When the federal government launched a program to clear gas guzzlers off the roads and replace them with more fuel-efficient cars this summer, Americans responded. We traded in our old big trucks. We bought new big trucks.
The AP explains, “Billed as a way for the government to put more fuel-efficient vehicles on highways, the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program mostly involved swaps of old Ford or Chevrolet pickups for new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage.”
The single most common swap? “Trading an old Ford F-150 pickup truck for a new F-150 pickup,” according to Kicking Tires. “More than 8,000 of these swaps took place under the program, which lead to fuel-economy gains of 1-2 mpgs.”
USA Today notes, “Overall, more than 95,000 new vehicles -- about one in seven -- got less than 20 mpg. On top of that, taxpayers subsidized scores of deals -- totaling $562,500 -- for new cars and trucks that got worse mileage than the trade-ins.”
That last point is problematic, the AP notes, since such a swap would be an “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it is investigating those reports and said in some cases they were probably entered incorrectly by dealers or based on outdated fuel economy figures.” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesman Eric Bolton told the AP that the agency “is still reviewing the reports, and any dealers that submitted invalid trade-ins will be directed to return the government rebate.”
If you're in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year's best cars as well as this month's best car deals.
