Cash For Clunkers | Obama's Green Ticket to Car Sales

Squeeze gold from that rust bucket

Cars.com’s “Kicking Tires” blog reports that President Obama has urged the automobile industry to adopt an incentive program called “Cash For Clunkers.” In order to attract more new car buyers, automobile manufacturers would offer greater trade-in value for older, less fuel-efficient vehicles.

Bills introduced in the Senate in January and House in March are in need of funding, according to Obama. They would be the engines to provide prospective new car buyers with vouchers worth up to $7,500. The theory is that what the government will pay is more than what can be obtained via normal trade-in - a real cash advance for those of us who are sitting on a less than desirable old car.  Not only would this voucher be good toward the purchase of a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle, but it could also be applied to vouchers that can be used to access public transportation.

Going green

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine is a major supporter of this double-fisted package of legislation. She says it “would help reduce dependence on foreign oil.” It would operate for four years and, in a coup for green living and the environment, is projected to remove as many as a million vehicles from the roadways each year. To encourage fuel efficiency, new car buyers who want to use the voucher program would have to purchase a vehicle that exceeds federal guidelines by 25 percent and is 2004 or newer. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Cash For Clunkers | Obama's Green Ticket to Car Sales"