Cash for Clunkers heading to junk yard (CNN title not mine)

Cash for Clunkers, the very successful federal program that has brought car buyers back to showrooms, is about to reach a very rough end of the road. Auto dealers, among the biggest supporters of the program, are pulling out in large numbers, worried that they won't be reimbursed for the up to $4,500 they have advanced to each customer who trades in older gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient models.

Dealers are complaining that slow processing of paperwork by the Department of Transportation has put them in a cash flow bind, requiring them to advance well over $1 billion so far. They also worry that the delays in processing their applications could mean there are far more deals in the pipeline, a problem since the $3 billion allocated to Cash for Clunkers is already close to exhausted. According to the most recent figures from the Department of Transportation, there have been more than 457,000 deals so far, with claims of nearly $2 billion.

Michelle Primm, managing partner of Cascade Auto Group in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, said she had done about 31 clunker deals, but only has gotten money back on three of them. She said she will not close new deals until reimbursement arrives. Even though she knows she is losing sales because of that, she said she can't afford to do otherwise given how much cash is needed to run a dealership. --snip--