Pocono News Section

"Cash For Clunkers" Final Day

"Cash For Clunkers" Final Day - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 4:23PM EST

Reported by: Mark Hiller
Monday, Aug 24, 2009 @ 04:23pm EST
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY - Monday marked the final day of the popular "Cash For Clunkers" program.

Consumers had until 8:00 p. m. to trade in gas guzzlers through the government's rebate program for new, more fuel efficient cars.

At Ken Pollock Nissan in Wilkes-Barre, car buyers checked out some of the dealership's inventory on the last day of cash for clunkers.

"I basically really wasn't in the market to tell you the truth," said Joe Michaels of Kingston.

But Michaels decided to ditch his 1997 Yukon over the weekend for a brand new Nissan Quest mini-van.

The upgrade about doubles his gas mileage.

Customers like Gary Bolesta of Plymouth beat the Cash For Clunkers deadline on the program's final day.

He unloaded A 1996 Jeep in exchange for a new Nissan Versa.

It's one of about 100 clunkers that Ken Pollock Nissan helped take off the road.

Their engines will be destroyed and the vehicles will not be resold.

Gary Peters is the general manager at Ken Pollock Nissan.

"If you look at some of the cars we've traded in, they shouldn't be on the road," said Pollock.

He loves what the rebate program did for his company's bottom line.

"Definitely Cash For Clunkers has increased our business. Some customers that wouldn't have bought cars came out and bought cars."

While some have criticized the government funded program customers aren't complaining.

"If it's helping everybody out and the car dealership and putting money back into the economy then it's going to help everybody out," said Bolesta.

In just 1-month, the U. S. Department of Transportation received more than 600-thousand rebate applications totaling more than $2.5 billion.