The Pitch – Was cash for clunkers a success?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | 4 Comments
Was cash for clunkers a success?
Question:
After all the media hype and the commercials surrounding the cash for clunkers or CARS program, do you think it was actually a success or did it fail to bring real sales to the automakers?
Answer:
I was always a little weary of the program because the rules that came from the government were a bit easy to find loopholes in and while the automakers did see sales increase dramatically over the past few weeks, the program didn’t last as long as the government had hoped and now the car companies are dealing with the sudden jump in sales with low production.
The sales were only due to the program. If the program had never existed, sales would still be flat. So, in a way it was a success, but overall I don’t think that the government really saw what it hoped for.
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Once Cash for Clunkers was finished, September auto sales plummeted.
Tags: The Pitch, sudden jump, media hype
John from Money Magazine | Sat, Aug 29 2009
It was a minor success for auto companies but what about some consumers who, in order to purchase a new car, acquired more debt. What do they do when they find out they really cannot afford the new car payments? They may end up with no car at all and a bad credit rating.
John from Reverse Number | Mon, Aug 31 2009
Cash For Clunkers they were discussing it on the radio in Toronto last week. Strange how they never insisted on using it for cars assembled/manufactured in North America. Also it does not buy you a new car nor does it help people who can not pay the difference needed to buy a new car. Such people are the poorest of the poor. Just a nice treat for those that do have money to burn.
Chris McClelland | Mon, Aug 31 2009
I fear their may be a wave of car payment defaults, because of the new car owner’s abilities to make the payments on their car. However it is good business for car companies. The positive feeling from this campaign may be short lived.
The only true measure of success from this plan will be to look at car sales in the months after. It’ll be interesting to look at the sales volume when compared to the next three months. Hopefully the car lots cleared out some inventory.
bert from honda civic parts | Fri, Oct 02 2009
Very true! Cash for clunkers was a minor success for the meantime. But if the program had never existed the sales would surely have decreased.