Cash for Clunkers Math

Cash for Clunkers

The person who calculated this bit of information is now, and has been a professor at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown for the last forty some years.

He says that:

A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons of gas a year.

A new vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480 gallons of gas a year.

So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction reduced gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.

The government claims 700,000 clunkers have been replaced so that is 224 million gallons saved per year.

That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.

5 million barrels are about 5 hours worth of US consumption.

More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars.

So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million.

They spent $8.57 for every $1.00 they saved.

I'm pretty sure they will do a much better job with our health care though.

 

That's OUTSTANDING!

 

Amazing is all I can say

 

Political muscle much stronger than governmental wisdom

Dear Silverfox and Station Wagons lovers,

*Heavy Sigh*, can't you see that I'm already depressed!!

Unfortunately, there is another potential lesson to draw from this which would indeed worry us classic car owners. Those who want clunkers off the road aren't afraid to throw away money in order to do it.

I don't think any of us want beaten-up old cars on the roads. But politicians are about as near-sighted as this example implies. I can't imagine how the present political climate will ever making trying to take care of a classic car easier . . . . .

Edouard

 

For the polit-craps also..... How much $ spent on this, and how much $ to buy a new car to save(???) $? Great and good for you that you have a economical car to drive that cost 1/2 in gas compared to what I drive...... I own my car flat out so gas is all I'm paying...... The monthly payment to get this better gas mileage is the main reason I'll drive old cars. I bout my honey a new Ford Escape....can't compare to the gas millage, now way, but my old wagons are cheaper on the pocket at the end of the month, and do you really think your new car will last 1/10th of the time my old cluncker will??..........

 

I am not surprised, that is what happens when a self serving business aims to benefit big time and the average tax payer gets royally screwed.
A lot of good cars were destroyed for no reason other than so someone could pat themselves on the back.

 

Not to mention the energy used to make those new cars that replaced the perfectly serviceable ones that were destroyed.

mike

 

I could replace my 14mpg Gran Torino with a 28mpg compact like a Ford Focus. But do the math. $18,000 to buy the new car. I only drive my car a couple thousand miles a year but for the sake of argument let's say I drive a thousand miles a month. Based on a value of $1000 for my car and $3.66 per gallon for fuel (what I paid to fill the Durango yesterday) it would take 130 months to break even.

THAT IS NEARLY ELEVEN YEARS OF DRIVING A FORD FOCUS AS MY DAILY BEATER. NO WAY!!!

Of course with an older used 28mpg car the choice is simple, and if I bought, say, a $3000 2003 model Focus it would only take me a little over a year to cover the difference.

What concerns me are the THOUSANDS of people who think, wow, I could save so much money if I trade in my car now! And they don't realize that while yes, they are saving $130 a month in fuel, they have other expenses which go up. They now have $120 a month for full coverage insurance on the new car versus $30 a month liability on the used car. They now have a $300-$400 a month car payment unless they had all that cash laying around. They now have to go to the dealer for maintenance or they void their warranty. The usual $12 for oil and a filter and changing it in the driveway is now a $39.95 special, after coupon discount, plus environmental fees and taxes. Now they have a timing belt to change every 60,000 miles and that's a $600 job. Those thin 17 inch 50 series low rolling resistance H rated tires on a new car are more expensive, doubly so, than the $60 Mastercraft 205/75R14's you ran on that old clunker you had before.

 

Umm its all been part of the master plan for years actually. They ditched leaded gasoline. All cars up until 1974 ran on leaded gas. They forcefed us unleaded gas to feed our cars. They forced us to buy cars with new catalic converters in the name of polution. Which among other things cut down horsepower .. in the name of polution.

Cars that were built to run on leaded gasoline were made to run on a higher octane fuel. Thats how they were built. Over time running unleaded gas will eventually burn up the valves. Unless you put in harden seat valves. When leaded gas was banned in the middle 90s, many of these cars already had lots of miles on them. The idea they had was to make the motor modifications so expensive people would deem it not worth it to doll out lots of money to repair these cars once the valves burnt up. Deals were cut with the various parts suppliers in order to make motor rebuilds and motors more costly to fix or replace. Thus forcing you to buy a new econobox acceptable by the politicans. Theyve had a pipe dream of all of us driving cars that will get 60 mpg.

Here in California in order to regester a car , every two years you are required to pass an emmisions test ( smog test ). Oh course this is another unneccessary way to get money for the state. All cars from 1999 will throw a code if the emmision system has a issue and the check engine light will come on. . Aside from the car running like crap. So the smog test also is bs.

The cash for clunkers was yet another colosol blunder at the expense of the tax payer. millions of ragged out more than 15 year old cars on the road that were pollution city involvement. So came along cash for klunkers. By pouring a government approved solution into the oil filler hole, perfectly good running engines would seize up. It would ruin the motor so badly it was not even rebuildable. Amazeing how no one has criticized that program that cost the taxpayers billions of dollars, but got the cars on the back lots moved out and selling again. They made the cars that were worth nothing into something to trade up with, and eveyrone took on these completely outrageous car loans and cars were selling again in the aftermath of The Great Collapse of 2008.

I also believe they clunkers thing was to help jumpstart the auto unions, but did help the imports as well to some extent. We had just bought GM and Chrysler yet the economy still wasnt going anywhere fast. No growth.
In order to rebuild the gutter GM and Chrysler companies they needed to give people encentive to buy. To trade in that bucket 92 Buick or Toyota that ran perfectly fine for a newer car. . Just my own opinion.

 

That 'Cash for Clunkers' sounds like a typical European (EU) plan. Plans we have to deal with here on almost a daily base.

Last week our gas prices reached an all time high due to the raise of sales tax (from 19 to 21%). Now 1 US gallon costs $9.61.
So the outcome of the above math doesn't come close here.

And with our new government re-considering tax exempt for classic cars my hobby might come to an end (with that plan I will have to pay over $10,000 per year for the Buicks on taxes only, also taxes on insurance will increase about 10%; I only drive about 1,500-2,000 mls per year on all Buicks together).

 

after reading that....i wont complain about here again

 

Give it time. We here south of the border (USA) are on the fast track unless we wise up fast.

mike

 

I do hope everyone realizes the average price of unleaded regular was UNDER $2.00 A GALLON when Obama took office!
And who's paying for the Gulf clean - up??
Love it when I hear one companies refinery lost power, but they ALL jack prices 25-35%!
Affects one area, but we even feel it in Chicago, because they can!!!!

 

i have a mkIII focus (current model...the cool looking one) as a daily "beater".
and i haven't dropped below 33.5 mpg average in the 6 mo. i have owned it.
the odd thing is...this is my 3rd focus. i had an 02 zx3 hatchback 5 speed and before i started modding it..i got 32 highway max! 26 mpg mixed cycle.
my wifes 08 focus got 35 highway and 28 mixed. this new one...which is 400lbs heavier, longer, and wider that the other two but has essentially the same engine with the addition of direct injection and a timing chain rather than a belt and 20 more hp than the 08' (30 more than the 02' prior to mods...it was making around 189 after mods) i get 33.5 mixed cycle... on the highway i get 43mpg if i keep it at 65 (the speed limit here) i get 40 mpg if i bump it up to 70-75mph.

that said. i sold my 1992 caprice wagon to buy this focus. the caprice got 15mpg mixed cycle and 20 mpg on the highway. it took 15-17 gallons to fill it per week. (i work 4 - 10hr days per week plus saturday running around)
with my focus i get a week and a half on and 11 gallon fill up.
@ $3.89 per gallon
17 gallon fill up on the caprice = $66
11 gallon fill up on the focus = $43
that is a $1,200 per year savings in fuel economy.
however...i am paying $1,800 per year for the car for 6 years. ($3,000payment - $1,200fuel savings = $1,800)

that said... when the caprice broke i had to fix it cash in hand.
it was rusting which i had to constantly contend with.
not to mention risking critical failure of any major component on a car that had close to 200,000 miles on it. (i dont care how meticulously maintained the car is...its a risk.) with the focus..if anything fails i have bumper to bumper warranty till after i pay it off. for me to have a daily that is worry free allows me to worry more about the Buick.

now....i will say that the ability to drive a v8 car daily like some of you is awesome...smiles per gallon is just as important to a gearhead. ..i just dont have that anymore. my commute is 25 miles each way and may get longer next year!

 

The oil companies got it figured out. One refinery in a particular area makes gas for 4 or 5 different oil companies. Got a buddy who's an engineer at the Conoco-Phillips refinery in San Pedro. The make gas for Standard, Arco, etc.......Too expensive for one oil company to build refineries in all areas.