Car Dealers Still Waiting On 'Clunkers' Cash Reporting
Mai Martinez CHICAGO (CBS) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1
CBS
Here's the figure: $2.878 billion. That's how much money the government owes car dealers for the "Cash for Clunkers" program.
More than $200 million of that is owed to dealers in Illinois and Indiana, so CBS 2's Mai Martinez checked with some of them to see how much money they've collected from Uncle Sam.
Now that the popular program has ended, many dealerships are asking the federal government to "show me the money."
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"Out of 142 deals they owe us for, we've gotten paid on seven," Lou Tornabeni of Ettleson Hyundai said.
"We had 102 cash for clunkers," Carm Scarpace of Westfield Ford said. "We've been paid for one."
With each Cash for Clunkers deal worth between $3,500 and $4,500, many dealerships are anxiously awaiting their government payday.
Some, like Advantage Chevrolet, which sold cars up until the last minute, have more than half a million dollars on the line.
"It was chaotic towards the end," Jason Roberts said.
Roberts says his dealership sold 142 cars under the program -- for a total of about $568,000 in government rebates. So far, the dealership has only been paid about $68,000 for about 17 of the deals, which means Uncle Sam still owes them roughly $500,000.
"It's not crippling, but it definitely affects the cash flow on a regular basis," Roberts said.
Roberts says his dealership can handle the cash crunch, but others may not be as lucky, especially if they didn't follow the government's strict guidelines for the program.
"We know of one dealer that sold 40 cars under the Cash for Clunkers programs, and out of those 40 cars, he's expecting to get paid on eight," Roberts said.
But even those who did follow the guidelines say they won't rest easy until they have the cash in hand. For Westfield Ford, that's about $400,000.
"You're always nervous when the money's out there, but you've got to believe in the government," Scarpace said. "It should come back to us."
The million-dollar – or should we say, billion-dollar -- question now is when? Dealers say they don't know, but it can't come soon enough.
One of the dealers told us, originally, the government was supposed to pay them within 10 days of receiving their paperwork. But with more than 690,000 cars sold under the program, that dealer says he's not expecting payment for another 30 to 45 days.
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If any of your idiots and morons think health care will be any different, i have bridge 9 miles south of me to sell you.
What a disgrace our govt is. A pure disgrace and failure.
