Cash for Clunkers heads towards exit
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Steve Chiotakis: If you’re still hoping to unload your clunker for some cash, well, you’d better hurry up. The administration says it’ll be releasing plans in the next day or two to wind the program down. Marketplace’s Alisa Roth reports some dealers are overstocked with frustration.
Alisa Roth: The Transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, says his department is using dealer surveys and other tools to figure out how much money car dealers still need to get paid from the fund. That way he can calculate how much longer the program can run.
He had originally said it could run through Labor Day. So many people have bought cars through the program that the government has had to hire more contract workers to help handle the paperwork.
Yesterday, the National Automobile Dealers Association asked the government to suspend the program. It says an informal survey they did shows the $3 billion fund has already been used up. Dealers worry they might not get their rebate money back from the government.
The Transportation secretary has tried to reassure dealers they’ll get their cash. But a coalition of dealers on the East Coast has withdrawn from the program. Saying they can’t afford to be on the hook for any more money.
In New York I’m Alisa Roth for Marketplace.
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