Cash for Clunkers Dealer Website
On the final day of the Cash for Clunkers program, thousands of car dealers are frantically trying to get in all their past sales as well as sales from over the weekend.
Dealers are required to enter in all sales by today and the fear of NOT being paid is driving dealers to attempt to book all their sales by 8:00 pm today. With this new development we would expect the NHTSA to grant dealers an extension.
Here is the message one dealer sent to us when he was trying to enter in sales:
"To better meet the high demand we're experiencing, we have temporarily shut down the service so we can expand our capacity to more quickly serve your requests. Please visit the site at a later time. We apologize for any inconvenience."
The NHTSA website obviously could not handle the load and has been temporarily shutdown. This is not the first time that the NHTSA has experienced server load issues. When the program went live on July 27, 2009 the web servers were frequently rebooting dealers off during registrations.
Over $3 Billion In Cash for Clunkers Sales
It looks like the NHTSA information technology planners underestimated once again the popularity of the program and how many deals are still not entered into the NHTSA system.
The Pasch Consulting Group predicts that when the dust settles, the car sales completed under the CARS program will exceed the $3 billion dollars allotted for the program.
This will pose an interesting dilemma for the NHTSA which may have to hold back payments to car dealers until additional funding can be approved.
Stopping the program early on August 27, 2009 was an attempt by the NHTSA to play it safe and not exceed the total $3 billion dollar budget allotted by Congress. However, Brian Pasch CEO of the Pasch Consulting Group, says that the move was too little too late.
"Today's website shutdown is just another example of just how many sales were outside of the NHTSA web system. Thousands of sales still remain outside of the knowledge of the NHTSA and when the dust settles, we predict that the NHTSA will be asking President Obama for more money to reimburse car dealers."
Consumer Feedback Requested
Consumers who have participated in the Cash for Clunkers program, have a new website to document their positive or negative experiences with the NHTSA Cash for Clunkers program.
Consumers are encouraged to share their experiences at: http://cash-
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
