Cash For Clunkers Approved By House

I am looking forward to abusing this.

Is there any one that knows when it will go into effect? As well as how to determine what each vehicles "rated" mpg is, how the credit will be implemented?
I think there are a lot of unanswered realities that will make this a bust.
For instance, how many older vehicles have a "rating" of 18mpg or less? Not many considering that prior to 2007, the EPA ratings where weaker than they are today. A lot of big V8s had a hwy rating of 20ish. Yeah, not many of them actually get 15mpg's but again, my question is that: Where are these "ratings" coming from?
Which makes me think this will not help at all!
I met a lady a few days ago with an older Monte Carlo SS; big supercharged V8. Talk about a clunker that really doesn't get good mpgs. Yet she swore up and down that she could get high 20's. Well, there goes this bill to the garbage!!!
Maybe I'm missing something!

I agree with what you're saying. But those V8s you're referring to mostly include GM's 5.3L and maybe the older 5.7L V8 engines --- in cars. Most other older V8s (especially those in the full-size SUVs) were barely getting 20mpg hwy. Today's 5.3L V8s made by GM are notorious for achieving mid-20s mpg hwy in their cars and maybe mid-sized SUVs & pickups.

It's really hard to pin-point a solid figure that will work or may happen for this "clunkers" bill. In reality, many people driving older cars may be doing so b/c they can't afford monthly payments for a new car or they don't want to incur additional monthly expenses. And many of these people are already driving small cars. They'd have to get something fairly small or cheap to qualify.

A 1988 Caprice RWD wagon acheives 20mpg on the new EPA ratings, so cars are pretty much out. An old full size truck of some sort is what you will need to have owned. Looks like I'll have to retract my previous statement. :(

Awesome for dealers. The saleman can say: "Nice 1984 Suburban that you have Mr.& Mrs.Buyer, I know that you wanted $1500 on trade, how about we give you $4500?" "including all rebates and incentives."
Died and gone to heaven you old domestic buyers. Turn in that old lump, for a new lump. If you don't want a new lump, buy an import.

How dare you call those Japanese cars imports. Whenever the argument comes up on domestic veresus import , they are suddenly American cars! Looks like two sides of the same argument

i think that's an old 80s peugeot wagon in the picture.

JUGNU

I wonder what the stipulations are. Like how many more miles to the gallon does the new car need to get over your current. Also how can they accurately tell what your getting now without testing?

Too many loopholes in this one cause I would go trade my Matrix XR AWD in but I would not be able to get my Jeep. So it kinda sucks for people like me. I guess thats the lefts and Obama's socialist plan in action getting people to buy putt putts.

Technically I could get a new Matrix cause it gets a little better mpg than my current one (about 2).

Car has to get less than 18 mpg. Voucher is in lieu of trade-in value. You will need to own a worthless full size truck and be in a position to buy a new car to take advantage of this offer.

Existing car has to get less than 18 MPG combined City/Hwy as rated by EPA. Old EPA ratings can easily be converted to new EPA ratings for fair comparisons. New car has to get 10 MPG better than old car.

Some interesting examples:

Old: 2000 Chevy Tahoe SUV 5.3L V8 4WD 14.0 MPG Combined
New: 2010 Chevy Camaro 3.6L V6 Auto 24.0 MPG Combined

Old: 2002 Dodge Durango 2WD 4.7L V8 15MPG Combined
New: 2009 Porsche Boxter 2.9L Auto 25MPG Combined

Old: 2002 Infiniti Q45 4.5L V8 Auto 17 MPG Combined
New: 2009 Audi A4 Cabrio 2.0L Auto 27MPG Comnbined

Old: 2002 BMW 540i 4.4L V8 manual 17MPG Combined
New: 2009 Mini John Cooper Works Clubman 1.6L I4 29MPG Combined

Obviously, this list ignores the reality of pricing and vehicle needs - just for fun to see what you could get if you only wanted the $4,500.