New Clunker Trade in Law

[BulldogTom]

FYI The NHTSA has a new website for the Clunker trade in law. The whole text of the law is on the site. The trade in is not taxable income according to the law. Here is the website. It is pretty good.

http://www.cars.gov/

Watch for the .gov or else you will get a commercial site.

I am pretty sure I will take advantage of this free money. I have an old pickup with 245K on it that is worth about 1200. 4500 trade in for it on a new gas sipper sounds good to me.

Tom

Lodi, CA

[TAXBILLY]

Thanx for the info, Tom.

taxbilly

[Jack from Ohio]

So my properly maintained 1990 Dodge Spirit 4dr which averages 25 MPG would not qualify?? If I break one spark plug wire, would that make it qualify?

NO, I am not interested in a new car. I have a total of $3,125 in this car purchased two years ago. It started EVERY day, costs pennies to insure, all systems function,has R-12 AC that is intact and working, and has NO visible rust.

I would be money stupid to buy a new car, even if the new one got 50 mpg. Our government is short and narrow sighted about fuel economy.

Just my not so humble opinion.

[Catherine]

<snip>Our government is short and narrow sighted <snip>

.... you can shorten your statement to just the above, Jack, with no diminution of accuracy!

[BulldogTom]

So my properly maintained 1990 Dodge Spirit 4dr which averages 25 MPG would not qualify?? If I break one spark plug wire, would that make it qualify?

Nope - I will not. The website says it has to be under 18 MPG to trade in. My pickup hasn't gotten 18MPG since about 2001. The website says it is rated at 18MPG, right at the amount to qualify. I was looking at getting a new car anyways ( I was really hoping GM or Chrysler would have to auction off some cars to avoid bankruptcy, but that didn't happen). So why not get a small piece of the government stimulus money. Hell, I will be paying for it in taxes for the rest of my life. Why let the bankers and wall street get it all?

Anyways, the reason I posted the site was so that you could have a resource if your clients asked you about the law, and if it would be taxable money.

Tom

Lodi, CA