'Clunker' data show pickup-for-pickup trades

Yahoo News ^ | November 5, 2009 | TED BRIDIS

[SJSAMPLE]

Any truck bed that’s used is going to show some wear.
The fact is, most people that buy trucks, especially 4x4 trucks, will never use that vehicle for its capabilities.

However, the guy who buys a Prius in the foolhardy thinking that he’s going to a) save money or b) save the planet is the only one deserving of ridicule?

Ask a Lincoln truck owner if he’ll haul a load of sod for you.

[mnehring]

Pickups used in package delivery, and those used as tow vehicles, rarely show much wear. Is this a bad thing somehow?

I've noticed with some of my friends trucks that they are using a much better paint/coat than they used to. I haven't seen a newer model scratched up like you would in the past, even for the folks that haul around a lot of landscaping material. (not going into what happens when you haul bricks). The last truck I had was a 2000 Ram 2500 and a grocery bag would scratch the bed.. There is a big difference now.

[Billthedrill]

I was stunned - stuned - to see even the local librul rag blasting the program in the morning headlines. What the heck did they expect, some rancher with a 30-year-old pickup turning it in on a Scion? Some guy who hauls construction equipment on dirt roads to opt for a Smart Car with the two-by-fours sticking out the back passenger window? (Don't laugh - I once saw a Rolls Royce doing that in Palo Alto, CA).

Let's face it, it was free money from the government without much control. If they were serious about making it anything other than a feel-good gesture they'd have offered it to people who failed emissions checks or broke down on the highway - something, anything at least to ensure it wasn't some guy trading in a perfectly good car he didn't like anymore. And what did we get out of it? A small, temporary spike in car sales, gouts of white smoke from the ruined engines, and thousands of tons of new, environmentally-friendly scrap metal in the wrecking yards. That, my FRiends, is as classic a Democrat boondoggle as there is.

[AnAmericanMother]

Nope, I didn't get in line. I bought a used 2006 F150 from our regular Ford dealer - it was a fleet trade-in from a local construction company and I got a far better deal than I could have on any cash for clunkers program.

But I'd rather see the money spent on sensible vehicles than some sort of loony green car. I had a Geo Metro as a loaner once, and I was terrified. Wouldn't take it on the interstate.

[editor-surveyor]

The program was inadvertantly focused on America’s favorite utility vehicle (F150) by requiring that the trade-in not get more than 18 MPG!

It was a natural.

[mnehring]

Ask a Lincoln truck owner if he’ll haul a load of sod for you.

Heck, we just picked up ten pallets in my wife's two month old Cayenne last weekend... of course, we had more tarps down than we did sod..

[I still care]

Anyone who is smart is buying their big vehicles now.

Obama has sworn to destroy the big vehicle market, and the Cafe standards he’s putting in are a big step towards that. My guess is a big truck in 2015 is going to be a valuable vehicle. Get it now, folks.

[Tarpon]

Trucks are trucks ... And ride like it too.

My bed is pristine, it has a rubber liner. Of course the rest of the truck is rusted out.

[editor-surveyor]

The only Lincolin PUs I’ve seen are tow rigs - crew cab, and trailer hitch, with high level upholstery and tinted windows. - A good choice I’d say.

[editor-surveyor]

"Anyone who is smart is buying their big vehicles now."

I'd like to rephrase that:

Everyone that is smart is buying large vehicles now (while they can get them)

[Ditter]

I bought a new Tahoe last March after I heard a fed gov official say (for the 2nd time) that they were going to make car companies make smaller cars. My husband soon after bought a new Ford F150 pickup. Screw you nobama we'll drive what we want to drive until you pry our cold dead fingers off the steering wheel.

[norraad]

They;ll always be avaiable, sort of like Cuba.

In my town, folks cherry up older uber-large rides for fun and just to snub their nose at the prius green delusional over edjumacated crowd.

[editor-surveyor]

"sort of like Cuba."

Fitting! - We have our own (in)Fidel.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

We farm. We need trucks. We have a Chevy S-10 and a Dodge Ram diesel. We also have a sedan for s-l-o-w Sunday drives behind OTHER farm vehicles on the road, LOL!

[Second Amendment First]

I have three Fords, 96 Explorer, 02 Explorer and 03 F-350 with Triton V-10, and am going to run these till the wheels fall off. It’s nice not to have vehicle payments, and I will never buy another UAW vehicle again.

Just put K&N airbox on the truck along with dual SS Gibson exhaust, steering stabilizer and programmer. I’ll keep this one till I die.

[SuziQ]

Heh, hubby has a Ford F250 Turbo Diesel, which we LOVE! He calls it his “F-1250 Global Warmer with the middle-finger option”. ;o)

[SuziQ]

Hubby read an article that said far from it merely costing $3500-4500 per vehicle, it actually cost US over $17,000 per vehicle for this deal!

[editor-surveyor]

Knowing our Fed Gov, I can’t deny it, but I wonder where the rest of the cash is going? (nowhere good seems a safe guess)

[Ditter]

I like that! The middle finger option! he he

[SuziQ]

The majority of the cost is in the ADMINISTRATION of the program. Those requests have to go through a LOT of folks in order to be fulfilled, and each of those folks have to be paid for their work. It’s about par for the course for a Government program. We’ve know for years that less than a third of every dollar spent on welfare programs actually goes to the people on welfare. If it were a charity, the government would shut it down for fraud.