How to Benefit from the Cash for Clunkers Bill

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By Pamela Wilson-Lipscomb
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Cash for Clunkers

In attempt to give the car industry a little push forward, Congress and the Senate have passed the Cash for Clunkers legislation. The Cash for Clunkers Bill also hopes to get a lot of older high emissions vehicles off the road.

The Cash for Clunkers bill, gives Cash vouchers for up to a $4,500, toward the purchase of a new car in exchange for an older car giving 18mph or less. The car being exchanged can not be more than 25 years old.

Further information on the new legislation will clarify all the rules and ualifications. It is yet to be seen if the program well be as helpful to the auto industry as hoped, or if the program will run smoothly and effective for those who choose to participate.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A vehicle whose value is less than $4,500
A vehicle that gets less than 18 mpg
Be approve for a Cash for Clunker voucher

Step 1

To benefit from the Cash for Clunker program, go to a dealer registered with the Cash for Cars program. You will not get cash but a cash credit, to help purchase a car.
Step 2

To benefit from a Cash for Clunkers voucher, you must have owned the vehicle you are trading in for at least one year, had that vehicle insured and registered in your name for that same period of time.
Step 3

To benefit from the Cash for Clunkers bill, the old vehicle must get 18 mpg or less. Newer passenger cars with mileage of at least 22 mpg are eligible for vouchers. If your car in question, is worth more than $4,500 you do not qualify for the Cash for Clunkers program.
Step 4

To benefit from the Cash for Clunker bill, the new car being purchased must get over 18mpg. The make and model can be, any new domestic or foreign car. If you are no sure of the EPA of your car, go to Fuel Economy site.
Step 5

To get further information on how to benefit from the CASH program, be on the lookout for a complete report of the final qualifications and rules which are due to come out on July 23rd.

Comments

moderator said

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on 8/25/2009 Now that the cash for clunkers program is over, the next best thing is to get a tax refund by donating your car to charity. After combing the internet for hours, I found the most reliable car donation charity by dialing 1.800.990.0599 It took me a long to find a decent charity, so I figured I'd save you guys the time and effort...good luck!

betterbody said

on 8/2/2009 This is good to know.

jh1081 said

on 7/25/2009 "Cash for Clunkers" - Typical government putting a pretty lable on an ugly bill. With these restrictions this bill is clearly not designed to get people to purchase cars to help the auto industry. It's designed to encourage people to purchase green cars IF they don't already own one.

My wife and I were going to buy a crossover type vehicle and trade in her little saturn - trying to plan for a family. We found out that we did not qualify for this plan. Looks like we are just going to cram a car seat in our little death trap SC2. Way to boost the economy!