Canada Spend CA$92m To Cull Clunkers
Programs to buy back beaters have been implemented in California and Texas, pulling thousands of polluting vehicles of the road each year. Canada's program to buy back old, polluting cars is set to roll out in January of next year. The Detroit News reports that the three-year Canadian program is targeting 50k buybacks, or about one percent of all cars on the road. While provincial governments have implemented similar programs, this will be North America's first nationwide buyback program. The $92m program will offer drivers $300 per running beater, or discounts on bicycle purchases or a public transit pass. Busting-out the old calculator, it becomes obvious that buying 50k cars at $300 a pop would set back the Canucks $15m. Some $77m of the program will be going… somewhere else. But don't expect opposition to the program. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers spokesman Charles Territo says "we strongly support efforts to get older, less-efficient vehicles off the roads and help consumers." Because they'd rather you buy new than drive your clunker till it breaks, of course. Which means the only people who won't be thrilled by this program are people who care how their government spends money… and know how to use a calculator.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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Well for one it is $45 million plain cash as it is a three year program. So the difference is only $47 million, but the site FAQ seems to indicate that the discount on bicycle, car sharing or transit passes is primary, and possibly costs more. Also it seems that they had money already, but no real plan to spend it. so odd.
yasth: Well for one it is $45 million plain cash as it is a three year program. Is this personal knwoledge from another source? The Detroit news article says 50,000 cars, not 50,000 cars per year. The last junker that I sold back in 1997 was an RX-7 with a blown engine. I got $700 for it. I sold it to a guy at work who rebuilt the engine, but we arrived at that price because that was what the junk yard offered me. Now, the scrap steel value of most cars is over $300. I can't imagine how anybody could be so stupid as to participate in this program. Another example of tax money well spent, eh.
Last time I checked, shredded auto scrap was over $500 per ton. Add to that a couple hundred dollars a car that your average pick'n'pull junkyard gets out of used parts, per car, and you'll see who the lobbyists were. The government pays $300 for the car, ships it over to the junkyard, probably pays even more for shipping and recycling, AND the junkyard gets their $700 for nearly free. Way to sponsor an industry that's already living through their gold rush era.
Some scrap metal group prob gets paid by the gov't to dispose of the cars and they pocket the scrap value thus double-dipping. The US gov't did that in Italy when I was there with former private military personnel owned cars.