Another question about the cars, if they are destroyed, what does that do to the price of spare parts, etc., and what does that do to the energy consumed to make new parts?
Here is a good article:
http://www.laurensautosalvage.com/cash_4_clunkers/cash_for_clunkers.htm
"Why The CARS Program Will Not Work
The newly passed “Cash for Clunkers” program, AKA Car Allowance Rebate System, is a severely flawed and harmful piece of legislation. It’s based on assumptions that are simply not true, it’s impossible to enforce, it’s harmful to the environment, it will drive up the cost of many used parts, it will cost many American jobs, and of course is a complete waste of tax payer dollars.
The assumption that this legislation is based on is that people driving “older”, gas-guzzling cars will turn their cars in to the government and receive a “credit” to purchase newer, supposedly more fuel-efficient cars, thereby reducing our dependence of foreign oil and theoretically creating new jobs building new cars. The problem here is that it’s a well know fact that most older cars built in the 1980’s and 1990’s actually get just as good, if not better gas mileage than their brand new counterparts. It is not uncommon for a ‘90’s V6 Taurus to get 30 MPG, or ‘90’s 4-cylinder Accord to top 32 MPG, and some vintage Nissan Sentras and Ford Escorts can top 40 MPG. Going back to the ‘70s and ‘80s, many small Hondas and Volkswagens toped 50 MPG -- even better than modern Hybrids! There will be many cases where people will “trade in” a car that actually gets better gas mileage than the new one they’re buying with the credit!
There are other “assumptions” this program is based on that simply do not hold water. One problem is that there is no guarantee that people who receive these credits will even buy an American car. In fact, it’s more likely that people looking to purchase very fuel-efficient cars will buy a Japanese or a Korean car rather than an American car. This is great for job creation in Asia, but does little to nothing to create jobs here at home.
Another problem is that people who have the money to spare and good enough credit to buy new cars are probably not driving old “gas-guzzling clunkers”. It is more likely that they are driving vehicles less than six years old. There is almost no difference between a 2004 and a 2010 model automobile as far as MPG rating and pollution emissions.
Yet another problem is the disposal of cars turned in under this program! New car dealers routinely sell their trade-in cars to wholesalers, who then clean them up and sell them on used car lots. This will not be possible if the car must be destroyed…. Only automotive salvage companies have the capability to destroy cars. This means that cars traded in to this program now become almost worthless…. Less than the price scrap metal (currently about $200.00 for a complete full-size car). Many recyclers, including us, do not wish to fool with these cars in the first place as the hassle and cost of all the government paper work will far exceed the few dollars the car is worth as scrap metal.
As for enforcement, we can think of any number of ways to get around the requirements in this legislation. For example, one version of the bill requires recyclers to destroy all engines in cars turned into this program that get less than 18 MPG. Another version requires that the engines, transmissions, and some other drive train parts be destroyed from these vehicles, as well as raising the MPG cutoff limit to well above 18 MPG. It would be very easy to throw any old broken engine and transmission into a crusher, smash into a cube, and then claim that this hunk of metal was actually from the car turned into the Cash for Clunkers program. After “proving” that the parts were “destroyed”, the recycler can then sell you a bag of bolts and “give” you the engine or transmission for “free”.
As for the environment, the benefits of recycling used parts are well known and are undisputable. The amount of energy, raw materials, and pollution emissions saved are astronomical when reusing a used part verses manufacturing a new one. Destroying perfectly good parts and forcing consumers to buy new ones, most of which are made in China, will greatly increase the world’s pollution output and drain away even more of our limited natural resources " including a large increase in the consumption of oil.
As for driving up prices, that’s as simple as the laws of supply and demand from a high-school Economics 101 class, which is evidently basic education that most of our congressmen never received. If they had, then would realize that whenever you reduce the supply of any product when demand remains constant, then the price of that product will increase. As more and more perfectly good engines and transmission are destroyed, they will become harder to find and will drive up the price of the remaining parts still in the market. This harms both consumers and recyclers because not only will consumers have to pay more for parts, but recyclers will have to pay more to get older cars (because the demand is so high and there are fewer out there to be bought).
As to how this program will cause many thousands of job losses, as less and less used cars are available for recycling, automotive recyclers all over the country will have to reduce staff to keep pace with falling demand. In addition, all of the related industries such as repair shops, towing companies, auto auctions, used car dealers and the like will have to reduce their employees as well. These are all 100% American jobs going down the toilet….. All automotive recycling, salvage, and repair is performed in our local communities here in the US, where as most of the new cars purchased as a result of this program will be made overseas (as stated above).
Now if you’re not ready to blow your top after learning just how harmful this “Cash for Clunkers” program really is, then try this on for size; As cars are being destroyed, prices are going through the roof, pollution is being created by leaps and bounds, oil is being sucked out the ground at record paces, and thousands and thousands are people are being laid off " You’re helping to pay for it all via your tax dollars!
Obviously, we at Laurens Auto Salvage oppose the “Cash for Clunkers” program. Unfortunately, the senate has just snuck this bill passed us this week (first week of July 2009) and Obama just signed it into law. Now nothing can be done to stop this madness.............. all we can do is watch our tax dollars go down the drain."
