More than 14,000 Missourians took advantage of a federal program to trade-in older vehicles for newer ones that were generally also more fuel efficient. The program was at one point or another supported by Missouri's entire Congressional delegation, Republican and Democrat.
The Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), known less formally as Cash for Clunkers, ended back in Sept. Data to measure the program’s impact was just recently released by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation.
Nationally the program resulted in 677,000 vehicle trade-ins valued at $2,850 million in federal rebates.
"There can be no doubt that this program drummed up more business, for more people, in more places, at a time when our economy needed help the most," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.
In Missouri, a total of 14,415 trade-ins were reported at 390 dealerships, with a cost to taxpayers of $60.8 million, according to MPN’s analysis of the data.
On average, cars purchased under the program in Missouri were 56 percent above the average fuel economy of cars that were traded in, an average increase in fuel economy of almost nine miles per gallon (MPG).
The most common trade-ins in Missouri were for Ford and Chevy makes. Of those trading in 4,582 Fords, 62 percent bought new cars from U.S.-owned car companies. A surprising 28 percent purchased cars from Honda or other Japanese-owned multi-national manufacturers. (Note that many of these cars are actually manufactured in the U.S.) A slightly lower proportion of those trading in Chevrolets opted for foreign-makes in their new vehicles.
Altogether of the 14,415 vehicles traded-in, they were replaced by cars from U.S. manufacturers 55 percent of the time for an average increase in fuel economy of 7.6 MPG.
There were, however, instances where fuel economy didn’t improve but only two identified in Missouri. And in both of those cases, fuel economy declined by only one MPG. In both cases, the cars traded in were more than a decade old, thus the estimated fuel economy impact may have been understated since fuel economy is a function also of engine maintenance – the older the car, the more likely the fuel economy is to decline with time.
So what does all this mean for Missourians? In general the program met its aims locally benefiting car state manufacturers and auto dealers. The incentive spurred immediate consumer behavior, which is more than can be said for much of the federal government's other stimulus programs.
Of course the real gains were for those individuals who opted to take advantage of the incentive. And over time, we will all theoretically experience some nominal benefit from the improved fuel economy.
Even though Missouri's Congressional delegation supported the program in round 1, when it came time to reauthorize or extend the program, there were no takers.
“We simply cannot afford any more [taxpayer dollars] to extend cash for clunkers,” McCaskill said via Twitter. “Idea was to prime the pump, not subsidize auto purchases forever.”
The program officially ended at the close of Sept. when the federal government said all available funds had been expended.
Related Links:
CARS website
OpenCongress Vote History for H.R. 2346
Related Blog Posts:
FiredUp Missouri: Blunt stands by Cash for Clunkers vote
AIP: Clunkers and (Russ) Carnahan: How a Missouri Congressman junked his constituents
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