Car Allowance Rebate System

The Car Allowance Rebate System ( Engl. Vehicle allowance rebate system), shortly CARS ( cars , cars'), refers to the authorization system of the Federal Government of the United States to grant scrapping scheme for old cars in July 2009. In public, the United States, the program was mostly as cash for clunkers discussed.

Function and scope

In analogy to the European scrappage bonuses, the bonus system pursues the double goal of getting old, high-emission vehicles off the road and at the same time supporting the sale of new, more fuel-efficient vehicles in the auto industry. In the 2009 supplementary budget, the funds were still managed under the title Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Program , with the same abbreviation CARS .

The scrapping program officially started on July 1, 2009, but permits were not paid out until July 24, 2009. Originally, a maximum total distribution of one billion US dollars was decided, but the responsible Department of Transportation of the United States reported that the funds were already completely used up on July 30, 2009. Industry and government estimated that around 250,000 vehicle purchases were subsidized within a week. In response to this rapid result of targeted Congress of the United States with the help of Obama - Government to an increase by a further 2 billion US dollars; the House of Representatives approved on July 31, 2009, the Senate approved on August 6, 2009. At that time, it was expected that the increase would be used up by the beginning of September. In fact, the last requests were received on August 25, 2009. Officially, the program ran until September 30, 2011, but no further applications could be submitted.

Approval criteria

• The vehicle must be under 25 years of age at the time of application.
• The purchase of new vehicles or their leasing with a minimum term of 5 years is subsidized .
• The minimum consumption of the old vehicle is higher than 13.1 l / 100 km (below 18 MPG), for large pickups and delivery vehicles even more.
• The end-of-life vehicle must be registered and insured for the owner for at least one year before the application is submitted.
• The old vehicle must still be roadworthy.
• Grants are granted in the period from July 1, 2009 to November 1, 2009 or as long as the money lasts.
• The end-of-life vehicle must be scrapped, whereby the scrapper must show a scrap value and pay more than the grant amount.
• The grant amount is taxable according to the regulations of the individual states.

The US EPA environmental protection agency has issued an exhaustive list of which models are eligible among end-of-life vehicles. The new vehicle cannot be more than 45,000 US dollars and the eligibility for the new vehicle depends on the vehicle class and these associated fuel consumption values:

• General passenger cars must be better than 10.7 l / 100 km (22 mpg).
• Class 1 trucks (especially SUVs and small pickups) must be better than 13.1 l / 100 km (over 18 MPG) and class 2 trucks (wheelbase greater than approx. 3 meters) must be better than 17 l / 100 km (over 15 MPG)
• Class 3 trucks (small trucks with a total weight of 4 to 5.5 tons) do not have any special consumption criteria, but are nevertheless eligible under certain conditions.

The federal road authority NHTSA has issued a final list of which models are eligible among the new vehicles. The payout amount is divided into two classes based on the difference in fuel consumption between the old and the new vehicle.

• A grant of $ 4,500 is granted:
  • End-of-life vehicle is a class 1 or class 2 truck
    • and new vehicle as a car with a difference of more than 10 MPG
    • and new vehicle as class 1 truck with a difference of more than 5 MPG
  • End-of-life vehicle is class 2 or class 3 truck
    • and new vehicle as class 2 truck with a difference of more than 2 MPG
• A grant of $ 3,500 is granted:
  • End-of-life vehicle is a class 1 or class 2 truck
    • and new vehicle as a car with a difference of 4 MPG to 9 MPG
    • and new vehicle as class 1 truck with a difference of 2 MPG to 4 MPG
  • End-of-life vehicle is class 2 or class 3 truck
    • and new vehicle as a class 2 truck with a difference of more than 1 MPG

In addition, there is a general rule that an exchange of an old vehicle with a new vehicle is eligible if the new vehicle is smaller (whether in size and / or weight) and at least more economical. The conversion of the difference from "miles per gallon" to "liters per hundred kilometers" is left open here because it is not linear (see conversion between l / 100 km and mpg ) - especially fuel guzzlers in the upper range reach the differences more easily, so the exchange is done in new vehicles with no special savings qualities is sufficient for the full grant of $ 4,500.

An initial evaluation showed that the American automakers with a 47% share in the first round of the discount system even benefited from the program, slightly above their other market share in the USA of 45%. As of August 3, the old car replaced was a Ford Explorer and the new vehicle replaced was a Ford Focus .

Scrapping obligation

As part of the scrapping program, special scrapping guidelines were adopted to ensure that end-of-life vehicles do not end up in the used vehicle trade. The scrapper is obliged to drain the engine oil and replace it with liquid soda waterglass , and then to start the engine and let it run until the engine is irreversibly destroyed by internal wear and tear and goes out. Furthermore, the remains of the engine block and the transmission, and in some cases the axle assemblies, may not be resold. Other parts of the remaining vehicle can be recycled, but the body may only be stored for up to 180 days for canning and must be put into the scrap press or shredder after canning.

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Senate Adds Cash to 'Clunkers' Plan," Matthew L. Wald, New York Times , Aug. 7, 2009
2. ↑ "CARS Program and CARS.gov website information" ( Memento of the original from September 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , National Highway Traffic Safety Administration  
3. ↑ "Requirements and Procedures for Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Program" - Section d "Determining Eligibility of Trade-In Vehicles and New Vehicles" ( Memento of the original from August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Docket No. NHTSA-2009-0120, Section, page 25ff, NHTSA, DOT, USA  
4. ↑ "As 'Clunker' Rebates Help Ford, Aid May Be Extended" , Nick Bunkley and Derrick Henry, New York Times , August 3rd 2009

Web links

• http://www.cars.gov - website of the licensing authority