U.S. Cash for Clunkers? Not Yet

Washington DC February 23, 2009; The AIADA newsletter reported that among the measures recently proposed in Congress for reviving auto sales in the United States were plans that would offer owners of older cars — vehicles that, in theory at least, gobble gasoline and pour out pollutants — vouchers toward the purchase of more efficient models.

While none of these so-called cash-for-clunkers plans made it into the final economic stimulus package, at least one of the proposals is still considered viable by its sponsors and could turn up appended to a future bill.

The New York Times reports that similar plans are already in effect in California and Texas, where beneficiaries of the program often buy international makes: in Texas, the car that drivers most frequently purchased with their vouchers was the Toyota Corolla, followed by the Toyota Camry. Click here for a chart.

Efforts in the Senate to guarantee that the money for trade-ins went to American companies failed. Some legislators question whether taxpayers are getting their money's worth from the programs.

From December 2007 to August 2008, Texans turned in 13,492 vehicles, costing the state $45 million.