My name is Jesse and I own a government certified "clunker". More specifically its an electric blue 1994 Ford F150 (right) that I've affectionately named "Ol' Blue". I bought this monster just about a year ago when I made a move from the island of Oahu (Hawaii) back to the mainland United States, or "the real United States" and have been driving it since. Although a bit rusty, kind of bent up, and rides like hell, it's been a pretty solid vehicle. "Good enough for who it's for" I like to say and at the time of my purchase, a solid pickup was all my needs required for transportation.
Now, however, Blue really isn't fitting into my lifestyle. I commute 5 times a week to my office (Shameless business plug #1: Totally Kids fun furniture & toys located in Bloomington, MN right by the Mall of America)which is about 18 miles away from where I currently stay. So, on average I'm driving a minimum of 180-200 miles a week. Ol' Blue gets about 14 miles per gallon on his best day and it doesn't take long to figure out that this is not my best transportation option.
Enter: "Cash For Clunkers:
In case you don't already know, "Cash For Clunkers" is a law that is designed to get gas guzzlers off the road and promote the sale of new, more fuel efficient cars. A person driving, say, a rusty old pickup truck, can trade that in and get up to $4,500 towards the purchase of the new car. There's a number of requirements that must be met in order to qualify, and if you do, then it could be a great opportunity(the official site of this program is cars.gov and all the info you should need is there).
When I first caught wind of this being a possibility, I was skeptical that it would ever come to fruition. But as time went by and the bill gained momentum, I started to look towards the future in which this might actually happen. I still have to wait another month until I've owned Ol' Blue for a full year (one of the stipulations of qualifying) so right now I'm in full investigation mode. I'm certain there will be wrinkles and unforeseen challenges in actually making this happen and my intent is to share them all here as they happen. If there are any other people out there considering taking part in this program, it's my hope that this can be a resource and a forum for people to share some info.
So, in closing, I'm not completely sure that after its all said and done, that trading in my old truck for a new car is going to be financially reasonable (a problem that could be facing a lot of people eligible for the CARS program) and I hope to map out that situation as well. In the end, I do hope to send Blue's rusty old ass down the river and on to the big parking lot in the sky, but if not, we'll learn some things along the way.
I'm going to give a shout-out one more time to my employer, they are somewhat funding this.
http://thebeanbagstore.com/
Hello from North Branch Minnesota! I have a 1988 ford ranger 4x4 that gets 17 MPG its beige but in some spots its Pink!, I though I would have to drive tell it dies. but now i don't have to. I'm just glad it's been insured the last year+ because with the cash for clunkers program I'll be able to get a 4,500 dollar incentive plus a 1,000 dollar factory rebate which will get me in to a 2009 Kia Rio 30+ MPG for about 7,000 dollars! . . . Yeah for me!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jerry Nygren 952-543-3580 At Morrie's Kia Minnetonka, MN http://www.morriesimportskia.com/
Tell him Trish sent Ya!
P.s. This will be my extended family's 5th Kia and we love them.
Thank you cash for clunkers for 4,500 dollars for a 500 dollar truck.