Word: clunker
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...recyclers who process the cars aren't so lucky, according to Michael Wilson, executive vice president for the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA), a trade group that represents 4,500 recyclers across the country. Because of the way dealers must destroy each clunker's engine, fewer parts are salvageable - which means less profit for the recyclers who process the automobiles. Although 60% of a car's salvage value comes from the engine and drive train, Wilson said the original cash-for-clunkers plan - the formal name is the Car Allowance Rebates System (CARS) - called for the obliteration of both. While...
...Could we do better? We're partial to Honda products, so I clicked on the 2009 Odyssey. The new model averages 20 mpg, two more than our clunker. And that is enough of an improvement under the Dingell plan to earn us $3,500. Upgrading would also cut pollution, shave half a ton from our carbon footprint and reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil by a full barrel...
...there is such a thing as sentimental value. My clunker has loads of that. We raised three babies and a toddler in that old van, which means it was doomed from the start to be both filthy and loved. That trim we sheared off during our first family vacation. The crayon mural across the backseat. The permanent apple-juice glaze at the bottom of the cup holders. The energetic scribble engraved with mommy's keys in the car door. The Cinderella stickers fused to the back window. We have stories, and memories, to match every disgusting inch of that...
...Detroit, not surprisingly, loves the plan, which makes Rep. John Dingell, the powerful automaker ally, more likely to support broader legislation. But the clunker proposal's passage is no indication that the broader bill will have an easy time of it. A rare win-win for industry and the environment, it didn't require any of the the trade-offs being discussed to pass the "cap and trade" measure at the center of the House global warming bill. Introduced April 1, the measure would require all sources of warming gases - produced by the burning of coal, oil and natural...
...every analyst is convinced that a $4,000 or $5,000 rebate would convince suddenly spendthrift U.S. consumers to buy a new car - especially the sort of customers who would own a clunker in the first place. "Either this program won't make them buy, or they're just poor," says Wolkonowicz. But a cash-for-clunkers deal with tough enough fuel standards would at least be a way to throw Detroit another lifeline without sinking the planet - even as Washington seeds longer-term demand for more-efficient vehicles. The key, like any used car contact, is to check...