$4500 VEHICLE PURCHASE BRIBE

Recently congress passed a bill that people are calling "Cash for Clunkers". I don't know the intricate details, but in essence this will provide a subsidy of up to $4500 to those willing to trade their car in for a more modern and fuel efficient car. From what I understand, the amount of the subsidy is in direct relation to the gain you would be getting in fuel economy by upgrading.

For example, I could trade my 87 Grand Wagoneer with it's 9-11 mileage in on a 2009 Ford F150 pickup with it's 17-20 mileage and possibly get the full amount. Where as most people would be looking at offloading something like a F150 in favor of a hybrid.

It is an interesting program aimed at both promoting new car sales and reducing fuel consumption. I see two problems with this, first is that most of the people who have an older cars have them for a reason. Either they can't afford a newer car or they are a collector. If they are in either category this $4500 potential will not do any good. A collector wont let you peal their fingers off with a pry bar and a poor person will not be able to make a car payment with or with out the $4500. Possibly the only people who this would really persuade are those who can afford a new car but for some reason have chosen not to, or people who have a extra car. If it is a extra car with worse mileage, then it is likely not to be driven daily. Will the person with the extra car really want to adopt a new payment? Will getting the parked car off the street really improve the parked cars emissions and fuel consumption?

I've always had a problem with vehicle buy back programs. My first car was a 1971 Mercury Monterey it cost about $350 . This was around 1989 and affordable cars grew on trees. Not long after that Shell Oil Co. started it's buy back program. They offered a $1000 dollar check for the 1970s and older guzzlers and then had them destroyed. This instantly set the price floor at $1000 for any older car. Young kids and poor could no longer afford to buy a car.

Where is the automobile historical preservation society? Even dining cars on trains have a group.

In the bay area of California the B.A.A.Q.M.D. currently has a buy back of $650. So there is a price floor for cars there. As if it is not expensive enough to live in the bay area. The B.A.R. has a program called V.A.V.R. (voluntary accelerated vehicle retirement). This gives older vehicle owners who's vehicles failed a smog check an opportunity to sell their cars to the government. In previous years, this would be an opportunity for a kid to buy a fixer upper at a good cost.

The B.A.R. realized recently that their V.A.V.R. was not working on the poor, because pass or not the poor need to drive something. So in an effort to curtail smog the B.A.R. offers to pay for up to $550 in smog related repairs for qualified owners. This one actually makes sense.


Closing:

I would say in closing that buy back programs may have some positive effect on the environment and may encourage car sales. At what cost to the poor and kids? How effective are they? What if they banned the drive throughs at fast food restaurants because of idling cars in the line? This could have a negative effect on the fast food industry and make getting a job harder for the kids and poor. These types of side effects should be taken into consideration when laws are made.