Same here, talked to my dealer about an hour ago, to make sure it was still on. 7:00 tonight to sign the papers and pickup the Fit.

Just checked, and my dealer is on the list, but was not on it late last night.

The salesman said they were packed with customers on Saturday, inspite of the fact it was pouring rain all day until about 5PM. He said their delivery appointments are now booked thru Thursday at this point.

This money really isn't going to last long, no way it makes it until November.

 

At this rate, it won't make it to the end of the week.

 

Reposting here for the folks that have been following this thread:

Here is a detailed account of my experience with the cash for clunkers trade in tonight. I traded in my 2000 Dodge Ram Van for a 2009 Honda Fit Sport Auto in Orange Revolution Metallic. I got a GREAT deal on it! Here's how it all played out:

5:15 - Arrived at dealership and met with my salesman

5:15-5:40 Provided all documentation to salesman and found that the letter from my insurance company wouldn't satisfy the requirement for proof of insurance - at least not in the dealer's mind. So I called my insurance agency and they faxed over the necessary insurance cards

5:40-5:50 Had to listen to the guy in the "business office" offer me all kinds of protection crap for the car. He DID move along pretty quickly though, so not a real big deal. Signed the papers saying I didn't want any of it and walked back to saleman's office.

5:50-6:05 Waited for salesman to return to his office

6:05-6:10 Filled out CARS survey paperwork

6:10-6:40 Sat and waited for sales rep - I had no idea where he went for a half hour but eventually he showed up and walked me to the finance office.

6:40 - 7:15 In the finance office. I had already secured a GREAT finance rate with Capital One - 4.68% for 60 months. I was actually SHOCKED when he told me that he could beat it and gave me 4.44% for 60 months. Cool! And it's financed through Honda so I won't have to worry about any hassles that may be associated with the Capital One option.

We also talked about the Honda warranty options. I was convinced that I wasn't going with one this time, but after negotiating with the guy for a while I decided it would make sense and went with the 6 year, 120k mile, Zero deductible HondaCare warranty for $799. This competes with any of the internet pricing I've seen ($100 LESS than College Hills Honda sells it for), and he showed me on a chart that it is the lowest amount that dealers are allowed to sell this warranty for. He said he makes a point on it himself so he was fine with selling it for that amount. It helps to know what things really cost when you are negotiating!

In addition, and this is IMPORTANT for you if you are working with the CARS program, he told me they had to watch a 3 hour webinar program this morning and found that there are different ways they can handle the $4,500 trade in money. ONE of the ways (and the BEST way!) was to take that off of the purchase price directly. What good does that do, you ask? Well, at the sales tax rate that I pay (7.25%) it means not paying sales tax on that $4,500. That saved me $326.25 right off the bat!

Remember when I told you I got a GREAT price on the car? Well, here's the specifics of my transaction:

2009 Honda Fit Sport auto

$16,479.00 Purchase price
$ 151.65 Doc preparation fee
$ 896.00 Sales tax
$ 81.00 Title and plate transfer fees
$ 799.00 6 year/120k mile/$0 deductible HondaCare warranty
$ 25.00 Illinois fee

$18,431.65 Total cost

-$4501.00 Cash for clunkers money

$13,930.65 Total financed at 4.44% for 60 Months

$259.32 monthly payment for 60 months

Oh yeah.....the dealer also threw in floor mats, wheel locks, and a cargo tray. Not big expensive stuff but $72, $75, and $35 totalling another $182 (at College Hills Honda prices, which are low).

My purchase price was $732 UNDER invoice (not even including the floor mats, cargo tray, or wheel locks) according to Edmunds who lists an invoice price (including destination charges) of $17,211
NOT BAD I think!



Thats my story and I'm sticking to it!

Warner

 

^^ good deal....since i am young and havnt had a credit card for a year, my score was bad, but my dad cosigned, and i think i got 7.5% rate...

 

I seem to be following warner around, reposting with the link, except for the one other thing,

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/gene...tml#post708301

One other thing.

This dealership will be taking no more C4C deals after tomorrow! They are worried that there is no mechanism from the government to let them know when the money will run out, and they don't want to be on the hook for signing a deal where they have to come up with the $4,500 themselves it the government runs out of money. My salesman turned down one C4Cdeal tonight, because the car wouldn't be in for close to 8 weeks, and he's unsure of a second deal, because the car the person wants is on the transporter, but he doesn't think it'll get to the dealership before the money runs out.

If you really want to do a C4C deal, go now, don't wait, and take something off the lot, even if it is not your first color choice.

 

I got the same vibe from the finance guy....the whole C4C "experience" from a dealer standpoint isn't exactly great either. They ARE somewhat exposed and there is a lot of additional "stuff" for them to do. There are dealers who are choosing not to participate. I can't say that I blame them for that decision.....it IS a big headache for them.

Warner

 

It's "stuff" that puts them under the eye of the Federal Government. No more slipping and sliding locally.

A bunch of dealers, I predict, will be in HOT WATER after this. There will be some hand slapping. There may be some lawsuits, some big fines, and some might lose their franchise.

After all, it doesn't do the Honda worldwide name any favors to be associated with swindlers. Not if there is media coverage of said swindlers.

 

There's supposed to be an update each night for dealers to see how much is left. My guess is there isn't anything left at this point.

See:
The CARS official rule published on www.cars.gov, the program's website, states "�¿�in the event NHTSA exhausts funds before the end of the program, NHTSA will be unable to reimburse dealers for some otherwise eligible transactions, even if the transactions have already occurred."

The rule also says that the NHTSA will develop a way to inform consumers and dealers of remaining program funds, but buyers are encouraged to act sooner than later if they want to receive a Cash for Clunkers rebate.

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/ar...e/29225887.txt

------
Some dealers said they were concerned that if the government suddenly runs out of money for the program, retailers might be saddled with the cost of vouchers that can't be reimbursed.

One local auto group, which sold more than 130 cars through the program this weekend, said it planned to reevaluate whether the program was worth continuing.

Dealers predicted a steady stream of car buyers until the government burns through the allotted funds.

"A lot of people sat on the sidelines to see how the rules were going to turn out, but now they're taking advantage of the free money," Guzman said. "The money's going to go quick. Dealers would have to be foolish or dormant to let these customers get away."
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...164,full.story

-------

Those who got in on it when they did will be really thankful!

 

I completely agree. But car dealers, just like everyone else, are going to take the path of least resistance.....lowest risk/work with the highest reward. We would all do the same thing. So if the C4C becomes too much risk and work with not enough reward, then certain dealers will choose not to participate. I'm just glad I got in when I did! Originally I thought they wouldn't burn through the billion bucks by November 1st, and now I realize that I was horribly wrong about that!

Warner

 

I'm glad to see that you DID get in on it, and that several others managed to get in on the early days.

Even though it may still turn into a total circus with people pointing fingers and unpaid vouchers, it WILL provide some fabulous feedback to everyone.

It will be so interesting to see a breakdown of the vehicles purchased. And the vehicles crushed. Maybe THAT will wake up Detroit? Make good cars, and people will buy them. And the double incentive...did it make a big impact? I don't think it did. People still walked away from a double incentive, because Chrysler's cars SUCK (in general, compared with many imports).

And they seemed to head to Ford, according to this article, because Ford didn't take bailout money.

More potential good news for those that waited and haven't done their deal yet from the same article:

"The feds say that the $1 billion program could help in some 200,000 before the money runs out. And if it's the success Detroit is hoping for, look for automakers and dealers to push for the full $4 billion to be allocated to the program."
Americans Seem Eager to Use 'Cash for Clunkers' - Washington Whispers (usnews.com)

Remember, that's how much was wanted. They may very well rush that right through if indeed the billion was spent in a few days, or even in a week.

And that would be a good time for them to add in clarification of any wording, like with the scrappage value.

 

Once again....COMPLETELY agree. And if they had made this good for only American car companies, I would have bought a Ford because I think they are making the best US cars and MAINLY because they didn't take (or need to take) any bailout money.

The Chrysler "double dollars" WAS interesting..and I DID look into it simply out of curiousity. Then I realized that their cars are overpriced for one, would cost me more than the Fit, get worse gas mileage, be less practical, less reliable, and to top it off the double dollars would evaporate as soon as I drove the junk off the lot. So that pretty much ended my exploration into THAT idea.

It WILL be interesting to see which cars were purchased. I'd bet the farm (again, if I happened to OWN a farm that is) that MUCH more than 50% of the cars purchased will be made by a foreign maker.

Warner

 

One reason I think that there will not be as many Chryslers sold even with the double dollars is that consumers had to do some work this time. Many of the news articles pointed people to legitimate sources of information, far away from the dazzle of dealerships. Such as the Fuel Economy site. And they did have a link originally for the Side-By-Side comparison, and then updated that feature to be used specifically for the CARS program.

This meant people had to find out if their car qualified to be traded in and if the car(s) they were thinking of buying would qualify to be purchased. Could they get the full $4,500 or would they get $3,500? They could find out.

Other sites they were directed to include Edmunds. They're pretty good with the info, and along with general info, they have all those reviews. So the consumer checking out Chrysler in general gets this page:
Chrysler Overview

And that's when they see that the mileage is crappy, and the reviews say things like:
"The 2009 Chrysler Sebring convertible isn't a bad choice relative to the competition, especially with its available retractable hardtop. The sedan, however, is outdone by virtually every rival."

Doing the homework, rather than just going to the dealership, may well have changed people's opinions on certain cars.

 

Here's an article with links to the pdf of the vehicles that had their mpg changed by the EPA:
EPA provides list of new clunkers | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Looks like a lot of coin flipping occurred. One year's model was rendered ineligible while the next year's model is suddenly eligible. Odd, that.

 

More numbers to add to the research:

"The government has $1 billion worth of vouchers to hand out, good for about 250,000 vehicles. But that’s only about a week’s worth of U.S. new vehicle sales. The chances look good that the money will run out before the scheduled Nov. 1 end date for the program. You can roll the dice on whether Congress will add more to keep the party rolling."

It Can Be Tough to Qualify for the Cash-for-Clunkers Program - WSJ.com

 

Here's the past 12 hours of tweets that came about the "cash for clunkers" program:





















































































cashclunkersJust got texted that CARS.GOV has updated their site and that a little over $800 million is left. Yesterday they said 17.1 million was used
8 minutes ago from web </SPAN>

cashclunkersNow where did that big jump come from? And think that 65% of all deals are still offline! That seems to validates our projections..
5 minutes ago from web </SPAN>


cashclunkersExact number $858 million. So Day One 17.1 million. 75 million Day Two. When dealers can actually submit sales this will go down fast.
less than a minute ago from web

 

75 million isn't from Day 2, it's the total allotted amount for Category 3 trucks.
CARS.gov - Car Allowance Rebate System - How To Qualify - Formerly Referred to as &ldquo;Cash for Clunkers&rdquo;

 

Yeah...I just got that in a corrected tweet.....just got tired of updating with all the tweets....people can subscribe to them if they are as nerdy as I am about it. Hehe. Until the fun of it wears off, I'll keep following the activity.

Warner

 

I don't tweet. I'm not a twit. hehehe...I can't think of one person who would be interested in what I'm doing, mostly because it's the same things, all the time.

"Stared out the window. Again."

"Cleaned the cat box. Again"

"Cat scratched my leg. Again"

 

Hahaha....I'm TOTALLY with you on this. I never understood the whole Twitter thing. BUT, for things like this where I'm looking for timely updates, it's a really nice tool. I completely agree about the "drying my hair", "picking my nose" stuff though....just silly. Nobody should need that much attention! Ha!

Warner

 

Posted this in the C4C buying experience thread, putting it here in case someone misses it there.

Yikes!

It would appear the government, in all it's ineffable wisdom, changed the clunkers list last night.

I hope this doesn't bite anybody here. The article is making it sound like the dealers would have to eat the $4,500, but who knows.