Cash for Clunker Stats Reveal Surprising Trends the Industry did not Expect

NEW YORK, NY - Early Stats show surprising trends about the Cash for Clunker program that gives consumers up to $4500 towards the purchase of a new, more fuel efficient vehicle

Although the rules were just announced for the new government program, there is already alot of information about the bills impact and the cash for clunkers market. www.CashForClunkersInformation.org has interviewed some of the largest dealers in the country who have been selling vehicles to clunker consumers for almost a month and they have released some of the trends in their clunker report.

“The majority of eligible clunkers being traded in so far are domestic vehicles with over 100,000 miles,” said Sharon O’Connell, the director of www.CashForClunkersInformation.org. “The majority of new vehicles that are qualifying for the larger $4500 rebate are lower priced cars because smaller vehicles normally have better mpg ratings on average than larger, more expensive cars or trucks,” added O’Connell. “The rare exceptions are hybrids that cost more but qualify for the $4500 because of their fuel efficiency. The best deals for the Cash for Clunkers program are the less expensive vehicles that cost between $10,000-$18,000.”

“So far all of our sales have been conquest sales,” said Rick Case, the owner of one of the largest privately owned dealer groups in the country. Rick Case Automotive announced that they would help consumers when the law said customers would be eligible, which was 23 days before the government released the final rules. As a result, Rick Case has been helping clunker customers since July 1st and agreed to share all the statistics from the transactions that have occurred in his stores located throughout Florida, Ohio and Georgia; Here are some of the stats:
• “All our sales have been conquest sales”
• More than 70% of the clunkers were domestics (all Ford or Chevy trade ins)
• 71% of the clunkers were SUV’s
• 93% had over 100k miles
• 71% qualified for the $4500 (because SUV’s only need a 5mpg improvement to get the full $4500 rebate and 71% of clunkers were SUV’s)
• The average clunker trade in gets 17mpg
• The average new vehicle gets 25mpg
• The average improvement is 8mpg

Vince Sheehy from Sheehy Automotive, one of the top automotive groups in the country, agree to share the statistics from their clunker transactions that occurred in their 17 locations in Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland and Baltimore. Here are some of the stats:
• 76% domestic trades, 24% import
• 21% cars
• 79% SUV, pickups and minivans
-44% SUVs
-23% pickups
-12% minivans
• Average mileage 138,000

“Our aggregate statistics show an average of 69% mpg percent improvement from clunkers traded to the new vehicles purchased under the program. Based on a 69% mpg improvement, we estimate personal fuel consumption will decrease by approximately 300 gallons per year, reducing fuel costs by nearly $750 annually at average gas prices. If these early statistics continue for the 250,000 vehicle sales estimated to occur under the CARS program it will save consumers a lot of gas money while also helping the economy and the environment at the same time,” said O’Connell.

As a result, the US annual fuel consumption could decrease by 76 million gallons, reducing spending by a total of nearly $190 million on gasoline, and cutting CO2 emissions by more than 660,000 metric tons. Almost 80% of the initial clunker trade-ins were trucks, SUV’s or van’s and 84 percent of the new vehicles purchased are passenger cars. The average age of a trade-in model is almost 13 years old, and the average odometer reading is more than 138,000 miles. The most popular clunker trades are Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge and the least common are Honda and Toyota.

Another interesting trend are the sales to consumers who do not qualify for the government program. Chip King, from www.JerrysToyota.com, said that “over half the consumers who initially inquired about the program did not qualify but many of them bought a car anyway due to the unprecedented manufacturer incentive programs and the contributions from Jerry’s Clunker fund, “our dealerships Cash for Clunker program,” explained King.

www.CashForClunkersInformation.org
www.CashForClunkersInformation.org is a private consumer information portal, not a government website, so it is designed to give consumers a summary of the program with tools to help them determine how much funding they qualify for. The organization is proud to have been an important advocate of the congressional bill and now continues to serve as a voice for the public to encourage retailers and manufacturers to offer additional incentives to consumers to get into more fuel efficient vehicles that will help the environment, the economy and their industry. www.cashforclunkersinformation.org also helps retailers educate consumers in their local area about the Cash for Clunkers program. www.CashForClunkersInformation.org was created by Level 5 Advertising, a marketing company who provides communication services to some of the largest automotive retailers in the world.

About the Name – Cash For Clunkers

While making its way through congress there were many bills with many names so the public and the press commonly referred to all versions of the bill as the “Cash for Clunkers” program. For this reason many consumer information sites, including ours, have utilized this universally understood term to refer to the many automotive scrappage programs that exist in the world, some funded by the government (C.A.R.S) and others financed by automotive retailers. To learn more visit www.CashForClunkersInformation.org or one of the websites below.


Relevant Websites:
www.CashForClunkersInformation.org
www.DineroPorSuCarcacha.com
www.Kbb.com
www.Edmunds.com
www.Ford.com
www.NYCarsProgram.com
www.Cars.gov

Dealer Sponsored Information Portals:
www.CashForClunkersDC.com
www.ClunkersAZ.com
www.Clunkerz.com
www.CashForClunkersOhio.com
www.CashForClunkersNewYork.com
www.ClunkersUS.com
www.CashForClunkersFL.com
www.CashForClunkersFLA.com
www.CashForClunkersCarolina.com
www.CashForClunkersPA.com
www.CashForClunkersMaryland.com
www.CashForClunkersVA.com
www.CashForClunkersCarolinas.com

Contact Information

Erin Miller

PR Director

HL Group

Contact via E-mail