My experience with the Cash for Clunkers program.

Our son has been driving our old 1997 mini van for the past 3 years. It has lots of problems and was on the official list for the clunkers program. So, we decided to try to take advantage of the chance to trade it and actually get some trade in value for it.

Our son has a good job now and has decided he was ready to take on paying a car payment, so we headed out to do some car shopping. We went to 6 or 7 car dealerships and he test drove some cars to decide which one he liked best. Once he decided which car he wanted, we let them run his credit and crunch numbers.

As far as the Cash for Clunkers program, it didn’t work for us. The reason why is because the title for the old van was in my and my husbands name. It has been insured under our sons name for the past three years, but that was not good enough. His name would have had to have been on the title for us to use it as a Clunkers trade for him. Since neither of us were going to be on the new title, or his new loan, we could not do the program. I really was not surprised. I figured there would be a catch.

Since the van was in such bad shape and in danger of some major repair expenses, he wanted to go ahead and trade it in and get a different vehicle. Since he was a first time buyer they could not qualify him for a new car, but with some cash down, and a little bit of trade in value for the old van under regular trade guidelines, he was able to buy a nice 2008 used car.

I was really disappointed that we did not get to use the old van to get $4500 off a new car, but I am glad we are rid of it before something major happened like the transmission going out or some major engine repair. I am glad that he is now in a newer car and we will not have to worry about it falling apart anytime soon. He is happy that he now has a nice looking smaller car and that it will not stall on him like the van did on a regular basis.

Here is a picture of our old clunker at the car dealership. It was a good old van. I drove it for 7 or 8 years before I passed it on to my son when he was in college.