For local auto dealers Bob Tiffany and Marty Greenwood, the
federal government’s
”
Cash for Clunkers
”
program has brought out the good, the bad and the ugly. The
good: Business has skyrocketed this past week. The bad: With $1
billion burned by U.S. consumers in a week, it’s unclear how long
it will last. The ugly: They’re learning, in short time, the
immense pains of dealing with government bureaucracy.
HOLLISTER
For local auto dealers Bob Tiffany and Marty Greenwood, the federal government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program has brought out the good, the bad and the ugly.
The good: Business has skyrocketed this past week.
The bad: With $1 billion burned by U.S. consumers in a week, it’s unclear how long it will last.
The ugly: They’re learning, in short time, the immense pains of dealing with government bureaucracy.
While both new-vehicle dealers pointed to an inch-think, 136-page set of guidelines in noting how cumbersome the initial stages of the program have been, they also lauded the vast increase in sales it has sparked in short time.
“Did the program bring people out?” said Greenwood, who also owns Hollister Honda in town. “Yes.”
Enough so that Greenwood believes it’s the spark needed to get the American automobile industry rolling again after years of steep revenue declines and a long-standing cruise in the slow lane when it comes to developing and marketing fuel-efficient cars.
The official name of the program is the Car Allowance Rebate System. Owners of old cars and trucks can receive $3,500 or $4,500 – depending on the model – toward the purchase of a new, fuel-efficient vehicle. Dealers, then, are required to scrap the old vehicles, to increase the supply and sales of more environmentally friendly autos while getting gas guzzlers off the roads.
Below is The News and You, focusing on San Benito County’s roads.
Without question, the program has vastly increased revenue for dealers in Hollister and throughout the nation, with Ford Motor Co. announcing on Monday it experienced its first sales increase in nearly two years. Cash for Clunkers skeptics, however, have criticized whether the current demand is sustainable, how politicians plan to end the program and what effect it might have on other industries such as car mechanics and used-car shops.
Omar Bitar owns a used-vehicle business in Hollister competing with the Big 2, The Car Lot, and noted there is an upside and downside for a business like his.
“The negative effect is people are buying new cars instead of used cars,” Bitar said. “The positive effect is used cars are cheaper now.”
Taking off his hat as a business owner, though, and Bitar appears to fit into a growing number of American citizens in support of Cash for Clunkers.
“As a citizen, it’s a good idea,” he said. “It gets people buying cars. It gets the market moving.”
For the full story, see the Free Lance on Tuesday.
