Is it a shock to anyone that the dealers who are the ones forced to impliment the new government "cash for clunkers" givaway are having trouble getting the deals done? And the government wants to take over our health care? WOW.
Automotive News:
Getting the federal money promised to dealers who have sold consumers discounted new vehicles in exchange for gas-guzzling trade-ins is proving difficult, dealers say.
Under the program, consumers can trade-in certain guzzlers for new ones with better fuel economy in exchange for $3,500 to $4,500 in federal vouchers. But that money comes in federal reimbursements to dealers, who discount new vehicles in qualifying deals and then must apply for the funds online. And some say until they figure out the Web-based system, they have thousands of dollars unaccounted for.
Jerry Golinvaux, a Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealer in Roseville, Minn., said Wednesday afternoon he had submitted 35 deals so far and hadn't been notified that any of them have been approved.
"We've received two rejection notifications back, and the notifications don't give any indication of why" they were rejected, he said.
Applying online for each reimbursement takes "a minimum of 25 minutes," he said. And he hasn't had much luck getting help from the federal hotline, 866-227-7891.
"You get hold of somebody after waiting an hour and a half, and that person doesn't know the answer," Golinvaux said. "So they transfer you to somebody else. They transfer to somebody else, and then you get a dial tone."
Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said NHTSA staffers investigating hotline complaints did not have trouble getting through on the hotline.
"There may be a wait, but we have significantly increased the staff for the hotline, so I reject any complaints about that," he said earlier this week.
He said Wednesday afternoon he was not aware of any hotline problems, although he had not tried to call that day. And NHTSA said this morning in a statement that 56,430 calls got through on its hotline on Tuesday, its most recent day of data.
But an Automotive News reporter who called the hotline multiple times Wednesday progressed through a series of four menus that twice informed callers of high-call volume, even saying "you may be unable to get through" to talk with someone about problems with the government's online system.
In the final menu, the reporter selected an option for a dealer to speak with an agent about submitting a voucher reimbursement request. Each time, the reporter received a busy signal after selecting that option.
Dealers also have complained that the cash-for-guzzlers Web site times out every 120 seconds while they're trying to file a voucher application. That's a security feature, Tyson said, and dealers need only hit any key to keep the window active.
Full Story:
http://www.autonews.com/article/2009...907309976/1078
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