Final weekend of clunkers program draws crowds
From Vermont to California, exhausted but appreciative car dealers watched their lots empty as crowds rushed to trade in gas guzzlers during the final weekend of the popular Cash for Clunkers program.
The hectic pace of the $3 billion rebate program accelerated in the final weekend, after the government announced the program would end at 8 p.m. today, two weeks earlier than expected.
Adding to the urgency, some dealers had said they would stop Cash for Clunkers sales even earlier to make sure the government reimbursed them for the rebates - or because they didn’t have enough eligible cars left.
In the final hours, customers streamed in.
“We thought about it a couple weeks ago,’’ said Annette Palmer, 51, at Town and Country Honda in Berlin, Vt., on Saturday with her husband. They hoped to trade in a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee for a Honda CR-V.
“We kind of dragged our feet. Then we heard it was closing, and we picked up our feet and ran,’’ she said.
Though short of some new models, such as the Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, and Nissan Altima, many dealers were still selling as many cars as they could before tonight’s deadline.
Standing outside one of his Hyundai dealerships in Appleton, Wis., John Bergstrom said customers traded in 100 cars throughout his fleet of 20 dealerships on Saturday and 100 the day before. They were his two biggest sales days during the program.
“That’s about as good as it gets,’’ Bergstrom said. “It’s going out with a bang.’’
In all, Bergstrom said his dealerships - whose brands include Ford, GM, and Toyota - sold 800 cars during the program, boosting sales 30 percent. He had to bring in extra staff to deal with the paperwork, but Bergstrom said the sales were worth the hassle.
At Universal City Nissan in Los Angeles, Alberto Vasquez said keeping up with the pace of the program has taken a toll on employees. Some labored past midnight to wrap up last-minute deals.
“Are we tired? Definitely,’’ said Vasquez, the dealership’s director of training. “But it’s also bittersweet, because we’re happy that we’re selling cars.’’
The dealership has sold more than 700 vehicles through the program and brought in extra staff to help enter information on the government’s reimbursement website.
Cash for Clunkers has been wildly successful in spurring new-car sales and getting gas-guzzling models off the road, though some energy specialists have said the pollution reduction is too small to be cost-effective. Customers receive rebates of between $3,500 and $4,500, depending on the improvement in fuel efficiency from their old vehicle to their new one. As of early Friday, nearly half a million cars had been sold through the program.
