This^^^^^^^
I was on the front lines of this program and I knew the program front to back. This is how it worked. Any car from 1984 and up (thank god it was 1984 they wanted to go further back but the collector car groups SEMA put a cabosh on that) that did not hit the 17 MPG requirement set by the federal government was accepted into this program. When these cars qualified for the program the person trading in the car was able to get a $4,500 rebate toward the purchase of a vehicle that got 2 to 3 better MPG.

When the vehicle was traded in and no one saved the vehicle,the paperwork with vin and documents of destruction were sent into the federal government to have the vin removed from the National Highway and transit computer base.

The vehicle then was drained of the oil and sodium silicate (liquid glass) was poured into the engine and ran up to 3500 rpm until the engine was locked up.

When the vehicles engine was inoperable (I knew they were I tore one apart and what a mess) they were sold to the salvage yard and they were allowed to remove everything except for emissions control items (except for cats because they were being recycled) and engine pieces. Body panels, interior, transmissions, drive line, etc were up for grabs.

The dismantler originally had 60 days to dispose of the car but was later granted a extension of a year because of the volume of vehicles that went through this program.

When the date expired the vehicle HAD to be crushed and documented by video or picture.

The vehicles were FAR from being unsafe for the street. Most cars at my yards came in with new tires, recently rebuilt transmissions, brakes, etc, and were in really nice well maintained shape. These were cars (mostly one middle to upper class) people were thinking of upgrading within the next year or two but the track was fastened up when they were paying themselves to trade in their car and destory it. The market has suffered from it and will for a while. A whole class of cars ($500-$9,000) were wiped out in a two month period. Which made the survivors worth $1,000-$3,000 over their pre 09 prices. Why do you think low mile XJs go for blood money?

Why you ask this is still relivent? The reason its still relivent is because of the old saying "when a country forgets its past its likely to repeat it in its future". Next time for the "greater good" it might not be voluntary.

 

There was a short span that the vehicles were allowed to be stripped, with the exception of the drivetrain, before they were crushed.

Unfortunately, not all areas had the luxury of having the resources to do this. So many were crushed before anything could be salvaged.

 

I know its so boring to be informed.

 

Who oversaw this... Obama? It was such a retarded idea imo

 

Wow this seems so sad! No wonder there were so many car companies in trouble? You woukda thought that mess woulda helped bit it seemed it didnt... Whos dumb idea was this? And is it still program in effect? Cuz someone needs a but kickin!

 

You all are coming down on the government for this...

These cars were scrapped because their owners were dip****s and didn't know value were they had it.

These vehicles didn't drive themselves to the slaughter house.

 

Truth right there.

 

Well yes this is true... But were they given a big incentive to do such a thing? I personally never heard of the program. Except for what is here in Cali. where when a car dont pass smog and not sure then of this is the same program... I am shocked that anyone would do such a thing, maybe it was to more like get ride of a car loan they could pay.......

 

It had a great effect on my industry and that's all I really care about.

It's spelled "transmission" by the way.

 

That was amusing, thank you.

A lot of people traded in their extra car, winter beater, etc. for the cash for clunkers program. In a perfect world, your reasoning would be true. Too bad it's not.

 

Chrysler, Ford, and GM are actually doing better than they were for the last decade.

The American auto industry is thriving once more. Chrysler paid off their loans from the U.S. Gov't last year even.

Also, GM is no longer "owned" by the U.S. Gov't and has just posted a record profit of $7.6 billion.

 

Right so as long as the new car industry is fine, who cares about the thousands of jobs and small buiseness it effects in the repair and salvage industry ...

I look at it as over 750,000 cores for motors and transmissions were lost. Along with parts replacement parts out of hundreds of thousands of vehicle's that couldn't be stripped before they were crushed.

The thought that its fine to damage one industry as long as another industry is doing ok is pretty damn selfish.

Id be ashamed to have that outlook. And I am ashamed to be in the auto industry with someone who thinks like you.

 

N20Jeep your never gonna get through to him look at what state he is from..... Michigan. A state that USED to be the motor city of America, but because of taxation, corrupt government ideas and the UAW drove alot of its main producers (auto manufacturing and manufacturing of parts) out of the state and over the boarders. So now this sad state is still banging the drum "we are the motor city" to a empty hall. It's a state thats broke, falling apart and they are sitting around reminiscing about the good ol days, and hoping the automotive manufactures will come back and bring their state back to glory. (Pssst...their not when they can pay $9.00 a hour or $29.00 per hour plus benefits for unskilled labor, they are going to go $9.00 per hour everytime) I don't know why Michigan has such a deep ties to the big three espically when all three abandoned them in the 80's and ruining Michigan. So the reason he is for screwing over the little guy is ok because he is still holding onto the old timer UAW "we are the greatest in the world" and "well if i get what i got then i dont give a rats about the next guy" Michigan mentality and" the big three will be back they will" mentality. So anything good for the big three is good for me and the other segments of the market that keep paying taxes, keep a dead state and local economies going, take up real estate so there is not one more empty building in Michigan, these businesses can get bent because the holy big three asked for it and if we appease them they might come back to Michigan. So when you listening to people older then you tell you about Michigan's grand old days, better listen because its not going to happen again for them in a really really long time.

 

Well on the lighter side........ The XJ did put up a fight in some places. talking to a service manager for a chrysler dealership, he said they had three XJ's come through that with no oil or coolant took more than one try to kill one had even thrown a rod and when the wrecker came to get it, it had to get rekilled. In his words the 4.0 was the hardest engine to destroy. sad part he said they took in 325+/- XJ's over the program at his dealership alone some with less than 40,000 on them and in perfect working order.

 

i remember hearing the same thing, people where having all kinds of issues trying to kill the 4.0.