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C.A.R.S - car allowance rebate system

Helpful Q&As for Consumers

These answers are based on the provisions of the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009.

What will NHTSA do to guard against fraud and ensure that the CARS payments go to the right people?

NHTSA is aware that some organizations have already begun to convey incorrect information about how dealers and individuals can participate in the CARS program. The only official site providing information on this system is the agency's website, www.cars.gov. Note that the suffix ".gov" indicates it is an official government site. Other sites may or may not have correct information, but none plays an official role in this program. We urge great caution in providing any information over the Internet to any website that purports to be related to this program. The CARS program will not request electronic submission of information from individual consumers.

NHTSA is working to create a system that will provide payments only for eligible transactions under the CARS program. Under the law, NHTSA will make electronic funds transfers only to a registered dealer that has submitted the required proof of a completely eligible transaction. We will develop a registration system to identify licensed, franchised new vehicle dealers and to obtain the banking and tax identification information necessary for making secure electronic transfers. Only registered dealers will have access to the payment system.

As noted above, at the time of the transaction at the dealer, the consumer who is trading in the "trade-in vehicle" will need to provide evidence of ownership of the vehicle and proof that the vehicle has been continuously registered and insured to the same person throughout the last 12 months. To prevent repeated use of the program by the same person, we anticipate that the consumer will need to provide evidence of identity, such as a driver's license, and permit that information to become part of the documentation of the transaction.

The dealer will have every reason to avoid entering into a transaction for which the dealer cannot be reimbursed under this program. The dealer will be expected to verify that the vehicle being traded in and the vehicle being purchased or leased are both eligible under the program. This will entail, with regard to the trade-in, making sure that the registration and insurance information is accurate and that the vehicle is in drivable condition. For both vehicles, the dealer will need to verify their combined fuel economy.

With regard to the trade-in, NHTSA is considering various measures to ensure that the vehicle is never used again as an automobile in this or any other country. We intend to enforce the Act's requirements strictly and vigorously and to conduct audits to detect any possible violations. See the question below on penalties and enforcement policies.

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If I think fraud is being committed, how do I report this?

Please call the Hotline of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Transportation. The OIG Hotline is an important tool that is used to facilitate the reporting of allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement in the Department's programs or operations, including the CARS program. Allegations of fraud may be reported by DOT employees, grantees, contractors or the general public. The Hotline is set-up to receive allegations in variety of forms, including by email (hotline@oig.dot.gov), regular mail (DOT Inspector General, P.O. Box 708, Fredericksburg, VA 22404), fax (540-373-2090) or a toll free number (1-800-424-9071). OIG's Hotline is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is operated by a third party contractor.

You can also call (405)-954-3700 or TTY at (800)-424-9153 dedicated to calls about the program.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation http://www.fbi.gov (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center http://www.nw3c.org/ (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/ (BJA). IC3's mission is to serve as a vehicle to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations.

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Are there penalties for violations related to the CARS program?

Yes. The money Congress has provided for this program is intended only for eligible recipients, and the requirement to destroy the trade-in vehicle is an important part of the program. To protect consumers, dealers, and others, NHTSA intends to enforce the Act and the implementing regulations strictly. The CARS Act has provisions specifically aimed at preventing fraud. A person who violates the Act or the implementing regulations could be subject to a fine of up to $15,000 per transaction. While NHTSA may provide discretionary relief for innocent clerical errors, NHTSA intends to prevent fraud in the first place and penalize any fraud that occurs.

Willful misstatements or false reporting made to the government in connection with the program may also make a person liable for criminal penalties under applicable laws.

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The information contained in the file was entered by dealers and could be changed only by dealers (or by NHTSA under very narrow circumstances; see CARS Data Dictionary for details) to maintain accountability. As a result, there are some inconsistencies. For some fields dealers entered the information in a variety of formats (such as some phone numbers with a dash and others without a dash) and in other cases the data were mistyped (such as switching two digits of the phone number). Two additional fields (trade-in insurance start date and trade in NMVTIS flag date) were optional and frequently have missing values.

Three caveats are worth noting. The first involves the dates entered by the dealers. The CARS invoice date was a default date provided by the system when the invoice (transaction) was created, but the dealer could override with a different date. Generally, a valid CARS invoice date ranges from July 27, 2009, through August 25th, 2009. However, there are some valid dates outside of this range because of pilot testing before July 27th and transactions processed through the regulatory exception process after August 25th. The CARS sale date, the trade-in registration start and expiration dates, and the optional trade-in insurance start date also were provided by the dealer in the transaction form. These transactions may have information that was mistyped by the dealer. In cases where the required documents submitted with the invoice indicated an eligible transaction but conflicted with the sale, registration or insurance dates in the transaction form, the invoice was accepted by the reviewer based upon the supporting documentation.

The second caveat involves the vehicle identification number (VIN) for both the new and the trade-in vehicle. The VIN is a 17 character long serial number that uniquely identifies the vehicle and that typically follows a standard format. Both the new and trade-in VIN may contain mistyped information by the dealer, resulting in a VIN that appears to be nonstandard. For example, the dealer may have switched two characters or entered one wrong character such as a “5” in place of an “S”. In addition to mistyped information, some VINs may contain place holder characters entered by the dealer at NHTSA's direction to override a duplication error resulting from another dealer entering the same VIN by mistake or as part of an incomplete transaction. (Without this step, complying transactions would continue to be rejected.) It is also the case that some vehicles are titled with nonstandard VINs, and the trade-in VIN was compared against the VIN on the title. Finally, in some transactions it appears that the dealer may have reversed the new vehicle and trade-in VINs.

The third caveat involves the vehicle categories and fuel economy (miles per gallon) for the new and trade-in vehicles. In some instances the vehicle categories of the new and trade-in vehicle or the fuel economy of the two vehicles does not appear to conform to the requirements of the regulation for a valid CARS deal. NHTSA is aware of these issues and continues to research and investigate. One reason is that the EPA updated the fuel economy data on the website at fueleconomy.gov in conjunction with the CARS final rule, which affected the eligibility of certain vehicles under the CARS program. Deals that had been completed based upon the old information were accepted as valid transactions even though the new information makes it appear that the transaction is not valid. NHTSA also has identified cases where the vehicle category was incorrectly entered by the dealer, which made the deal appear to be invalid, but the deal is valid under the correct category.

NHTSA continues to review and research CARS cases for compliance. We are finalizing a data quality plan to identify and correct data integrity issues. In the instances described above where data issues involve the possibility of improper payment, NHTSA is investigating the underlying transactions and will take corrective action when necessary as part of our ongoing CARS enforcement effort.