Washington wants to pay you thousands to junk your jalopy

By Tom Barlow

I'm not sure if this goes into the category of greening America or bailing out Detroit, but U.S. Senators Feistein, Collins and Schumer have introduced a measure to set up a voucher program for American auto owners that would pay them thousands of dollars to junk their old, low-mileages vehicles and buy new high-efficiency models. As the owner of a 1995 Dodge Caravan, I'm intrigued.

The 'Cash for Clunkers' proposal would reward drivers with a $2,500-$4,500 voucher for sending their jalopies to the scrapyard. Since the program is designed to get the vehicles off the road permanently, no credit would be given for selling a rustbucket to another person who intends to keep driving it.

To qualify for the credit, the junker must have had a fuel economy rating of no more than 18 mpg when new, still be in drivable condition, and have been registered in the U.S. for a minimum of the past 120 days. The proposal calls for the program to run for four years, until 2013, with the expectation that it will consign as many as a million cars a year to an early grave.

Participants would be given a voucher good toward the purchase a new or used higher-efficiency car or truck, or for rides on participating public transportation. The proposed amounts for scrapping:

* Vehicles from 2002 and later- $4,500 for the purchase of a new vehicle, $3,000 toward a used car/truck or transit fares.

* Vehicles 1999-2001: $3,000 toward a new car/truck, $,2000 for a used one or transit fares.

* Vehicles 1998 and earlier: $2,000 toward a new car/truck, $1,500 for a used one or transit fares.

The Kelly Blue Book lists the value of my current ride at $1,635, so I'd stand to make a grand on this proposal. I suppose then that I should be more excited than I am.

The reason I'm not doing cartwheels over the possible largess is that I don't see the environmental advantage of scrapping vehicles that still have a reasonable road life ahead. Yes, we will burn less gas, but at the cost of wasting part of the effort put into making the car in the first place, and the cost of more new cars than we really need. This seems like more consumerism run amok.

It also strikes me as a bill destined to create a whole new black market, smuggling cars back from Mexico.

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