It appears the process for killing the engines is very dangerous to even do yet all dealers must do this in order to get their money from the Government back. Dealers are rushing the engine killing process where they have to put on hazmat-like suits to accomplish...Just crazy if you ask me.. They are rushing because of fear the gov. will run out of money yet again..YIKES...Interesting to say the least..
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/200...rs-crushed/?hp
We spent a couple of days earlier this week following the whole complex program, from dealer to scrap heap, and found twists and turns in it that are making it a nightmare now for everyone involved.
The program requires that the clunkers be put out of service for good, so dealers must destroy the engines on cars that are traded in. We watched this process yesterday at the DCH Paramus Honda in Paramus, N.J.
It is quite laborious and potentially dangerous. And it certainly is final.
Nick Clites, who is in charge of used cars for the dealership, was prepping a 1988 BMW 535IS, with 214,000 miles on the odometer, for its death.
He drained the oil, then donned a silky blue protective suit, goggles and gloves and poured a sodium silicate solution into the engine. He revved the car, and within a few seconds, the solution hardened into a glass-like substance, the engine seized up and the car was dead.
So here is one question: With the program now on shaky ground, even with a new infusion of money, what consumer and what dealer will risk rendering an engine irretrievably unusable?
Well, as it turns out, a lot of them are doing so, because unless the dealers can prove to the government that they have killed the engines and scrapped the cars, the government will not reimburse them for the $3,500 or $4,500 discount that they have given the customer on a new, more efficient vehicle.
Barry Magnus, the general manager of DCH Paramus Honda, told us he was owed more than $80,000, and he wondered if he would ever see it. The government has said it would take 10 days to reimburse the dealers, but that was before the program apparently ran out of money and devolved into chaos Thursday night.
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And yet this is another thing dealers are doing here in Miami.. What a bunch of sleazeballs if you ask me...
Mr. Kurkin, the lawyer in Miami, said that many dealers are attaching clauses to their sales agreements, saying that if the government money does not come through, the customer will have to make up the difference.