Truck trades most common in 'Cash for Clunkers' program

By TED BRIDIS Associated Press Writer - 11/4/2009


WASHINGTON — The most common deals under the U.S. government's $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program, aimed at putting more fuel-efficient cars on the road, replaced old Ford or Chevrolet pickup trucks with new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis of new federal data by The Associated Press.

The single most common swap — which occurred more than 8,200 times — involved Ford 150 pickup owners who took advantage of a government rebate to trade their old trucks for new Ford 150s. They were 17 times more likely to buy a new F150 than, say, a Toyota Prius. The fuel economy for the new trucks ranged from 15 mpg (6.3 kpl) to 17 mpg (7.2 kpl) based on engine size and other factors, an improvement of just 1 mpg (0.43 kpl) to 3 mpg (1.2 kpl) over the clunkers, or old vehicles. .

Owners of thousands more large old Chevrolet and Dodge pickups bought new Silverado and Ram trucks, also with only barely improved mileage in the middle teens, according to AP's analysis of sales of $15.2 billion worth of vehicles at nearly 19,000 car dealerships in every state. Those deals helped the Ford 150 and Chevy Silverado — along with Ford's Escape midsize SUV — climb into the Top 10 most-popular vehicles purchased with the government rebates. The most common truck-for-truck and truck-for-SUV deals totaled at least $911 million.

In scores of deals, the government reported spending a total of $562,500 in rebates for new cars and trucks that got worse or the same mileage as the trade-ins — in apparent violation of the program's requirements. The government said it is investigating those reports and said in some cases they were probably entered incorrectly by dealers or based on outdated fuel economy figures.

The new data, obtained by the AP under the Freedom of Information Act, include details of 677,081 clunker trade-ins processed by the government through Oct. 16. More than 95,000 of the new vehicles purchased under the program — or about one in seven — got less than 20 mpg (8.5 kpl), according to the data.

The new figures, requested four months ago by the AP, represent the first substantial outside accounting of the clunkers program, lauded by the White House and the Transportation Department for improving fuel economy, stimulating sales and taking the dirtiest vehicles off the road. The data show the average fuel economy was 15.8 mpg (6.7 kpl) for the old vehicles and 24.9 mpg (10.5 kpl) for the new ones. But plenty of consumers bought relatively low-mileage trucks and SUVs with the help of government checks.

"If we're looking for the environmental story here, we're going to be disappointed," said Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive at Edmunds.com, an analyst firm. "It might have started out from the perspective of improving the environment, but it got detoured as a way to stimulate the economy."

Popular high-mileage commuter cars including the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Toyota Camry and Ford Focus also were among the Top 10 most popular new vehicles bought under the four-week program, with 105,280 of those models sold for a total of about $2 billion.

Chris Moss of Smithtown traded in his 1992 white Ford 150 pickup — "it had 5 million miles on it and needed $50,000 in repairs, if you know what I mean" — for a new Chevrolet Malibu hybrid for his wife. When he drove his old truck to the dealership's back lot with the rest of the clunkers, "90 percent of what you saw were old 150s and Explorers," he said. Moss posted a video on YouTube of his old truck's final day, called "Rust In Peace."

The $3 billion program, known officially as the Car Allowance Rebate System, ran from July 27 to Aug. 25 and generally required that new vehicles get better mileage — at least 22 mpg (9.3 kpl) for cars and either 15 mpg (6.3 kpl) or 18 mpg (7.6 kpl) for trucks depending on class — and that trade-ins get no more than 18 mpg (7.6 kpl). The trade-ins were required to be destroyed in exchange for either $3,500 or $4,500 rebates.


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Tulsa World Reader Comments
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Tulsan since '72, Tulsa (11/4/2009 7:44:02 PM)
My neighbor got in on the deal, he traded a 25 yr old truck in on a 2009 truck. He told me the old truck actually got better mileage than what the clunker chart figured. He was aginst the whole ideal but concluded somebody was going to get the $4,500 credit so it might as well be him, after all the government has been taxing him 30 cents on the dollar for years and he said it was a chance to get some money back. He was laughing all the way to the bank.



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