This is the Article We Wrote TWO DAYS AGO

We are now being told that the program may go on hold…we waiting for official confirmation but this is what we have been saying for weeks and everyone laughed.  Who is laughing now.  No One.

We have been saying that the NHTSA’s dealer sales enter system was backed up.  We said that from our survey over 60% of CARS sales have still not been booked. We pointed out that it would be impossible to “gauge” sales with a broken input system.  We documented today about the growing frustration of consumers and dealers.  Tensions are high. 

It looks like someone else is doing that math in Washington.

Consumers and dealers should not panic.  This can go many ways but the sales that have been completed most likely will be honored.  What is unknown is if additional funding will be granted by Congress. 

If no additional funding were granted, car dealers would suffer a big blow as they have geared up advertising, staffing, compliance and training for a 5 day program that dissolved.

The automotive industry can not handle another death blow. 

Read our latest updates on suspension status. Click Here

Original article is below:

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July 28, 2009

We have been polling car dealers today and the number of Cash for Clunkers deals that I have been hearing that have been completed is staggering.  Many dealers that we have contacted have at least 10-15 deals done. 

• Preston Automotive group in Maryland has 60 deals done. 
• Classic Chevrolet in Dallas Fort Worth has 30 deals done. 
• Midway Chevrolet in Phoenix as 25 deals done. 
• Marlboro Nissan has done 28 deals. 
• The Bill Dodge Auto Group in Maine has done 70 deals and used car sales also also booming.
• Findlay Chevrolet in Nevada over 15 deals. 
• Bartow Ford in Florida 20+ deals. 
• Hare Chevrolet near Indianapolis has 30+ deals booked.

You get the pattern.  This is a very popular program for a select group of American consumers.  Get ready to start singing the song “Running on Empty” in a few days time.

Sales Not Submitted

From a survey we started today, early data suggests that only 35% of deals that have been completed have been submitted into the NHTSA system.  The backlog has been created by a number of factors which include:

• New forms released on Friday require consumers to come back to dealership to sign paperwork
• Dealers are getting booted off the web based submission system during a lengthy submission process.
• Dealers still do not have a proper login to submit sales

The NHTSA released numbers today saying that 4,026 sales have been processed totaling 17 million dollars but this is just a small fraction of what has been submitted and an even smaller fraction of the outstanding cars that are still not submitted.  We believe the public is underestimating the incoming flood of car deals over the next week. 

Cash for Clunkers Math

If you start to do the math, the NHTSA reports say that 20,000 dealers have registered for the CARS program.  If 50% of the dealers were “asleep at the wheel” and waited to do deals until today to start, you would have 10,000 dealers that have been pushing the envelope at least for one week. 

Add to this number all the Hyundai dealers that started selling CARS deals on July 1st and the 9,000 number is a no-brainer. 

If 10,000 car dealers have done 15 deals by now (10,000 x 15 = 150,00 cars), the money for the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) will be gone in one week .  Our past prediction that the CARS funding will run out by Labor Day weekend is looking very solid but that could be to optimistic.

Our new prediction:  the program will run out of funding by August 1st.

We also received an email today from Bradley Alexander, the CEO of  Affordable Auto Parts and Salvage, a Salvage company in Painesville Ohio, which said that they were picking up 300 cars today to bring to their authorized salvage center.  Bradley read our post and commented “I don’t think the money will even last until the end of week! ”

Call The President

If anyone knows how to call President Obama, please call him immedately.  Someone has to speak up and tell him that the $1 billion in funding will be used up in the first 30 days of a 90 day program. 

Congress will have to act quickly to allocate additional funding before the program comes to a screeching halt.  If that is the case, we hope that Congress will amend the language of the bill to acomodate the largest Cash for Clunkers petition:  www.nocashforclunkers.com

Tags: cash for clunkers, cash for clunkers broke, cash for clunkers ends, no money for cash for clunkers