Cash for Clunkers

If you listen to the radio or watch TV you have probably seen some ads about the government's "Cash for Clunkers" plan or at least that is what they call it in the advertisements. Now if you are considering trading in your older car for a new one you might be interested in learning a bit more about the program before you go to the the car dealership. Today I am going to walk you from the law to the quick information on this program.

The law. Now the source from the US Congress for legislative actions is a database called Thomas. There is just one problem, if you search the database for "cash for clunkers" you will get a bill (H.R. 2640), but if you look at the last major action you will see the bill was sent to committee, but it has not been passed. Now we know this bill has been passed, so where is it? Well, it turns out that this bill was not passed on its own, instead it was made part of an omnibus bill, H.R. 2346 Making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes. The section we are interested in is Title 13 the "Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Program," it is 10 paragraphs long and basically lays out how much people can get and a few basic requirements. It is still a bit vague, but does have one interesting requirement "Directs the Secretary to make Program information available on an Internet website and through other means."

The web site. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has created a web site on this program at the easy to remember location of cars.gov. Here we get yet another version of the name "Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS)," but this site has a lot of good basic information. You can find information on the roll out (or when exactly you can get the rebate), how it will work, and other FAQs.

Finding a fuel efficient car. If you want to do a little prep work check out the web site, fueleconomy.gov. Not only will you find the fuel efficiency of your new car, but you will also get to check out what the EPA fuel efficiency is on your current car.

Still want more information? The library also has a guide to the government's consumer information resources.