1996 XJ Country - Stock - Cash for Clunkers Debate

K

Kevin

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Richmond, VA
So we are thinking about doing the "Cash for Clunkers" with my wife's 96 XJ and after hearing that the vehicle must be scrapped by the dealer, I'm not so sure that I want to have her XJ taken off the road. Granted I am interested in the possible $4,500 the CFC program could get me toward a new vehicle.

While her XJ is not technically for sale right now, I was wondering what you all thought it might be worth to someone in a Jeep/XJ community as a starting off point for a trail rig. While I'm pretty sure nobody will give $4,500 for it, I'd like to see if it is even worthwhile to consider passing on the CFC and selling it myself.

It is a bone stock 96 country, automatic. 175k miles (I think) and it as recently started stalling at stop lights. AC blows cold. I can get more detailed info if needed.

Cheers,

Kevin
 
Yeah, I paid $2200 for a SoCal Edison (utility co) 2Dr 4WD Classic in darn good shape a year ago with 210K mi.

If I'd known about the CFC paying that much, I might not have sold my son's lifted '90 2Dr 2WD for $1500... though the dude that bought it loves it, painted it Lakers Yellow, and drove it to Georgia or somewhere in the SouthEast.
 
There is no such thing as "free money". The program is another Green-ified, feel-good, transfer of wealth from taxpayers to you.The Cash for Clunkers program has been widely mis-described as an environmental bill designed to get older cars off the road. The cost to U.S. taxpayers for Cash for Clunkers is expected to reach $4 billion and will be funded through the previously legislated $787 billion economic stimulis plan. http://www.cars.gov/index.php/how

It will do nothing to help the environment because the impact will be microscopic at best. We should become suspicious of any program with a Green color or designation. It appears to be the new color of enslavement.......

It's bad enough that the retards in Washington voted to deduct the debt of automakers from your paycheck, as well as your children and grandchildren's paychecks that they haven't even thought about earning yet.
:firedevil


I personally don't want my tax dollars subsidizing your new vehicle purchase, regardless of who "you" is. If you need a new car, buy it yourself....with money you earned yourself.
 
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There are a lot of qualifiers to get the money. First the 'clunker' must get pretty lousy mileage and with the recent mileage revision I think the Cherokee may not qualify. Also the mileage of the car you buy needs to be much higher or you get less 'incentive' $$.
IF I were in the position to shop I would be sure anything not required to be included was removed before I turned in a 'clunker'. Have factory skids, hitch, good AT tires and wheels? Maybe have a 'swap party' of bad parts for good before it goes to the crusher. There may be other Jeepers that may want your parts.

P.S. I fully understand not wanting to take unearned money. From my quick reading of the regs it's not as good as it first appears.
 
I'd be tempted to try it out, but like XJEEPER said, it's not exactly free money. A portion of it is coming from your own taxes and the rest is coming from mine and everybody else's.
 
Thanks for the replies. I like the idea of a swap party .... but there pretty much is not anything on there worth keeping/trading out. It is bone stock .... maybe the tires .....
 
two things that you may or may not be aware of:
1. The .gov incentive money takes the place of the trade-in money, if it was eligible. No doubling up.
2. The .gov money can only be used to buy a NEW vehicle.

I've met a surprising number of people who didn't know either of these facts.
 
I've read all about the program (OK, the wife has read all about it) and we are good to go. Her XJ qualifies and the vehicle we are looking at gets better mileage. Looking at about $3,500 if we go that way.

There seems to be some question about how the dealers are going to handle the money and I have a suspicion that the dealers may not want to deal as much when someone has the CFC factor.

We are still trying to determine if we want a new vehicle or a used (knowing that the CFC is off the table if we go used).
 
Kevin said:
There seems to be some question about how the dealers are going to handle the money and I have a suspicion that the dealers may not want to deal as much when someone has the CFC factor.
Click to expand...

The CFC is not against dealers, it is there to help them. It will allow them more room to work with on the new car you are buying and help you get financed easier (bigger down payment means less money out of your pockect). The goverment says it is to get old cars off the road. But i see it more just to help dealers get more traffic (new customers). Every dealer in my area loves the new program including the dealership im at. And if you look hard enough there are some dealerships that are actually taking it apon themselfs and doing the CFC on there used cars as well (they pay for it not the government).

Not saying that i agree with goverment spending our money this way. Just saying that MOST dealers are not going to treat you any different then the next guy trading in his 2006 ford.
 
This sounds to me like the government is junking older cars and with less older cars on the road and more new ones they make more money(you know since they run GM now). Fix the jeep and sell it to one of us! :D
 
FlexdXJ said:
This sounds to me like the government is junking older cars and with less older cars on the road and more new ones they make more money(you know since they run GM now). Fix the jeep and sell it to one of us! :D
Click to expand...
Well that and the states will like it because new cars cost more to register, insurance likes it because cars with a lien require full coverage insurance (most banks do at least)
 
Worked great for us. We got $4500 plus an additional $300 in salvage value for an xj that was worth $1000 maximum. In addition we got a $750 rebate and a $2000 discount on the new rig.
 
If you do decide to do it, whatever dealership you go with will take their time to get in touch with you. I know a guy who's trading in a 97xj with 160k on the clock, when he contacted the dealership they said they had their legal department looking over the paperwork for the CFC program as it was a 132 page adobe document.
 
dave92cherokee said:
If you do decide to do it, whatever dealership you go with will take their time to get in touch with you. I know a guy who's trading in a 97xj with 160k on the clock, when he contacted the dealership they said they had their legal department looking over the paperwork for the CFC program as it was a 132 page adobe document.
Click to expand...

Interesting. It took us a total of 2 hours to complete the purchase including the CFC paper work. If I was your friend I would find a dealer who knows what they doing!
 
where do i find faq's about this program? would an 01 durango count? (get rid of the xj? pfffffff)
 
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