Hard to Handle: Recyclers reportedly facing crush of cars after C4C

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:59:00 EST

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]

Hard to Handle: Recyclers reportedly facing crush of cars after C4C originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BUSTED! Canada's largest chop shop caught with 700 stolen cars

Chris Shunk — Thu, 03 May 2007 08:29:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal

For years, gearheads have made some extra coin buying junk cars like Mustangs and Chevelles, taking them apart, then selling their still-working parts on resale sites like eBay. This is also what happens in chop houses around the globe, except instead of buying junkers, they simply steal very valuable vehicles, then remove brake rotors, tires, engines, transmissions, airbags, and anything else that can be sold on the black market. Canadian police found themselves the mother lode of all chop shops, and the sheer volume of cars found on the grounds of the 100,000 sq. ft. location was simply staggering.

The scrap yard, just north of Montreal, was littered with luxury SUVs, Jaguars, Mercedes Benz, and other high-end vehicles that were being hocked for their valuable parts. Some of the cars were brand-new, with zero miles on the odometer, and others were stacked one on top of another. Needless to say, the 39 year-old owner of the shifty operation has been detained, and jail time looks like a foregone conclusion due to the overwhelming amount of evidence.

The Canadian police deserve a ton of credit for uncovering this operation, but we wonder why it took "years" to discover and investigate a scrap yard with 700 new cars and luxury SUVs that looks as if it could have been found by playing with Google Earth. The bottom picture is an aerial photo of the crime scene. Amazing!

Thanks for the tip, Derek!

[Source: ctv.ca.]

BUSTED! Canada's largest chop shop caught with 700 stolen cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 03 May 2007 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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