Google Trends also highlights the top 10 US cities by “Cash For Clunkers” search volume:
THANK YOU!!! to Brian and Bruce at Limbaugh Toyota in Birmingham, Alabama for the following…
Hope everyone is having more luck submitting today….
One trick that I found that seems to work well (so far at least)…
CASH FOR CLUNKERS / C.A.R.S. GETTING WILDER EVERY DAY!
Copyright © 2008 Creators Syndicate
Lawmakers pass $2 billion bill to keep program alive; will go to Senate
4 Days into the Cash for Clunkers Mission – many dealers are experience trouble in getting paperwork processed through the cars.gov website. So far very few people have tried to submit all their deals, but feedback has been the response is slow and tedious. A few items that people have mentioned to me in the last two days that could help:
This morning’s data fromt the official CARS: Car Allowance Rebate System
(commonly know as CASH FOR CLUNKERS) website:
http://www.cars.gov/
By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY
As it prepared for its “cash-for-clunkers” program, the government rejiggered gas mileage figures on about 100 older vehicles last week in a way that changed whether they would be eligible for up to $4,500 in sales inducements.
The Environmental Protection Agency says the changes resulted from a double-check of its fuel-efficiency ratings on more than 30,000 1984 and newer vehicles in advance of the official start of the clunkers program Monday.
About half the 100 suddenly did not qualify because their combined mileage rating was revised upward; others unexpectedly got in.
“As a result of the review, roughly an equal number of vehicles became eligible as those found to be not eligible,” said the EPA in a statement. “Eligibility for about 100 vehicles was affected.”
Car-shopping website Edmunds.com said Monday that it discovered the switcheroo because potential buyers were complaining on its discussion boards.
Some said it made them ineligible at the last minute for car deals they already had on deck.
“We had everything lined up. We had a couple car dealers that had verified our car qualified, and we were ready to purchase a new car this weekend,” wrote one potential buyer, identified on the site as John1152. “But it will not happen now because at the last second the EPA updated the information at their web page for a 1993 Toyota Camry wagon … from 18 mpg to 19 mpg.”
Karl Brauer, editor in chief of Edmunds.com, said, “It’s unfortunate that consumers who had been researching and planning to trade in their vehicle … are now left in the dust.”
To qualify for the $1 billion program aimed at spurring auto sales and driving gas guzzlers off the road, the clunker must have an EPA city-highway “combined” rating of 18 miles per gallon or lower.
Buyers then get a $3,500 incentive if the new car gets 4 to 9 mpg more or $4,500 for 10 mpg or more. The new car also must itself have a minimum 22 mpg combined rating. The program ends Nov. 1, or when the $1 billion runs out.
EPA gave no reason its ratings were inaccurate or why some went up. For the 2008 model year, EPA started revising mileage figures, typically downward, to better reflect real-world driving. For example, a Toyota Prius that had been rated 60 mpg in city driving fell 20% to 48 mpg.
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-07-27-cash-for-clunkers-list-changes_N.htm
Photo courtesy of Susan Walsh, AP
Mr. Big Volume of Iowa, the legendary Pat McGrath Chevyland has been overrun with traffic in the month of July… Why? Because he went out and bought Chevrolet inventory from bankrupt dealers to flood his lots with more Silverados, Tahoes, Equinoxes and Traverses than they ever planned to sell. Some people would say this was not a smart business move, but when the Japanese asked Jim Moran what he would do with 10,000 Toyotas and he said, “Sell Em,” that is exactly what Pat was thinking.
Through the help of Strong LLC, and John Paul Strong – Pat put on one hell of a show in July with The Chevrolet Dispersal Sale.
The numbers are still coming in as how many they will sell in July – but it is looking very good. And to quote Pat McGrath himself, “This Sale Really Worked!”
IT’S BAAACK…
Leave it to the Federal Government to stir the market up. Dealers are reporting increased traffic and most are seeing the highest increase in floor traffic in relation to phones and internet ups.
LOCK and LOAD and LOG EVERYONE. You stand to see more traffic in the next 60 days than you have seen in a consistent 2 month period for the last 18 months.
Take everyone seriously – because they all want to buy.
You can tell it was not a normal weekend at Hudson Toyota and Hudson Nissan. When the idea for a two-store Used Car War was discussed in a July 2nd ad meeting, John Paul Strong had visions of King Kong climbing the Empire State building and “unbelievable” merchandising like $99 Down & $99 a Month.
Although the finished product of a 30-second TV spot did have a Giant Gorilla climbing building and a T-Rex blowing fire out of his nose, the one thing it did do was CREATE TRAFFIC.
“Traffic” is the name of the game and motivating a sales staff that has been in a free falling industry for the last 11 months is what you have to do. Not only survive, but to kick a little ass.
For inflatable animals or earth shattering traffic drivers you know who to call.
