I cannot vouch for other dealers, but I can tell you that we and none of our competitors are making customers wait to take delivery of their cars under this program. It sounds like these dealerships being mentioned here are either paranoid or don't have the cash to float any deals - either way, they shouldn't be participating in the program.

I think the NHTSA would be quite upset to hear about some of the practices I'm hearing. There are extremely stiff repercussions for those who don't play by the rules.

Dealers who don't play by the rules piss me off because they hurt our entire industry's reputation (and I'm not just talking about the CARS Program here).

Same here, we bought a car on 7/24 and dealer submitted CARS paperwork on 7/29 -- still waiting on the new car too. Really frustrated with the slow paperwork. Wish there was a way to check status besides calling the dealer every other day.

We waited for our dealer to sign up for CARS on 7/24. He submitted our deal on 7-28. Two weeks later we are still waiting to take delivery of the new car. Dealer says the deal is still under review by govt. We can pick up the new car if we write him a check for the CARS voucher amount. Govt sure didn't think this thru

I finally got through by way of the consumer help line. It's good to know the folks that are getting the discounts are well taken care of, while the dealers hang out to dry. But, I spoke with a very nice person who, after pleading a little, tranferred me to a live dealer support person who, told me to expect delays. Thank you so much for that tidbit....
However, at least i know (or do I) that 13 days under review is not uncommon. It will be fun telling my boss that after two weeks they couldn't read the registration date, or something fun like that.

Wow! I now feel for my dealer (somewhat). My Dealer has cashed both my $500 deposit check AND the check we gave from our bank. We financed through our own institution. He has been paid in full according to the purchase order. We signed everything on 7/31 including signing over the title of our Jeep. I still don't have my 09 Altima. I believe this car should be mine and the dealer can wait for the Feds. I see the point that he potentially stands to lose a lot if even half of his deals fall through - but - maybe he stands to lose more if each and everyone of us walks away completely from the deals. Put the plates back on it and give me my Jeep back and give me a check along with the interest I've accrued and the deal is off. It's a lot to gamble. I just want my new car:-(

Yes we get through after redialing several times. Hang up and hit redial. They aren't much help though. They can't "look" at any of them. I've had 6 rejections and each of them for different reasons even though one of the reasons(not writing junk automobile, cars.gov on the back of the title page). I didn't do that on any of them but I've only had one of the 6 rejected because of it. I cant make any sense of it. I've had no approvals and I sent them about the same time.

I have had 15 submissions since 7/29 and all are still under review. we stopped delivering cars as a result and have had two deals cancel as a result. Is anyone having any luck getting through on the hotline?

The reject codes can be found at the following link :

I have a list but I would have to fax it if you still need it let me know!
you can email at [email protected]

Does someone have a list of the rejection codes? I saw it somewhere but can not find it.

I just had a car rejected and the reason for rejection was: NONE

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Please let me know if you have.

Heather - when you upload your attachments as one big attachment, you have to title the upload (not the actual file) "ALL ATTACHMENTS".

I would love to help you but I resubmitted 2 on 8-5-09 and have not received any notification back. Mine were rejected for bogus reasons also. I called the NHTSA number
202.366.0606 6AM TO 4PM CST
202.510.7825 AFTER 4PM CST
they didn't know why either and told me to resubmit it. I did and we'll see what happens!
If I learn anything more I'll post it!

I have received 4 rejections and 24 are still under review. All 4 were rejected for items that we clearly supplied (proof of insurance, signatures, etc). I received code 0701 missing signature on Summary of Sale for all four. How do they not see it? Do they not look beyond the first page? I really need help, please.

Ok they email the rejection codes, figured that out. This entire program is nothing but a headache.

Has anyone had an invoice returned without a rejection code? Are the rejection codes hidden? I would appreciate any help or insight!

Deb Letcher
Controller
Waconia Ford Mercury - Minnesota

DEALERS' CLUNKER PAYMENTS START TODAY, FEDS SAY

DOT chief: 'We fixed our Web site problems'

NEIL ROLAND
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
AUGUST 4, 2009 - 12:28 PM ET

WASHINGTON -- Dealers will start getting reimbursed today for cash-for-clunkers credits paid to consumers, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said today.

"We fixed our Web site problems," LaHood said at a news conference here. "We believe processing will go much smoother."

He said dealers had filed 157,000 applications for $664 million in rebates.

The company contracted to handle the Transportation Department's computer system is Oracle Corp. Clerical processing is being handled by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup has added staff in Delaware to handle the surge of dealer applications. LaHood said he believed both companies have made changes to improve their response time but gave no details.

Dealers are supposed to get paid within 10 days after filing for a rebate of the $3,500 or $4,500 credits given to customers. Because of bottlenecks in the Transportation Department's computer reporting system, many dealers have had problems filing applications since the program began July 24. Many dealers had begun making deals weeks in advance, adding to the initial backlog problem.

If the Senate follows the House, which last week passed a $2 billion cash-for-clunkers extension, funding should be adequate through Labor Day, LaHood said.

The Senate is scheduled to begin a month-long recess Saturday.

@debbie
That would be a Dealership call best I can figure. If your Dealer is o.k. with it let it roll. At this point I think most dealers are holding out till something more official comes down from the senate.

If all the paperwork as been completed with a customer, all the way thru to financial approval, and the title has been signed over, is the dealership obligated to turn over possession of the new vehical while waiting for their funding? The clunker does qualify per the epa web comparison.

@Tim we have had deals submitted since last Tuesday and have only one rejection from a submission on Thursday night. It didn't have anything attached (don't ask)You can't change anything after submission till you get the rejection.I can't figure out what order they are processing these invoices? Back to the scanner for me

Has anyone been funded ( approved ) for any clunker cash yet at all ? All of ours are still pending even though they said 3-4 business days. We couldnt even register until late last week on our GM franchises and didnt get our Chrysler reg code until yesterday ( Monday ).

My fiance just bought a new car Tuesday morning July 28th, SIGNING A CONTRACT AND TAKING DELIVERY OF A NEW CAR trading a 1984 GM model that was manufactured in July, 1984. The dealer assured us that the car "qualified" for the $4500. He listed the trade as "cars program" $4500 on the purchase contract.

To our dismay, the dealer called on the evening of Friday Aug 1st saying he had bad news.....the car was disallowed by the gov't because of the 25 year limit.

What is going on here? The dealer sits on our paperwork for 4 days and misses the 25 year deadline? Can we make the dealer take the loss? We gave the dealer $7,000 and the clunker trade. The dealer let us drive off in a new car. We believe the dealer was negligent by not getting the clunker trade registered in a timely manner. Any help here would be appreciated. Thank You!

HAS ANYONE HAD A DEAL FUNDED? A rejection would be better then pending at this time.

Looks like another 2 Billion up for grabs.

Jon, Man am I ever.

Just goes to show you why you don't mess with a free market. Let it dictate itself.

Would not surprise me if they find a way to get more funding but I would expect to see the qualifications get pretty tight next time around.

Looking back on this (if its not to early to do so) this whole concept looks like it could make for a decent marketing plan. I.E. Ford/Chrysler advertises that they will take any "clunker" on trade for $4500 no questions asked, you just buy a new car from them. Looks to me like people bought into it. You already see commercials advertising that kind of money back not to mention most of these clunkers still have some sort of value so the dealers not out the whole $4500.

Thats what I would rather see is somebody taking that idea to market and running with it instead of my tax dollars paying for it..

Man I wish I had a bigger store to pull this off.