Well, we went and turned my 2000 Jeep Cherokee (19mpg highway) with upwards of 160,000 miles in to the CARS program a couple of weeks ago. We bought a spiffy Nissan Versa (34mpg highway) to replace it.
I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that the Jeep is going to be destroyed as part of the program. It was no prize vehicle, only valued at $3500 in a private transaction, but it was certainly serviceable and would have lasted for years. In fact, with the economic downturn that was my plan. In the last year or so I’ve probably put $2k into repairs on the thing figuring I’d drive it for a few more years until it was only worth about $500 and then get rid of it. Hell, there’s members of my own extended family that could have made good use of the vehicle.
Some folks think the program is just helping out the “rich” that can afford a new car payment, and there’s a bit of truth to that. We’re going to destroy about 700,000 vehicles currently driven by people that can afford a new car payment. That’s not helping the used car market any. I think the program would have been much better, and more fair, if we let the cars trickle down the line. Round 1: Cash for Clunkers but don’t destroy the vehicles. Round 2: Clunkers for Shitboxes. You submit your Shitbox to the program and you get a Clunker that’s in better shape for a couple hundred bucks or whatever to cover the paperwork costs. Round 3: Shitboxes for Unsafe Rust Buckets. Here you turn in a car that shouldn’t even be on the road for any one of the Shitboxes on the lot. Then we junk the unsafe cars.
If you want to spread the “wealth” around why not go whole hog and get everybody in on the deal so you get more votes in the next election? Maybe I should become a strategy planner for the Democrat’s.
Anyway, we’re pretty happy with the Versa so far. The dealership called me up last Friday and said we could pick it up even though the government hasn’t approved the funds for my Clunker trade-in yet. Perfect timing for us because the call came in just an hour before we planned to leave for a vacation up in the UP of Michigan. So, we put about 1200 miles on the car already and it’s working well. Had an issue with the power outlet in it but the dealership took care of that today.
Surprising, and this is one of the reasons we got the Versa, it’s more roomy on the inside than the Jeep Cherokee. Not kidding. There’s practically no trunk space but the back seat is plenty big enough to comfortably seat a couple of adults well over 6′ tall. This also means plenty of room for a car seat, something that the Jeep Cherokee isn’t really good for. Go figure. The econobox car has more interior room than my old SUV.
Kinda fun to drive too. I call it my little go-kart.
Oh, and for the record I don’t feel the least bit hypocritical about taking a government “handout” here. I remember looking at my end of year tax documents a few years back and realized I could have bought a very nice sedan, far better than what I actually bought here, with what I paid in income tax that year alone.
