I don't think I'm too worried about accuracy of the submissions. It's the horror stories of errors without codes, inconsistent approvals, and the like. Human error will take place in some circumstances, but it's impossible to know that you've made a mistake when you are under review for weeks without any indication that you've done something right or wrong. I know of 4 dealers within 5 miles of my place that have pulled out of the prgram due to lack of supporting funds. I can't remember a more ironic situation in 20 years of doing this. Stimulating the auto industry by making dealers front billions of dollars. Very frustrating.

I function as the CARS Czar for a large dealership -- we've submitted over 200 invoices and have been successful with 14 so far -- none currently in rejection status. Dealers who are worried about submissions being rejected need to adopt the following philosophy: Make it Simple! Do not give the Auditors an opportunity to reject the deal. In my role as the Czar here, I eyeball all the paperwork before we sign-off on it -- while the customer is still here. And it's very simple: if it's not perfect, the deal doesn't get done! Now at first, we had some miffed Sales Managers, but after sending them back a dozen times to re-write sloppy deals, get better copies of insurance, etc., they got the picture. I will then literally spell-it-out for the auditors on the copies before I scan them: "Insurance Page 1 of 3: Qualifying Date," "Current Reg, Title Date of Issue 5-14-95, Please see title above." Spell it out for them and make it easy: pretend you are sumbitting documents to 10-year-olds who need all the help they can get! This is truly an area foreign to us car people: we really need to slow-down to speed-up. Last tip: if you haven't actually read the checklist, take 25 minutes and ingest it thoroughly. It really is an A-B-C approach to submitting vouchers and gaining approvals -- another instance where simply slowing-down and taking 25 minutes will save you days or even weeks in the future.

according to the deeler support group at nhtsa, it is. we have 0 rejections, and 0 approvals dating back to the 28th. The big fear is having 3 week old submissions rejected, only to start the waiting game again...

I have had deals pending review since July 30th that have still not been looked at. Is this normal?

alex-
were you actually paid, or approved for a deal?

nicole-
To cancel something that is in review, please e‑mail this unwieldy address [email protected] from the e‑mail account that was used to register with the site. In the subject field type in “cancel” and follow that with the invoice number.

Jon - we were finally paid for a deal. Which means we are almost at 3% being funded.

So Alex, how many cars have you taken in on the program and how many have you been paid on? I know you guys started earlier than most on this program, so I am sure you have a staggering number of cars lining your back lot.

Is it just me or does this look like it is turning into an ongoing PR nightmare for dealers? Most of the problems lie on the government end and the dealers are the scapegoat, just my observation of customers involved in this thread. People on the industry side of this know for a fact that the last thing a dealer ever wants to do is call back a customer with an issue after a vehicle has been delivered, so you know before the call is made they have made every effort to find a loophole to get around the problem.

I am a customer that had to cancel a deal due to dealer mistakes. I need them to cancel my invoice out of the database so I can start fresh. They said they can't. What do I do?? I am very frustrated with this and I feel the dealer just does not want me to move on.

Bob-
according the c.a.r.s. website, a dealer cannot require that you return the car and reverse the transaction if the application for the credit is non-compliant. HOWEVER! One of the necessary forms to sumbit to the government is called a "Summary of Sale and cerification" form. If you signed it, you are certifying to the NHTSA that you are compliant with the program, including having continuous insurance for 1 full year prior to purchase. This form is signed, deemed too be true under penalty of law. Simply put, the dealer has the ability to come after you, because you are not compliant with the law. in addition, you signed a form certifying you are in compliance with the program. I would do exactly what the dealer asks and start over perhaps with another dealer. We are all supposed to know the law, and having a car salesman tell you everything is cool when it's not is a pretty dumb mistake that could get you into serious trouble for fraud.

So I went into a dealership on August 7th with the expectations of buying a used vehicle. The dealership noticed what my old car was and said that it would be eligible for the C4C. So, with that in mind, I looked at the new cars and settled on a brand new vehicle. This was a Chrysler dealership where they doubled the “rebate”. So I dropped off my clunker, signed all the paperwork with the loan, etc. I didn’t however, sign a contingency document. Today I received a phone call saying that they need to have my new vehicle returned because it turns out I wasn’t eligible due to the insurance part. Even though I gave them everything, I had a lapse of insurance and it means that my vehicle was not eligible and they want to reverse the transaction. Is that possible? I wasn’t aware of exactly what the C4C guidelines were and they said they would “walk me through it” so I understood.. Can someone shed a little light on what to do here?

Deb-
this is from my state's nada FAQ
Two Ways to Cancel a Deal

You use the “Cancel” button to cancel a deal that has not been submitted or that has been rejected.
To cancel something that is in review, please e‑mail this unwieldy address [email protected] from the e‑mail account that was used to register with the site. In the subject field type in “cancel” and follow that with the invoice number.

I haven't had any problems resubmitting when they've been rejected. I can't however change anything when they're in the "under review" mode. I just keep waiting for the reject notices, impossible to be proactive.
I wonder if they're doing sweeps of some sort. I haven't gotten any rejections for reg issues, and I had some customers who hadn't renewed prior to the 10 day grace period(MN).
That makes me think I'm going to get another batch of rejects....oh what fun.

thank goodness this isn't my money. I'm starting to feel bad for the owner of my dealership....

Ken, my understanding of the registration and insurance requirements pertaining to lapse in coverage via an email to that crazy email address is they simply don't qualify. If you have a one day break it won't qualify even if your state has a 10 day grace period for the registration. We had some confusion with this on our early deals. Example: customer brings in registration for one year from oct. 2009 to oct. 2008 but they bought in July so they need July to July but for whatever reason they were late paying their registration in Sept. and let the tags expire for 3 days. That is why I keep stressing to our sales staff that they should sit down and review all documents with the customer and use that time to interview and ask these questions. I think the letter from the insurance company is a better idea then looking back at a bunch of dates on insurance cards to minimize confusion.

Has anyone been paid for clunkers that have a registration period with a 1 to 5 day gap between renewal? I've had a rejection for not providing co buyers state ID even though its not required.

Hi Deb... Sounds good but after you submit an invoice and it's in "review mode" lol the attachment function is disables... Are you having the same prob????

I just got a response from NHTSA:
If you need to send a corrected attachment, do not delete or update the attachment. Just add the new attachment, and name the scanned file on your computer ‘REVISEDTITLE.pdf’ for example. You will be submitting with additional documents, and that is okay.

Day 16....no money, no approvals. The only thing to shade us from the sun is to huddle "under review". There will come a day in the not so distant future where we will have to pose the question:
In order to survive, do we eat those who did not make it this far?

I was able to correct them at 9:50pm CST. They flew through. I deleted and added the correct attachments in no time.
Mindy - I really appreciate your help!

Mozilla doesn't work at all!! Don't try it.

If you're hung-up on the CARS.gov website, take a quick minute to fill out this Dealer Refresh survey on the environmental impact Cash for Clunkers has had:


Once we feel we have a big enough set of data, we will submit the findings for press releases. SO - DEALERS! >>make sure you do this because it could be a great opportunity for some media exposure and/or SEO exposure to your website!

Thanks Keith! However I am using IE8, perhaps I should go back to trying Mozilla, an option I hadn't thought of.

THANKS A LOT!!!
Also, I have an additional phone number for you. The one you gave me is for hours 6am-4pm CST, 202.510.7825 AFTER 4PM. If that helps?! I've actually spoken to people at that number but they couldn't help much. When I called they did not have the ability to "look" at the invoices.
Good Luck!!!