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Posted
Sep 24 2009, 10:15 AM
by
Des Toups
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Now that the government has finished writing the Cash for Clunkers checks, it’s released a final breakdown of the models sent to the crusher.
Among the 700,000 or so vehicles removed from the roads were 39 cars barely a year old – six Dodge Avengers alone and 10 Mercury Grand Marquises alone. Lest you believe gas-sucking domestics were the only victims, 3,595 BMWs, 2,532 Lexuses and 5,342 Mercedes met their makers as well. But not a single Hummer was ditched.
Among the more exotic machinery cast off in return for a voucher worth up to $4,500
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Posted
Aug 07 2009, 03:49 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from James Limbach at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
The nation's auto dealers are seeing cars fly off the lot thanks to the government's "cash for clunkers" program, which is getting an infusion of $2 billion, compliments of you, the taxpayer.
Figures released by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration show there have been 245,384 dealer transactions as of Aug. 7, for a total of $1.03 billion in rebates.
NHTSA figures from Aug. 5 showed Michigan leading all states in requested voucher dollar amounts with $44.4 million, followed by California at $39.9 million. Bringing up the rear was Wyoming with just $533,000.
The government says cars purchased under the program are, on average, 21% above the average fuel economy of all new cars currently available, and 63% above the average fuel economy of cars that were traded in. This, officials maintain, means the program is raising the average fuel economy of the fleet, while getting the dirtiest and most polluting vehicles off the road.
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Posted
Jul 31 2009, 03:16 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
The "cash for clunkers" program -- the hugely popular people's bailout that nearly ran out of money after less than a week -- will continue at least through the weekend -- and perhaps beyond that. We'll see.
The U.S. House has approved $2 billion more for the program, and the U.S. Senate will vote on the extra money next week. It's hard to imagine that senators will say no to a popular program that -- compared with what's been pumped into banks, AIG, automakers, etc. -- seems downright cheap.
David Thomas said at Kicking Tires, "With this bill's passing and the White House's assurances on Cash for Clunkers, it's likely safe to say you can go out this weekend and buy a new car through the program."
Those in the market for a new car will be happy that news of its demise was premature. But how did this near shutdown of cash for clunkers happen?
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Posted
Jul 30 2009, 01:06 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
More than 19,000 gas-guzzlers have been traded in -- and an equal number of new cars with better gas mileage purchased -- under the federal "cash for clunkers" program in its first week. To track daily how fast the $1 billion in the cash-for-clunkers fund is being spent, you can find a gauge here. (Wait a few seconds and it will appear.)
"It's definitely great for people who're getting $4,500 for a car that's maybe worth only $400 or $500, and it's good for us because we're getting a lot of traffic," George Gambino, general sales manager for Bay Ridge Honda, told the New York Daily News.
Also, USA Today reports that most people are using the program to buy new vehicles with respectable gas mileage. Very few are buying full-size pickups and vans.
This all sounds great, both for cash-strapped consumers and the nearly comatose auto industry. (Ford told The Detroit News that sales are up sharply.) So how do you go about trading in your hunk of rust for a new vehicle under this plan?
It can be complicated -- for instance, the eligibility of 164 cars changed at the last minute -- but nothing you can't handle.
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Posted
Jul 07 2009, 05:52 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Jim Wang at partner blog Bargaineering.
Did you see all the Toyota Prius commercials recently? The ones with the people dressed up as foliage and climbing on top of one another? It was to highlight how "green" the vehicles are and announce that Prius was launching another generation of the hugely popular hybrid-electric.
At first, my wife didn't even realize they were people, and I to this day think it's just a little bit creepy.
However, despite the creepiness of the ads and the whole slew of new hybrid-electric cars, I would still love to have a Prius (or a Tesla). The only problem I have is that it's not a financially sound decision. It's an emotional one (which is fine, too).
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Posted
Jun 24 2009, 11:18 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
It should come as no surprise that as soon as the U.S. Senate passed "cash for clunkers" -- legislation granting vouchers to people who trade in their gas-guzzlers for new, more fuel-efficient cars -- a host of scam operations would pop up trying to profit.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is warning consumers not to be deceived by official-looking sites that claim to offer information on how to trade in your car. Sites that ask for personal information or offer a preregistration opportunity should not be trusted, the agency said.
"There's only one official site for the government, and that's NHTSA's CARS.gov Web site," said NHTSA press officer Eric Bolton. "Folks should go there and not rely on ‘cash for clunkers' sites on the Internet as they are not official."
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Posted
Jun 08 2009, 12:27 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It irks us that gas prices are rising at a good clip. Other than grousing, is there something productive we can do to mitigate pain at the gas pump?
To that end, we signed up at Fuelly, an easy-to-use Web site that will help us track our gas mileage, compare it with that of similar vehicles, and improve our driving techniques to get more miles per gallon. Plus, the social-networking aspect of Fuelly will make this fun.
J.D. Roth at our partner blog Get Rich Slowly wrote about Fuelly when Matt Haughey and Paul Bausch created it a year ago: "I think this is a great idea. Fuelly taps the power of the masses to compile real fuel-efficiency data so that users can find ways to save money. Brilliant."
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Posted
Jan 16 2009, 12:06 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com.
Congress will consider the incoming Obama administration's request for an $850 billion stimulus package. Within that package, says the Consumer Federation of America, there should be an incentive for Americans to buy new cars.
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Posted
Dec 23 2008, 05:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
What would you think of a bailout proposal that rewards people who buy new cars? That idea is the basis of several bills introduced in Congress. Car buyers would get a $10,000 incentive in one form or another to buy a new car and, in the process, heal the ailing U.S. auto industry. It's certainly not the strangest car-related stuff we've read recently. (That would be an article about a Beverly Hills physician who powered his car with biodiesel made from liposuctioned human fat.)
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Posted
Dec 19 2008, 05:59 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Filed under: spending, savings, The Simple Dollar, car models, gas prices, prices, cars, used cars, gas mileage, car loans, car shopping
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. In just a few short months, the price of gas at the station I regularly use has dropped from $4.09 per gallon to $1.49 per gallon -- an absolutely amazing drop. Not long ago, I spent $82 filling up my truck (which has a 20-gallon tank). The other day, I filled the tank for under $30. From a strict personal-finance perspective (and ignoring the larger global economic concerns) this is fantastic news for most people. If you have to fill a typical car tank each week (12 gallons), the price change is saving you somewhere on the order of $30 a week. That's $120 a month, an amount that can really help with debt repayment, saving for a down payment, or preparing for retirement. This shift in gas prices comes at an interesting time for me and my family. My wife and I have been carefully studying potential automobile purchases, and our calculations had led us to focus on automobiles that are efficient with their fuel. Using our numbers, assuming a $4 to $5 gallon of gas going forward, fuel efficiency was so valuable that it often trumped a higher price at the dealership.
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