Cash For Clunkers Government Program

The "Cash For Clunkers" Government Program is fixing to kick off with a bang. There are several rules and guidelines for customers and dealers to follow when applying for credit under the Cash For Cars program.

The car or truck under the "Cash For Clunkers" program must be running and must have been continuously insured for the past year. This is in place so that someone cannot go out and buy a vehicle and immediately turn it in for credit.

The "Clunker" must be registered in the buyers name. Meaning, you cannot turn in another vehicle in the household that is not registered to you. This would make it too easy to say "such and such person lives in my household."

The Car you are buying must get at least 4 miles per gallon better than your "Clunker" to receive a $3500 credit. If the car you are buying gets 10 miles per gallon better, you get a $4500 credit. This is determined by the average miles per gallon on the new window sticker. You can figure this on your trade in by the chart at fueleconomy.gov.

Trucks are figured a little differently and it depends on the GVW and you can check with your local dealer for details or on the cars.gov website.

All "Cash For Clunkers" vehicles must be turned in to recyclers where these cars will be crushed. There will be guidelines set in place where recyclers can use certain parts of the cars, but engines and transmissions must be scrapped.

The idea of this program is to get Gas Guzzlers off the road and replaced with more fuel efficient, greener, cars and trucks on the road. Remember, this is a Government program so there will be no gray area. Your vehicle will qualify or it will not. There will be no negotiating to see if you can make it qualify. If the car does not run or you have not had continuous insurance, you can forget it, your request will be denied.

There is one Billion dollars set aside for this program meaning that around 250,000 individuals will be able to take advantage of this Government Cars Program. It will be a program that starts and will be over very fast as customers are waiting for it to go into affect. Have your information ready to go because the money will be gone before you know it and good luck with your "Clunker".