If you've got yourself a clunker of a vehicle, does the government have a deal for you! By now, you've no doubt heard of Cash for Clunkers, informally known as the U.S. Government's Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS. The program is being billed as a no-lose situation: It's expected to help jumpstart the auto industry and fill the road with newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles in the process.
The program, which has officially launched and will end by Nov. 1 or earlier if the $1 billion funded for it runs out. Modeled after similar programs that have already been implemented in Europe, automakers with quality, highly fuel-efficient vehicles under $20,000 stand the most to gain under Cash for Clunkers.
For the complete set of rules, you can visit www.cars.gov, the official Cash for Clunkers site administered by the National Transportation Highway Safety Administration, but the general guidelines are outlined below.
A clunker as defined by CARS must:
- Have been manufactured less than 25 years before the date you trade it in.
- Have a "new" combined city/highway fuel economy of 18 miles per gallon or less.
- Be in drivable condition.
- Be continuously insured and registered to the same owner for the full year preceding the trade-in.
To find out the official EPA number for your vehicle, head to FuelEconomy.gov, where you can check a vehicle's mileage back to the 1985 model year.
So if your clunker qualifies, what kind of new CARS can you get? The program divides new vehicles into four classes: passenger automobiles, category 1 (small utes and trucks), category 2 (bigger trucks and suvs) and category 3 (work trucks). We've decided to leave category 2 and 3 out of the mix for our guide.
Follow all of our latest Cash for Clunkers updates at our Wide Open Throttle section BY CLICKING HERE
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