Cash for clunkers. I was detailing at a Honda dealer while this program was going on. There was nothing but problems from the beginning. First, the government didn't think that the program was going to go well. They allowed every dealer (x) number of vehicles they could take in, without allowing enough money to cover (x) amount of vehicles for all the dealers in the program. So, we got our first 5 in, and found out that, because other dealers had already claimed (x) number of cars, our dealer might not get paid for the vehicles on the list, because the money was already gone. So, the dealer stopped taking cars in and began stressing about how they were going to get $4500 a piece for the 5 we had, when the max value was $500-$2000.

2 weeks later, government dumped more money into the program, and the dealers were guaranteed to get the money for the clunkers they had already inspected as "clunkers", but could not take in any more. So, our back lot begins filling up with cars...and I begin getting sadder...now mind you, about 5 of our 40 were junk. The other 35, (our newest was a 2005 Chev panel van with 125,000 on it), included 3 S-10 Blazers, a Pontiac Aztec which EASILY could have resold for $7000, early 90's Toyota 4x4 pickup, different jeeps, Dodge Ram, and a nice F-150, and a almost showroom condition 1997 Chev Silverado.

Rules of the program: Vehicles had to get a combined MPG of 19 or less, and had to be traded in on a vehicle that got combined 25 MPG or better (i believe.) Vehicles had to be complete, and parts could only be removed by the salvage yards who were receiving the vehicles. No Engine components could be resold by the salvage yard. Vehicles had to be crushed within 90 days of receiving.

Well, the GM of our dealer allowed us to..."alter" the vehicles. We pulled aftermarket stereos/wiring, I pulled a few accessories off of vehicles (like a light bar off of a Dodge Dakota that sold on C/L for $100), and any "parts" had to be replaced...so if you pulled a bumper off to replace the damaged one on your truck, you had to put the damaged one on the clunker. A couple guys swapped tires, one tech traded bald tires on stock Toyota rims for a set of 31's on American Racing rims off the 90's Toyota pkickup. Hell the GM himself paid me $20 to pull some shelving out of a panel van on my lunch break one day so he could use them in his garage at home.

Then, the lube techs pulled in the vehicles, drained the oil from the pan, and dumped in a mixture of water and the "liquid glass", drove them back to the back of the lot, and were instructed to hold the throttle at 2500RPM and the engine should have seized in 15-30 seconds. Ha, rules. They were holding them wide-open throttle. Had a Jeep Wrangler running for 5 minutes before it seized. It was fun.