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Highlands Today

Cash for Clunkers unloaded old truck

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By Raleigh Whiteman | Highlands Today

Published: September 2, 2009

I must apologize to my peers of the conservative persuasion for violating the premise of adhering to the principals of the Republican Party. The offer by the president to give people $4,500 toward the purchase of a new car was just too good to pass up.

My old 1993 truck, which was in almost perfect shape, would not sell for more than $1,600 and since we were racking up mileage on our late model car it was time to consider buying a new car. To get almost three times the value of the truck was irresistible, despite my feelings of how Obama is putting our country more and more in debt with this almost $3.5 billion stimulus.

We took the truck to the dealer and there was no problem in getting the new car and the trade in of $4,500 plus another thousand in dealer incentives.

Paperwork galore

Everything went like clockwork, with us signing papers for several hours. The paperwork was the salesman's biggest problem in making sure that everything the government wanted was in order. Up until the very last document, which was for me to agree that if the government failed to award the dealer the $4,500 that I would pay that amount to the dealer or cancel the trade and take my truck back.

I refused to sign the paper and was willing to cancel the deal right then and there. The salesman was frustrated until I asked to speak with the dealership's manager.

When he came in, I explained that I thought we had a deal and that if the deal included the requirement to sign this agreement that I was prepared to walk. I explained my belief that Obama was overextending his authority and it was likely that the dealer would not get his $4,500 and that I would not take the chance that he would destroy my pickup beyond returning it as it was. We talked for several minutes and he finally relented and let the deal go through without signing the back-out deal.

Will they cancel the deals

I wonder how many buyers are in jeopardy of having to fork up another $4,500 in order to keep their new car. Supposedly there are more than 85 vehicles from this dealership at the scrap yard awaiting destruction. Obama's Cash for Clunkers deal is going to cost the United States $3 billion, for the estimated 750,000 new cars that were sold. Reportedly only a few dealers have received any money whatsoever. This dealer had received only three reimbursements.

I suspect that the dealers will again go into another slump in selling new cars. It is much like the housing market; there are just too many dealerships with too many cars and too few customers. I wonder who is willing to pay a bundle for a hybrid electric that will be worthless when the batteries go dead and need replacement.

The real winner in this "Clunker" deal are the scrap yards. If they get a truck like mine for scrap value of $450, less the motor, which is supposed to frozen solid with a chemical, and may be able to sell the body parts, wheels and transmissions for hundreds more than they have invested.

I could not get a scrap yard to buy my topper or custom wheels before I traded it in. I suspect he was going to get the whole truck anyway.

Raleigh Whiteman, of Lake Placid, is a contributing writer to Highlands Today. You can reach him on the Internet at rwwhiteman@comcast.net

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