Staff Writer
CARIBOU, Maine — The word on the street is that funds from President Obama’s stimulus package have started reaching the pockets of those in need, and that word is CARS (Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save), or better known as “Cash for Clunkers.” The program, designed to energize the economy; boost auto sales and put safer, cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles on the nation’s roadways, helps consumers buy or lease a more environmentally-friendly vehicle from a participating dealer when they trade in a less fuel-efficient car or truck.
On August 7, the House voted to add $2 billion to the program, which is good news for dealerships like Griffeth Ford of Caribou, who have received about 30 vehicles through “Cash for Clunkers” between their Ford and Honda stores.
According to Neal Griffeth, owner of Griffeth Ford, 30 to 40 percent of sales for the month of July were associated with the program, though the dealership has been seeing an increase in sales and service over the last few months, specifically in the past two weeks.
“Thirty to 40 percent of the traded in vehicles are truly junk,” Griffeth said. “At least half of the unites traded in have a value of $1,000 to $2,000 real value and these customers are getting $3,500 to $4,500 [through ‘Cash for Clunkers.’]”
Like many dealerships across the country, Griffeth Ford employees ran into a couple of problems being reimbursed through “Cash for Clunkers.”
As of August 7, Griffeth’s is still waiting on over $120,000 in accounts receivable from the federal government for “Cash for Clunkers.”
“One [problem is] that we are owed approximately $120,000 in rebates from the Federal Government and we don’t know when we are going to paid,” Griffeth stated. “Also, we have spent over 60 hours in the last two weeks trying to load the sales onto the government Web site to be reimbursed: originally it was taking four hours per deal to load the 20 questions along with attachments,” he added. “The system is much improved over the last few days and now we are able to load a deal in about 30 minutes. The problem is the system can’t handle the volume and would keep kicking us off their Web site.”
To be eligible for the Cash for Clunkers program, the purchaser must provide documentation that they owned the qualified vehicle for at least the past 12 months. Documentation may include the current vehicle title and the current registration, or registration documents for at least 12 consecutive months, plus proof the vehicle has been insured for the past 12 months.
“Many people are opting to use the 12 consecutive months of registration as proof,” noted Garry Hinkley, Vehicle Services Division director for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. “As a practical matter, that means showing their current registration plus the immediately preceding expired registration. Some people did not keep or cannot find their last expired registration needed to complete the 12 months so they are calling the BMV to obtain a copy. The Bureau maintains historic records in a microfiche system, and the research and retrieval process takes some time. There are limits as to how many staff can work in the retrieval and printing process simultaneously,” Hinkley noted.
Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, whose department includes the BMV, urged potential car purchasers to try to locate their ownership documents prior to car shopping. Dunlap also said that the Bureau is able to provide registration copies usually within 24 hours.
Bureau officials noted that the Registration Unit is averaging over 100 additional calls per day from people looking for copies of their prior year registration.
That adds up to a lot of “Clunkers” customers hungry to upgrade their vehicle.
“For Ford, our most fuel efficient model is the Focus,” Griffeth said. “We also have the newly designed 2010 Fusion hybrid that gets almost 39 MPG average. For Honda, they have three units — the Civic, Insight Hybrid, and Fit — that are very fuel efficient. Also, for SUVs, the Ford Escape and Honda CRV’s have been real popular in the program,” he added.
