Consumers Buying Gas Guzzlers with the Cash for Clunkers Program

The uber-popular government "Cash for Clunkers" program, a "have your cake and eat it too" concept put forth by the federal government by which consumers can trade in old, gas-guzzling autos for new, more fuel-efficient models – and received a large government-subsidized rebate in the process – is understandably popular with the public. And for politicians, what’s better than spurring sales for the beleaguered auto industry while at the same time saving the environment? Not much, it turns out, as politicians are falling all over themselves to fund the program even further, to the tune of $3 billion. But there’s a catch.

Turns out that while the U.S. auto industry is no doubt thankful to the pols, the environment is still groaning in protest. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood regularly speaks about how great the program is, noting in a message that "Today almost 200,000 new fuel-efficient automobiles averaging 25 miles per gallon are on the road instead of gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs." Sweet. But, as has become very clear, many Americans are using the program to purchase large vehicles that get under 20 miles per gallon. Beny Ledesma, general sales manager of a Cadillac-Hummer dealership in Miami, Florida, noted, "The Cash for Clunkers is definitely generating traffic for Cadillac and Hummer." His dealership, for instance, has already sold 3 large SUVs under the program and is in the process of finalizing 2 more.

That’s right – the Cash for Clunkers program is in no way limited to the purchase of fuel efficient vehicles. What’s most frustrating, however, is the total lack of transparency by the federal government. You remember transparency, right? That’s what we’re supposed to have now that a new sheriff is in town. So, is it a reality? Not at all. The top 10 list of top selling vehicles put out by the Department of Transportation doesn’t match that put forth by Edmunds.com, a private company that has been doing the job far better than the government for a long time (and which lists more gas guzzling vehicles on its list). No detailed records of the automobiles sold under the program have been released by DOT, so we’ll just have to take their word for it (read: no transparency) when they say the cars on American roads are getting greener. But you trust the government, right?