Running out of gas
Consumers, auto dealers facing problems as ‘Cash for Clunkers’ comes to an end

You have just a few days left to trade in your clunker for up to $4,500 off the cost of a new, more fuel-efficient car.

But because of some potholes in the reimbursement process, you may find yourself facing off against the car dealer, consumer advocates say.

Some auto dealers are pressing consumers to sign agreements requiring them to pay back to the dealer the rebate of up to $4,500 — or return the new car — if the government doesn’t approve the customer’s clunker exchange.

But some say consumers shouldn’t be on the hook to come up with the cash.

“You go in, you trade in your car and you think you’re getting in on the cash-for-clunkers deal. But then the dealer tells you, ‘Oops, it didn’t go through. We need the money or the car back,’” said Rosemary Shahan, president of Citizens for Auto Reliability and Safety, or CARS, a California-based advocacy group.

“To be fair to the dealers, it’s a new program, it’s complicated. There are probably dealers who have made a lot of honest mistakes,” she said. “The question is: Who should pay for that? We’re concerned consumers are being pressured to come up with money that they really don’t have.”

Just project this situation onto your doctor.

Meanwhile, tired of doling out hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of rebates to consumers without yet seeing a dime, in some cases, from the government, some dealers have stopped participating in the clunker program, according to news reports

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