"It's not inspiring confidence with the dealers or with me," said Paige Dickinson of New Bedford, who traded in her 1996 Jeep Cherokee for a 2009 Honda Fit. "[The dealers] are in a bad position, too. It's a clog-up."

Only about 1 percent of rebates submitted by Massachusetts dealers have been approved, according to Robert O'Koniewski, executive vice president of the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association. About $4 million worth of rebates have been submitted, O'Koniewski said, who called the program "an administrative nightmare."

"The fact that it's ending will be a sigh of relief for everyone involved," he said. "There's a lot of money on the street and dealers aren't getting any of it."

Thomas Tague, who traded in his daughter's Jeep Cherokee for a Mini Cooper, said he's still waiting for his new car, despite numerous phone calls to the dealer.

"Their story seems to be consistent that they're not going to release cars until they get approvals," he said.

O'Koniewski said that his organization has advised dealers to ask customers to voluntarily sign contingency agreements, meaning that customers would be obligated to pay back the dealer if the government rejected the trade-in. The government has repeatedly said that customers are not required to do so.

"Dealers, individually, have spent millions of dollars in inventory," he said. "They don't get these cars for free."

Dickinson said her dealer told her she could pay the $4,500 to pick up her new Honda, but she said she refused, and is still waiting.

But Paul Stone of Manchester-by-the-Sea said that his dealer "cut through paperwork pretty quickly" when he purchased a new GMC Sierra in July.

"It was a good deal all the way around," he said.