And the government wants to take over my health care. Uh huh.
From AP – via Breitbart:
Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government’s Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday.
The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members have left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates. They’re also worried about getting repaid.
“(The government) needs to move the system forward and they need to start paying these dealers,” said Mark Schienberg, the group’s president. “This is a cash-dependent business.”
The program offers up to $4,500 to shoppers who trade in vehicles getting 18 mpg or less for a more fuel-efficient car or truck. Dealers pay the rebates out of pocket, then must wait to be reimbursed by the government. But administrative snags and heavy paperwork have created a backlog of unpaid claims.
Schienberg said the group’s dealers have been repaid for only about 2 percent of the clunkers deals they’ve made so far.
I’ve heard the same story from a couple of large dealers in the Portland area. The paperwork for reimbursement is lengthy and the bureaucrats have an annoying tendency to bounce back the application if there’s a “T” not crossed just right. Bottom line: cash flow becomes increasingly tenuous as the dealer draws down its own line of credit to pay off the paper on the vehicle sold – and the floor plan financiers aren’t interested in dealers’ tales of reimbursement woe. So the vice gets tighter all the time.
Meanwhile, the dealers have large numbers of “clunkers” sitting around waiting for some kind of disposal. Here’s a report from Bloomberg detailing the issues (and apologies for the condom advertisement you may be forced to watch prior to the report).
More from Allah.
