If you’ve been wishing you had enough down-payment cash to take advantage of the current dip in car prices, wait just a little longer. Your old fuel gulper may soon be your ticket to a great deal.
Congress has just passed a “cash for clunkers” bill that provides incentives for people to replace their gas guzzlers with higher mpg cars. Trade in a car getting 18 mpg or less and you can obtain a rebate voucher for $3500 that you can use to buy a car that gets at least 22 mpg. Find a car that gets at least 10mpg more than the one you have now and you can get a voucher for $4500.
Do you own a SUV, minivan or a pickup truck? Get a voucher for $3500 if you trade it in for something that gets at least 2 mpg more than what you’re driving now, or $4500 for one with a rating at least 5 mpg higher.
(There are a few more conditions involved. First, your gas guzzler must be over five years old, in working condition and registered for at least the past 120 days. So buying a wreck for a few bucks and having it towed to a car dealership ain't gonna work.)
Make a great deal on a new, high mpg car and that incentive could end up paying as much as one-third the cost. That could really shrink your monthly payments.
Now, if you want to pay a little more and effectively cut your gas costs in half, you might try one of these cars. Some of them boost ratings of 50 mpg or more.
Start by doing a little research now to determine what your needs are and what kind of car will meet them. But just make sure the President has signed this bill into law before you sign on the dotted line.
(Me? Though tempted, I’m not quite ready to trade in Quartermain. Yet.
Not...quite...yet.
Don't tell Quartermain I'm even thinking about it, or he'll wait until I'm on the most remote country road possible, in the middle of the night, when it's raining and I don't have my cell phone...and then he'll die on me. Just to teach me a lesson. Very touchy creatures, old cars.)
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