Cash for clunkers

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1884711,00.html?cnn=yes

Discuss.

On one level I think that is pretty cool. Getting $3k for your old POS is sweet. Problem is, not everyone realizes that some old POSes should not be crushed. Also that may ruin the whole GRM Challenge and the BABE rally and LeMons.

I think it will increase new car depreciation. I'm serious.

If it works and they end up with more new cars on the road, that's an increased supply.

Meanwhile, there will still be a demand for cheap cars. Which will be filled by the less desirable, but not-very-old cars, we'll now have more of. I suspect anything sold for fleet sales will see the worst of it, just because there will be a glut of them on the used-car lots.

A funny article linked from the original

Flywheel on a Grand Marquis. Sealed pistons. I love it when people write about things that they know nothing about.

Really, to me, scrap prices have far more of an effect on the projects I want than anything else. If scrap prices are up, it gets really hard to score a $100 field beater.

I don't like the idea of good vintage stuff going to the crusher, but it will all end up there eventually anyway. Where I live, rust gets everything...in the long run.

Clem

I agree with Baxter.

Just doesn't seem like a good idea.

Horrible short-term program. These programs have been shot down time and time again in the US, a long time ago and very recently. Not only does it speed up depreciation on newish cars and raise prices on old heaps that would normally go cheap and stand a chance at survival due to the price point, it supports buying a new car "just because" when the older cars are still plenty useful. Wasteful, costly, and ineffective. What's the point?

Bryce

mistanfo wrote: A funny article linked from the original Flywheel on a Grand Marquis. Sealed pistons. I love it when people write about things that they know nothing about.

Wow. That's just awful.

I think it would be shot down here in the U.S. if for no other reason than the argument that it would hurt the poor population. Many people depend on older cheap cars just to get by. They can't afford new car payments and wouldn't be able to afford the prices that used cars would be commanding if $3000 was the minimum for scrap. Not a good idea IMO.

The car owner who has a 2002 Mercury Grand Marquis probably paid about $30,000 for it. The car is probably worth $5,000 now. A person with modest experience and skills with auto repairs can rebuild that car for about $5,000. The car will need new breaks. It will cost $500.00 to replace the breaks with all the parts.

BREAKS BREAKS BREAKS!!!

Edit: Celica and I must have had a drag race to the "ad post" button. (I wonder if it was a bracket race, because I might have let off the "Breaks" too early and red-lighted).

mistanfo wrote: A funny article linked from the original Flywheel on a Grand Marquis. Sealed pistons. I love it when people write about things that they know nothing about.

Oh...and let us not forget about the "breaks."

Sheesh. I really think I wrote some better stuff than that in high school. really!

Clem "I break for good rightin" Sparks

ClemSparks wrote: Edit: Celica and I must have had a drag race to the "ad post" button. (I wonder if it was a bracket race, because I might have let off the "Breaks" too early and red-lighted).

mistanfo wrote: A funny article linked from the original Flywheel on a Grand Marquis. Sealed pistons. I love it when people write about things that they know nothing about.

Oh...and let us not forget about the "breaks." Sheesh. I really think I wrote some better stuff than that in high school. really! Clem "I break for good rightin" Sparks

This post made me brake down in happiness because i one the race.

I wish there was a way to comment on that article... that was some of the worse writing i think i've ever seen, and from TIME?!?!?

article assumes cylinder heads are going to die at 100,000 miles?

My MR2 had the original, untouched at 177,000 miles. then the HG blew and warped it.

I bought the car for $100 at this point.

oh wait, milled the head flat and popped back on with a $50 gasket. no were near $600

breaks seems to get everyone, i've seen it several times on here, and in the magazine. one that always gets me, is the ad for one company has a clipboard with a list of stuff needed for the "race team" and where to source the parts/supplies from. up near the top it lists "clutch" and then near the bottom lists "torque converter" (doh!) also somewhere in the middle it lists "breaks"

you'd think that if a company is going to spend big advertising bucks, they'd at least proofread the ad before sending it out

The program is for cars 9 years old or older. I don't think I've ever owned a car that was less than 9 years old. I would be in favour of program if you could $3000 for each car you traded in. I could get a $15000 car for the 5 POS's I have in my back yard

mistanfo wrote: A funny article linked from the original Flywheel on a Grand Marquis. Sealed pistons. I love it when people write about things that they know nothing about.

My personal favorite line:

semi-illiterate Time reporter The car will need new breaks. It will cost $500.00 to replace the breaks with all the parts.

Looks like they figured the article could just be given a spell cheque and sent off to press.

ETA: Looks like the others beat me to it. Oh well.

I liked the 50 worst cars list

link

neon4891 wrote: I liked the 50 worst cars list link

Yeah.... THIS, on the other hand, was actually a pretty amusing piece of well-written journalism.

Damn everyone beat me to the BREAKS! problem. I love all the speak about the 'internal engine' as if the 'external engine' wouldn't need repair.

Not to mention the only Headgasket repair I've ever seen costing as much as was quoted was on my porous die-cast Cadillac Northstar engine where a Timesert/NormSert/Head Stud kit plus gaskets was required, is this now common to all aluminum block'd engines? I think not...

Just got this from SEMA:

http://www.sema.org/Main/ArticleDetail.aspx?fc_c=1252939x2821692x55859629&contentID=61402

neon4891 wrote: I liked the 50 worst cars list link

I personally want to own at least 15 cars on that "worst cars" list. And frankly, a lot of the stuff on there was good by anyone's standards. The Model T? Come on....he may have won a Pulitzer, but I don't think he's that great, or that insightful.

They have something like this in BC, the car has to be 15 years or older, insured for at least a year and be drivable. They'll give you a max of $2000 for a new car, you get more money if the car you buy has really low emissions, less money for higher emissions. Or you can get money for a new bike or scooter or bus passes.

http://www.scrapit.ca/

I think the only benefit of having this program is if you have a car that is really breaking down and you can't sell it you can get some cash. The restriction being you have to buy new which, for someone with a really old clunker doesn't often do.

93celicaGT2 wrote:

The car owner who has a 2002 Mercury Grand Marquis probably paid about $30,000 for it. The car is probably worth $5,000 now. A person with modest experience and skills with auto repairs can rebuild that car for about $5,000. The car will need new breaks. It will cost $500.00 to replace the breaks with all the parts.

BREAKS BREAKS BREAKS!!!

So, let me get this straight. Since the cars breaks are breaked, the car needs new breaks and it will cost $500 to replace all the breaked breaks?

I need a break.

mistanfo wrote: A funny article linked from the original Flywheel on a Grand Marquis. Sealed pistons. I love it when people write about things that they know nothing about.

The oil pan is a wear item on a grand marquis?

One program that does work....

I "retired" my '89 Nissan Sentra with the State of CA for $1000. It wouldn't pass a smog test anymore. Not without a cat anyway. Unfortunately, this car had a totally butchered exhaust system so I'd have to start from scratch. The car wasn't the straightest in the world so I took the money.

If you own an older car for three years, it passes a few tests (starting, moving etc), and fails a smog test, the state will buy your "gross polluter" for a grand.

Once the car realized what I had done, it turned to me like Tessio to Tom Hagen:

Tessio: Tom, can you get me off the hook? For old time's sake?

Hagen: Can't do it, Sally.

Took the money and bought another beater with it. New car won't pass a smog test but it's straight and has potential. If the state wishes to fund my next project, I will not stand in its way.

Jerry