There is a massive fraud being perpetrated by those involved in the Cash-For-Clunkers program, but its not the buyers, or the dealers, or the scrap guys.
Turns out there is a unheralded and well-hidden section of the bill that allows dealers to sell the clunker trade-ins to auto wholesalers, who are not required to junk the cars. The dealer must scrap the car, but only if he cannot sell it to a wholesaler.
This section of the program was inserted into the bill by members of Congress, so this fraud is being perpetrated by a Congress that has a habit of not reading the bills they pass.
Yes, some vehicles are being scraped, but only those that the dealer cannot wholesale.
So. The dealer gets between $3,500 and $4,500 from us taxpayers for a trade-in, and then he can legally peddle it to a wholesaler for an additional few thousand dollars. The wholesaler can then sell it to an independent auto lot everywhere on the planet, and the car ends back up on the highways.
The dealer is not breaking any laws, the wholesaler is not breaking any laws, the independent retailer is not breaking any laws, all thanks to a Congress that did not bother to read the bill they approved.
But the taxpayer? It's the shaft once again, compliments of a government that has lost its way.
2 comments:
Gee, a gummint program designed to transfer wealth from working taxpayers to the ne'er-do-well kids of the OMFR running car dealerships...
Who wrote this POS bill, George W. Bush!?
Hate to pop you bubble Ted, but G.W. Bush never heard of the Cash for Clunkers program, although he probably wishes he had.
It was generated by those fine folk controlling the House, The Senate and the White House.
That's my guess...
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