The Better Business Bureau serving Louisville, Southern Indiana and Western Kentucky reports that inquiries to the BBB about new car dealers during June 2009 were up more than 80% from BBB inquiry numbers for March 2009. These inquiry numbers appear to reflect increasing consumer interest in purchasing a new car.
Confirming that these BBB inquiry numbers may be a positive “economic indicator,” several Louisville-area new car dealers have told the BBB that they have seen a significant pickup in the number of visitors to their dealerships.
This trend should be spurred on by a new federal rebate program effective July 1, 2009 and designed to encourage consumers to replace older “gas guzzling” cars with new cars that get better gas mileage.
The new Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), aka “Cash for Clunkers,” program will provide a rebate of either $3,500 or $4,500, depending on the gas mileage of the vehicle traded and that of the new car being purchased.
Many details about the CARS rebate program are available to consumers and dealers on a new federal government website, www.cars.gov.
Two key facts consumers need to know are that all rebate paperwork will be handled by participating new car dealers and that federal rebates will be paid directly to participating dealers.
Key requirements for the CARS rebates are that your trade-in vehicle must:
- have been manufactured less than 25 years before the date you trade it in
- have a "new" combined city/highway fuel economy of 18 miles per gallon or less (see http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm)
- be in drivable condition
- be continuously insured and registered to the same owner for the full year preceding the trade-in
As with almost any new program, scammers may try to take advantage of consumers who don’t know how the new program will work.
The BBB believes that some scammers may be seizing on the “cash for clunkers” program to steal personal information from the unwary. BBB has received reports of consumers being contacted by phone with offers of help in processing paperwork necessary to get “a voucher” for these government rebates. But no voucher is required for consumers to take advantage of this program.
Details of the program are being finalized. However, links are available on the official website, www.cars.gov, to enable consumers or dealers to determine whether a trade-in and the new car being considered will qualify for a CARS rebate.