Let’s just look at how the “smart” car buyer got taken to the cleaners:
If you traded in a clunker worth $3500, you get $4500 off for an apparent “savings” of $1000.
However, you have to pay taxes on the $4500 come April 15th (something that no auto dealer will tell you). If you are in the 30% tax bracket, you will pay $1350 on that $4500.
So, rather than save $1000, you actually pay an extra $350 to the feds. In addition, you traded in a car that was most likely paid for.Â
Now you have 4 or 5 years of payments on a car that you did not need, that was costing you less to run than the payments that you will now be making
But wait, it gets even better:Â you also got ripped off by the dealer.
For example, every dealer here in LA was selling the Ford Focus with all the goodies including A/C, auto transmission, power windows, etc for $12,500 the month before the “cash for clunkers” program started.
When “cash for clunkers” came along, they stopped discounting them and instead sold them at the list price of $15,500. So, you paid $3000 more than you would have the month before. (Honda, Toyota , and Kia played the same list price game that Ford and Chevy did).
So lets do the final tally here:
         You traded in a car worth:  $3500
         You got a discount of:           $4500
                                                                 ———
         Net so far                                  +$1000
          But you have to pay:             $1350 in taxes on the $4500
                                                                   ——–
         Net so far:                                    -$350
          And you paid:                          $3000 more than the car was selling for the month before
                                                                ———-
         Net                                               -$3350
We could also add in the additional taxes (sales tax, state tax, etc.) on the extra $3000 that you paid for the car, along with the 5 years of interest on the car loan but let’s just stop here.
So who actually made out on the deal? The feds collected taxes on the car along with taxes on the $4500 they “gave” you. The car dealers made an extra $3000 or more on every car they sold along with the kickbacks from the manufacturers and the loan companies. The manufacturers got to dump lots of cars they could not give away the month before. And the poor stupid consumer got saddled with even more debt that they cannot afford.
Obama and his band of merry men convinced Joe consumer that he was getting $4500 in “free” money from the “government” when in fact Joe was giving away his $3500 car and paying an additional $3350 for the privilege.
The renewed hopes of Saturn for a life without General Motors were dashed today with the announcement by the Penske Automotive Group that it has canceled plans to acquire the division. The decision appears to mean the end for Saturn.
Penske says it had an agreement to source vehicles from another automaker to sell under the Saturn brand, but that the automaker’s board rejected the deal.
“Without that agreement,†Penske Automotive said… Details
Mercedes-Benz doesn’t have one. Neither does BMW. Nor Volvo or Saab or any of the Brits save Lotus, and not—at least since the short tenure of the Ford GT—any of what’s left of the Big Three. Exclude the Italians specializing in exotics and Porsche, hardly a volume manufacturer, and the only luxury relatively-mass market carbuilder making a mid-engine automobile today is Audi. That car is the Audi R8.
Indeed the Audi R8 places its engine behind the passenger compartment and in front of the rear wheels…Â Details
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To hit the market in October is the new MINI limited edition called Rally Edition Clubman S, which boasts enhancements over the stock models. The series is limited to 70 units, with each dealer in the US to get only one car. The Rally Edition features Rally Green Mirror Caps and Side Scuttles, Midnight Black exterior painting and white turn indicators.
Additional features include …Â Details