Cash for Clunkers mania hits Sanders County

Matt Unrau

Congress is on the verge of passing the second installment of the highly successful “Cash for Clunkers” program, and local Ford Dealership Rehbein’s Ford has been getting plenty of calls about it.

The initial program was approved the first week of July, granting $1 billon for the program. The official rules were given to dealerships on the 24th and by the 30th of the same month the program was out of funds.

In that time Wade Rehbein, owner of Rehbein’s Ford, had an estimated three to five calls a day. However, due to stringent parameters only 60 to 70% of those callers actually qualified for the program, and the rest of them couldn’t find a vehicle on Rehbein’s lot that struck their fancy.

So although, he didn’t have one deal go through with the program on the first go around, Rehbein anticipates two or three deals on the second try including a couple deals pending with new pickups. This would effectively double the amount of vehicles he typically sells in one month, as he generally sells three or four vehicles in one month.

Part of the difficulty with inking a deal through the program is its tough set of guidelines. “It took me two weeks to get my head around the whole thing,” says Rehbein. One requirement is that the newer vehicle has better miles per gallon than the older vehicle making car trade ins for pickups virtually impossible, and the most sought after new vehicles for Ford being the Escape, Focus and Fusion.

This didn’t help Rehbein at all, since he says the Escape being an SUV was already immensely popular and they had been sold off his lot before the program started. Usually at this point, he could trade another dealership for the vehicle, but he says all of the Ford dealerships are jealousy guarding these vehicles as well because of the high interest.

Although, he has yet to directly benefit from the program Rehbein says the interest in the program has indirectly led to more business. Being the only new car dealership in Sanders County he has gotten calls from Heron to Plains, and has seen several deals not go through but the customer opt for service work on their vehicle. “It helps with the (consumer) traffic,” says Rehbein.

Rehbein says there is so much interest in the deal, because it benefits the consumer so much. Right now he has a deal pending for a pickup that is worth $700, but would be eligible for $4,500 with Cash for Clunkers. This is six times over the original value of the vehicle. “It’s actually better for the consumers than the dealerships,” says Rehbein.

As noone knows exactly how long this new money will last, Rehbein has labeled Cash for Clunkers paperwork as his priority. “We try to push it first,” says Rehbein who will wait for approval from the government before going through with a deal. During the first installment many dealerships went ahead with the deal before getting the final approval, and it is unknown how many of these dealerships got left with the check when the program ran out of money.

After getting their hands on a “clunker” the dealerships take salvage bids on the vehicle. The program allows them to sell the parts, but ultimately they want the older less fuel-efficient vehicle off the road and requires it to be disposed.