate the already artificially inflated price of my new gas guzzler to compensate for this brilliant plan?

4. I've talked rip off artist...er, uh...salesmen down this much before so why would I want this deal?

[simpleyme]

we were sorta wishing we had not sold our old van a coupleyears ago ,but with an increase in our gas tax and the huge increase in cost of tittle and registration in my state we do not want another vehicle,we are a one car family
we have 2 teenagers that are on the edge of driving we have decided to make it work with just one car until one of the kids gets a job and must have there own transportation
(the child will buy and pay for their own car,i just want to put off giving the state any extra money as long as we can ;-)

[red92s]

A few points:

• Nothing more than Obama trying to make the purchase of GM and Chrysler look smart by propping up their sales figures, while simultaneously creating an artificial increase in GDP for Democrats to brag about going into 2010 elections.
• "Automakers and their unions have lobbied heavily for the incentives to help the auto industry boost sales and stabilize General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group LLC,". So after pretty much handing over an unfair portion of these companies to the UAW, we are now subsidizing the purchase of their products. Why? The UAW is a major Obama campaign contributor.
• What's the point in pushing this as an environmental issue when the materials, energy, and labor used by scrapping the old cars in favor of the new ones probably offsets a large chunk of the reduction in fuel consumption?
• Obama is preaching financial responsibility and restraint in spending for Americans, while encouraging them to take on additional consumer debt in the form of car loans.
• If you drive a "clunker" that would fall under this plan you probably A) can't afford anything nicer or B) can afford something nicer, but would rather spend your money on something else. Category B probably won't go buy a new car simply due to their financial habits. Category A might go buy a new car, even though they probably shouldn't.

[happygirl]

This deal might actually work to my advantage. I've been doing research for a while now on a new vehicle. I plan to purchase something reliable with a good track record. I plan to pay cash, as I don't like payments.

My old vehicle has been repaired as much as it can. It's no longer financially feasible to keep it hobbling along, nor is it safe.

While I don't necessarily agree with the thinking behind this bill, I'm certainly not going to turn down the opportunity to utilize it if possible.