Some surveys suggest that two-thirds of all dealers that are enrolled in the Cash for Clunkers program are still waiting for their first disbursement from the government.

Think about that for a second.

The process for approving Cash for Clunkers claims is so tedious, unreliable, slow, and (for lack of a better word) nonsensical that it is taking as long as 21 days just to REVIEW the submitted claim. Then, if the customer forgot to date something, the registrations were signed in the wrong order (WA registrations do not require a specific order), or some other silly “error” happens, the dealer has to resubmit EVERYTHING all over again, and wait for the review of the claim again.

The dealers in my area have had it. Even though the government confirmed that this weekend is really your last chance to buy a car using the Cash for Clunkers program, because the dealer has to submit the claim by Monday, the tough part for consumers is going to be finding a dealer that still wants to do a Cash for Clunkers deal.

There are dealers all over that have 50 or 100 cars sitting in their storage area, just waiting for government approval and the disbursement of the $3500 or $4500 dollars.

50 cars x $4,500 = $225,000 that the dealer would still be waiting for. From a business perspective, that is a lot of cash to float indefinitely.

What if the government denies your Cash for Clunkers claim?

If the government denies your Cash for Clunkers claim, you can either fix the things that they say are wrong, or you may have to return the car. In some cases, dealer may have already received all the other funding from your purchase (auto loan or cash) and licensed the vehicle in your name and if that has happened, you probably still owe the dealership the $3,500 or $4,500.

If you do get stuck owing money to a dealership that you thought the government would pay, remember that it is not the dealership’s fault that you did not meet the government requirements.