Hard to Handle: Recyclers reportedly facing crush of cars after C4C
The ramifications of America's. Cash for Clunkers program are still being figured out – which isn't all that surprising given that a total of 700,000 or so sales totaling $2.877 billion were processed in just one month. And besides facing the unfortunate lack of suitable demolition derby material, scrapyards are reportedly finding themselves ill-equipped to deal with all the junked iron sitting behind their barbed-wire fences.
To fully benefit from the program, these scrap cars need to be properly recycled, a process that includes removing most (if not all) of the good usable parts from each vehicle before sending the remaining hulk through crush and melt-down machines. According to the rules outlined in the original Car Allowance Rebate System documentation, recyclers had six months to dispose of all these car-casses. Apparently, that's not nearly enough time.
The American Recyclers Association explains that the initial six month deadline might have been acceptable before Congress tripled the size of the C4C program, but more time will likely be needed to deal with the mess left by the program's expansion. Another six months is now being requested of the Department of Transportation, though no final decisions have been made thus far.
[Source: The Associated Press via MSNBC | Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Avinash machado 10:09AM (10/28/2009)
Such a waste of functioning cars.
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9600baud 10:23AM (10/28/2009)
i agree, if they were to turn around and donate these cars to charity i'd be all for it...
Jared 10:46AM (10/28/2009)
Not really... Metal prices are through the roof right now. There are probably a lot of companies in the metal industry (like maybe metal roofs, or cheap toys or something) that are going to be happy all this raw product is going to be coming back into the cycle. Although, I could also be completely wrong and we should go get back all of our old Tahoes, Explorers, Ecoline vans, and Mazda B3000's....
Gruv 12:33PM (10/28/2009)
"removing most (if not all) of the good usable parts from each vehicle".
Oh, except the engine, which was pointlessly destroyed, even though many of them were working perfectly. Oh, and that part was worth the most. Oh, and it was the most desirable part on the whole car.
I can tell you one thing, of the 123 SVXs destroyed, I bet almost ALL of them had working engines, with bad transmissions. And the Eg33 is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Bastards.
r0kh 5:53PM (10/28/2009)
"To fully benefit from the program, these scrap cars need to be properly recycled, a process that includes removing most (if not all) of the good usable parts from each vehicle before sending the remaining hulk through crush and melt-down machines."
so they actually take parts off cars that can be re-used?
where are all the psychopaths that were crying about c4c taking much needed parts off the road?
dukeisduke 10:17AM (10/28/2009)
Amen (except for the awful Ford Windstars, like the blue one in the middle). A local TV news story here in Dallas showed a local salvage yard crushing C4C cars. The only thing they were removing were the doors, which they said they were shipping to someone in Michigan (to replace rusty ones, I suppose). One of the cars they showed being crushed was a Cavalier, which I seriously doubt qualified under the C4C program.
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Cornholio 11:13AM (10/28/2009)
Absolutely nothing wrong with crushing a Cavalier...
BMWFanatic 12:42PM (10/28/2009)
@ Cornholio
Something Georgia Tech MIGHT have done last weekend :)
Luis 10:20AM (10/28/2009)
Sounds like a reasonable request to increase the time allotment to recycle the junk cars.
Now for the bombardment of how terrible the program that worked was...
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Brian 10:22AM (10/28/2009)
What a disgusting example of Socialism, a waste of tax payer dollars, and a waste of perfectly good cars.
Kick out CONgress in 2010! No to Democrat rule!
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Rich 11:08AM (10/28/2009)
Err, one minute socialism is against business; next minute it's a "disgusting example" of business stimulation.
Which is it, freako?
Lar7789789 10:34AM (10/28/2009)
dude, that 1996-1999 model year cadillac Sedan deVille looks like its in pretty good shape and that must be worth at least 6-8k depening on where you live.
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Tourian 10:40AM (10/28/2009)
IF it has blown headgaskets and bad lower block seals its worth $500. A lot of Northstars from that era are prone to that, and its a 3 or 4 thousand dollar repair bill. And even if it wasn't 6-8K is awful high even for a low mileage cream puff.
dukeisduke 10:56AM (10/28/2009)
Tourian, not to mention the head studs that frequently fractured, necessitating an engine pull, to get the rear head off. The Northstar is great in theory, but in practice, not so much. As for resale value, my mother-in-law got 10k for her 2001 deVille (with 50k miles) in 2005, when trading for a new Lexus ES330. The Cadillac and and Lincoln dealers only offered 6-7k.
jinsei888 10:43AM (10/28/2009)
But this isn't a surprise to anyone right? Because this is typical of America, act first and worry about the problems later.
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happyfun86 10:49AM (10/28/2009)
For real. Doesn't anyone plan anything from start to finish these days?
BoxerFanatic 10:48AM (10/28/2009)
Gee... who would have thunk that 6 months isn't enough time to do the job right.
I wonder if the dealers will see their "gub'ment cash" before the 6-month timeframe, let alone getting those cars properly scrapped.
This program was the Titanic of FAIL BOATS. There was not a single aspect of this that wasn't either bungled, or completely ludicrous from it's inception.
Car dealers and salvage yards have done their jobs, and performed their services just fine at re-allocating and re-cycling older vehicles, without the government's help. The government spent money it didn't have to screw things up. AGAIN.
And people still think they should have a crack at Labor, Medicine, and Energy, which are much more vital. No way in hell should that be allowed.
Capitalism hasn't failed. The regulations that restrict capitalism have failed. Capitalism hasn't been allowed to resuscitate.
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Luis 11:00AM (10/28/2009)
Um, the program worked. The program worked so well that it was out of cash in a few weeks and needed more cash. The average MPG increased by 9 from the average car traded in to the car purchased. Inventories moved. Factories are churning again. Yet here on AB, the wingnuts continue to deride anything they can possible sink their teeth into.
Shameful, really, how some people will grasp for just about any lie or misconstruction of the truth to further their own misbelief and then try to spew it to others.
So I ask, how did Rush's teat taste this morning?
BoxerFanatic 11:05AM (10/28/2009)
PS... just for the greenies who want this program to get good cars off the road...
I want to (but probably won't...) pour out some 5w30 on the ground, as a toast to the fallen cars that went far before their time.
A couple of SVXs that are probably in BETTER condition than mine gave up some parts that mine needs... But I would rather those cars were still on the highway (getting 30mpg at cruising speed), where they belong.
~140 of them are now on death row for crimes they didn't commit, amongst the other nearly 3/4 of a million vehicles now off the market.
montoym 11:50AM (10/28/2009)
- "The program worked so well that it was out of cash in a few weeks and needed more cash." - Have you ever heard of a government program that gave away money not being successful? The fact that people took the money gladly isn't my definition of success.
- "The average MPG increased by 9 from the average car traded in to the car purchased." - If you believe some of the other posters on here, many of those cars weren't being driven anyhow due to severe issues. So why does the mileage gain matter if the donor car was destined for a junkyard(and not the highways) anyhow?
- "Inventories moved. Factories are churning again. - Due very little to C4C. Again, it was a short-term deal that boosted purchases for a few short weeks. The economy(and auto sales) will recover just fine(though it will take time) without Uncle Sam's "help".