Late Thursday, the Senate passed the Cash for Clunkers program that the House had approved last week. The Senate attached the program to the war-spending plan by a 60-36 vote early Thursday. The war-spending plan was then voted in Thursday night. The Cash for Clunkers program allows customers to receive up to a $4,500 voucher to trade in their gas guzzlers for a more fuel-efficient new vehicle.
For consumers this means you now have more incentive do get rid of your old 18mpg or worse vehicle and pick up a new ride that will get higher mpg. Clunkers are considered passenger cars, mini vans, SUVs, and light-duty trucks that get 18 mpg or less city/highway combined. Also included in the clunker category are large light-duty trucks that get at less than 15 mpg as well as work trucks manufacture before 2002.
For passenger cars, if the new vehicle is at least 4 mpg higher than the old vehicle, you will receive a $3,500 voucher towards a new vehicle. If the new vehicle is at least 10 mpg higher than the old vehicle, the voucher is good for $4,500. For light trucks, mini vans, and SUVs, the new vehicle needs to be at least 2 mpg higher to obtain the $3,500 voucher, and at least 5 mpg higher than the old vehicle to receive the full $4,500. Large light duty trucks need a 1 mpg improvement to obtain the $3,500 voucher and at least 2 mpg increase for the $4,500 voucher. Work trucks will receive a voucher for $3,500 towards a later model truck or a smaller truck.
All the old clunkers turned in through this program will be crushed and the engines and transmissions will be shredded. The hope is to get these higher polluting vehicles off the roads and replaced with cleaner vehicles. The final program is just waiting for President Obama’s signature, which should not be a problem since he and Vice President Joe Biden were pushing for the program from the beginning. Once in place, the Transportation Department is expected to implement the program by early August. The bill provides $1 billion for the Cash for Clunkers program between July and November. Infiniti of Norwood is well versed in the different aspects of this program, for more information please contact us at 1-866-979-1988*
*See dealer for full details
