Some clunkers don’t earn last minute cash

Hours before the federal Cash for Clunkers program ended Monday night shoppers flocked to area dealerships to get credit for trading older vehicles for newer more efficient ones.

Drivers rolled up to Conicelli Toyota in Conshohocken Monday in Ford Explorers and Jeep Cherokees, and left in Corollas and Camrys. Hours before the federal Cash for Clunkers program ended Monday night shoppers flocked to area dealerships to get credit up to 4 thousand 500 dollars for trading older vehicles for newer more efficient ones.

Listen:
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The scene inside is pretty calm, especially given that the steady stream of car owners coming in the door have just a few hours left to cash in on the program.

Salesman Casey Cooney says Cash for Clunkers is a good idea for consumers, dealers, and manufacturers. But he says the same problem keeps coming up,

Cooney: Some people really do have what we say are Clunkers yet their vehicle doesn’t qualify. Those are probably the people who need the help most yet they don’t get the 3,500 or 4,500 that other people may get for a vehicle they had just sitting around. Yet those people were able to take advantage of it.

Cooney cites the case of a woman who wanted to turn in a 1997 Oldsmobile but discovered its gas mileage wasn’t bad enough to qualify.