When you truly think about the Cash 4 Clunkers program, it is a fantastic program in theory, however since they have put it into practice, not only has it been a confusing and … interesting ride, but it has become somewhat of a joke.  For those of you that have been living under a rock since July 27th, we are going to break down the recent Cash for Clunkers program for you and let you in on a few secrets.

Now, when the program was first introduced, the government thought long and hard about the amount of money that they were going to set aside for this particular program that they insisted would help the economy in the long run.  One billion dollars was decided on and you know what?  That was a very good plan in the first place, however – after the program was released on July 27th, all hell broke loose.

The Senate did not really anticipate that many people to take advantage of this government-funded program, however they were severely mistaken and the billion dollar limit was almost reached on July 31st.  While the Senate has been in negotiates on whether or not to shut the program down completely or to continue it and add in more money, they came to the decision to add in another two billion dollars.

Now that the two billion dollars has been added on, people are wondering exactly where this funding is coming from.  Well, the answer to that is going to be from the six billion dollars set aside for the Energy Department program that was provided under the stimulus package enacted in February.  The money was taken from this particular program and should be replaced soon enough … we hope.

The Cash 4 Clunkers program is one of those programs that is not only going to benefit a lot of people into getting rid of their cars that soak up about 18 MPG, but it is going to get them into a car that is not going to break down!  That has got to be the best part of this particular program.  How it works is if you have a car that gets about 18 MPG, you can trade it in for a car that is more fuel efficient and is going to work better for the environment … that’s it!  Then you got yourself a new and better car with a tax credit!

While many people seem to be taking advantage of this federal program, there are quite a few states that out rank the number of people that are taking advantage of this program and as of August 3rd, Michigan is topping out at number one.  With over $34 million dollars in sales since July 27th, this should really help out the economy in Michigan and hopefully help the auto sales in general.

Now that we have talked about the program overall, let’s touch base on what exactly is happening right now with the Cash 4 Clunkers program – right now, people are having a very hard time getting their $4,500 rebate from the government.  The website, while down earlier on August 3rd, when the rebates were supposed to start coming out is fixed now and things appear to be going a bit smoother.

Dealerships are supposed to be getting paid within about ten days after filing for a rebate of anywhere between $3,500 and $4,500 of federal tax credits.  While the rebates first started pouring in on August 3rd, as of August 4th, more and more rebates are pouring in, as dealerships started doing their own Cash 4 Clunkers program earlier than the anticipated launch date of July 27th.