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

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Successful CARS Program

The enormously successful CARS program helped consumers who turned in gas guzzlers buy nearly 700,000 more fuel efficient vehicles in fewer than 30 days. By late September the U.S. Department of Transportation paid all eligible and complete dealer transactions. "There can be no doubt that this program drummed up more business, for more people, in more places at a time when our economy needed help the most," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. DOT continues to work with the few remaining dealers who have outstanding submissions to try and correct any errors so payment can be made.

CASH FOR CLUNKERS PAYOUT NEARLY COMPLETE

With final dealer payments being processed under the enormously successful CARS program, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that the agency has crossed the finish line for paying back eligible and complete dealer submissions.

"This is the final curtain call for a program that took the entire nation by storm and succeeded beyond expectations," said Secretary LaHood. "There can be no doubt that this program drummed up more business, for more people, in more places, at a time when our economy needed help the most."

To read the full press release click here

Exception Process

On September 23, NHTSA issued an amendment to the CARS rule to add an "exception process." A dealer may apply for an exception if it was prevented from submitting an application for reimbursement prior to the announced deadline (August 25, 8 pm EST) because of problems caused by NHTSA. The agency has identified two such problems: password rejection, where a dealer incorrectly entered its user account password multiple times, was locked out of the system, and was unable to get its password reset; and transaction rejection, where a dealer's application was rejected for a duplicate VIN or customer ID despite the fact that the VIN or ID was never used in a completed CARS transaction. A dealer may also seek an exception for other hardships caused by NHTSA, subject to a determination that they should be redressed consistent with the purposes of the CARS Act.

The exception process is available only to dealers, and only to those dealers that have completed valid CARS deals and extended credits to consumers. It is not available for reasons other than action or inaction by NHTSA, such as technological difficulties in the dealer's own systems or processes. For details about this process, please view the link posted below.

Transaction Data and Reports Available for Download

During the wildly successful CARS program, consumers turned in gas guzzlers and bought nearly 700,000 more fuel efficient vehicles in fewer than 30 days. For each of these CARS transactions, the dealer who sold the new vehicle was required to register as a participant and to enter the transaction information through a secure web site. Dealers were also required to submit certain documents to support their request for reimbursement. The review process involved checking both the transaction information and the required supporting documents.

These reports contain the transaction level information entered by participating dealers for the 677,081 CARS transactions that were paid or approved for payment as of Friday, October 16, 2009 at 3:00PM EDT for a total of $2,850,162,500. Please note that confidential financial or commercial information and consumer information protected under the DOT Privacy Policy has been redacted.

Analyst making use of this data are encouraged to read our Note to Analysts.

Available Reports

CARS CLOSED

The CARS program ended sales August 24 with nearly 700,000 clunkers taken off the roads, replaced by far more fuel efficient vehicles. Rebate applications worth $2.877 billion were submitted by the 8 p.m. deadline, under the $3 billion provided by Congress to run the program.

To read the full press release click here.

To see the latest CARS Program Statistics click here.

What is NHTSA doing to guard against fraud? Click here for more information. Allegations of fraud may be reported by calling our toll-free hotline at 1-405-954-3700.

Secretary LaHood announced wind down to hugely popular CARS program

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced on Aug 20 that after a wildly successful run, the cash for clunkers program would close on Monday, August 24th at 8 p.m. EST.

Click here for Press Release
Click here for Wind Down Strategy

Important Information on new MPG Ratings:

In conjunction with the CARS final rule, EPA updated fuel economy data on fueleconomy.gov on July 24th. The changes affected the eligibility of certain vehicles under the CARS program.

Of the 30,000 vehicle model types spanning 25 years, 78 cars no longer qualify, but 86 new vehicles are now eligible.

NHTSA will process transactions in accordance with the data on fueleconomy.gov. The 78 vehicle model types that were eligible under EPA's mileage criteria until EPA's revisions were issued on July 24th will continue to be considered as eligible for transactions that occurred on or before July 24th.

The 86 model types that became eligible on July 24th will be treated as eligible if they are part of sale or lease that occurred on or after July 24th.

Click here to view the list of eligible cars
Click here to view the list of ineligible cars
To search all vehicles, click the MPG Ratings tab at the top of the page

YOU ASKED. WE LISTENED.

We've heard that dealers are asking consumers to sign agreements with contingencies when they participate in the CARS program.

CONSUMERS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO SIGN CONTINGENCY AGREEMENTS TO PAY BACK THE DEALER SHOULD THE CARS CREDIT BE REJECTED.

We've also heard that dealers are asking consumers to keep their “clunker" until the deal is approved by NHTSA.

IF THE DEALER HAS THE NEW CAR IN STOCK, THE DEALER MUST ALLOW YOU TO TAKE POSSESSION OF THE NEW CAR BEFORE THE DEALER MAY SUBMIT THE CREDIT APPLICATION TO THE GOVERNMENT. PLEASE REPORT ANY DEALER TO NHTSA THAT DOES NOT ALLOW YOU TO TAKE POSSESSION OF A NEW CAR PURCHASED UNDER THE CARS PROGRAM. PLEASE CALL THE CARS HOTLINE AT (405)-954-3700.

To find out more about dealer contingencies click here.

Consumer Bill of Rights

  • Qualified consumers may participate in the CARS Program between July 1, 2009 and November 1, 2009 or when authorized funds are no longer available.
  • Qualified consumers will receive a credit of $3,500 or $4,500 for an eligible trade-in toward the purchase of lease of an approved vehicle under CARS Program.
  • Qualified consumers will receive the $3,500 or $4,500 credit at the time the purchase their new vehicle.
  • Dealers must provide consumers with any other advertised rebates or discounts in addition to the credit they receive through the CARS Program.
  • Consumers should expect to conduct their deals at their dealership of choice, not on the Internet.
  • Consumers should expect the dealers to provide their best estimate of the scrap value for their eligible trade-in vehicle. Dealers are allowed to deduct $50 from this value for their administrative costs.
  • Consumers should expect that all information collected through the CARS Program will be kept confidential. Social Security numbers are not required for a CARS transaction.

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Reports
Official Information
CARS Frequently Asked Questions
How to buy a safer car
Disposal and Salvage

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.