NewsWest 9
MIDLAND - The Cash for Clunkers program may only be a few weeks old, but the funds are already running low.
"It's been great. We got word last Thursday that we might be over the billion so they suspended the program, but the very next day we were ok to continue. We kept selling them for the weekend, and nobody has quit coming in," Severo Enriquez with Rogers Ford, said.
The plan to pump anther $2 billion into the popular car trade in program is in the works, but until then the deadline stands at this Friday. Since the program started local dealerships have been swarmed.
"We've got them lined up ready to go," Enriquez said.
What happens to these so called "clunkers" once you hand over the keys?
"The dealers have to disemble the engine and put chemicals in it until it sizzles up," Marshall Banks with Box Auto Salvage, said.
While Cash for Clunkers may be popular for consumers and dealerships. Salvage yards say they don't benefit from it as much by selling the parts.
"It's not going to be very much, because you can't sell all the parts. It's going to flood the market for scrap metal. It's already low, but now you're going to have a lot of it on the market," Banks said.
Banks also said buying a car at an auction may actually benefit him more.
