Congressman Bruce Braley went to a Quad Cities car dealership to mark the last day of "Cash for Clunkers." Braley introduced the idea this spring and, according to the D.O.T., about 700,000 vehicles have been purchased through the program.
"One of the most successful aspects of this program is it is getting old gas-guzzlers off the road, average improvement in fuel economy of 10 miles per gallon," Braley says. "But it’s going a lot more than that. Just last week General Motors announced it was hiring more people back because the demand is getting great for these vehicles."
Craig Miller is general manager of Lindquist Ford in the Quad Cities. "We sold 91 units for $2.3 million at Lindquist Ford in sales. At Clinton Auto Group we sold 58 units for $1.4 million in sales," he says, "so combined between our two stores we sold 149 units and (made) $3.7 million in sales."
In a demonstration for the media gathered at the auto dealership, Braley poured to a special liquid into a "clunker" truck and the truck ran ’til it sputtered and died. The "Cash for Clunkers" program officially ends at seven o’clock tonight.
Some dealerships had stopped offering the incentive, as they’re still waiting for the federal government to pay the $3,500 to $4,500 for each clunker trade-in they’re recorded since the program started in July.