The Federal Cash for Clunkers program has spurred auto sales nationwide, but Lincoln County new car dealers say thanks for the incentives, but they would rather not have the headaches caused by the red tape.
The federal program, set to expire in November, ran out of money after just one week. Bills for additional funding are pending in Congress.
Two of Lincoln County’s three new car dealers, Wiscasset Ford and Newcastle Chrysler, say the program where old gas guzzling clunkers are traded in on new, fuel efficient models, spurred sales, but the paperwork associated with the program is a nightmare.
Ralph’s Chevrolet in Waldoboro has not seen any sales linked to the program. “We got a little bit of action but no sales,” said Kevin Thompson, the general sales manager.
“We do have two customers working on it,” he said.
At Wiscasset Ford, where their huge sales lot seems to be filled with inventory, they have seen a jump in business, according to Frank Fasett, the new car manager.
“We have been swamped,” he said, but he admitted he has been up to midnight some nights just trying to get on the governments Cash for Clunkers Internet site to get his deals approved.
“The government is very picky,” he said.
In Newcastle, dealer Randy Miller said he sold eight or ten cars last week, but the program triggered two major problems.
First, he says Chrysler, which jumped in and out of a 42-day bankruptcy after it was sold to Italian auto giant Fiat, has not produced any new cars since May.
“I am running out of new cars,” Miller said. “We are not expected to get any new cars until late September.”
The second problem for Miller, like all dealers in the program, is the paperwork.
“The first set of rules and regulations was 136 pages long. Then a week ago, they sent us the applications and they were pages long. Then they changed the rules several times,” he said.
As part of the program, Miller and Fasett are required to “kill” the clunkers. “We have to freeze the engines and send them to an approved disposal facility,” he said.
Still, Miller said the program gives his customers some good deals.
“In some deals, the government provides a $4500 incentive and Chrysler kicked in another $4500 plus a $750 rebate on some deals. That meant you could buy a $20,000 car for eleven grand,” he said.
Chrysler’s $4500 match deal has expired, he said.
“It is bringing business in. It is chaotic, but it is just for new cars and it is very tough to explain to the customers,” he said.
Another Miller complaint was that he felt the program should only have been used to spur sales of American cars from Chrysler, General Motors and Ford. Korean owned and made autos have made big sales jumps from the program, he said.