Comments on: Save the Economy: Crush Your Car!

By: Josh Paul

Josh Paul — Thu, 06 May 2010 04:34:52 +0000

you stupid Hippies, what about us collectors? you people say new cars are the awnser? haha thats BS, they are plastic peices of crap, i will NOT buy a new car,
you people need to go back to chaining yourselfs to trees and leave the cars alone

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:52:43 +0000

I say crush the hybrids and get these disgraceful cars off the road. Who cares about the environment and the hoax of global warming?

By: Bryce

Bryce — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:13:59 +0000

none of this matters anyways, the provision in the bill failed….no go.

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:30:16 +0000

I did a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation on how much energy would be used in creating the new car. Is it really efficient to exchange an old car for a new one with slightly higher mileage? Check my math, and let me know what you think.

http://www.affinefinancial.com/2009/02/03/tax-dollars-to-crush-cars/

By: Hank

Hank — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:33:23 +0000

Hi, I for one drive a 30 year old Toyota Celica because I don’t like new cars, or monthly payments. My car has been all renewed by me while still driven every day, 5 years, less then 5 grand. It gets better milage then most new cars and would still pass emissions. I average 25,000 miles a year, and don’t break down, why would I want to give it up, or have to pay more because it’s old. Iam 54 years old myself should I have to pay more because Iam older?

By: moishe k

moishe k — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:15:38 +0000

Ok why don’t we enforce NY City taxi rules nationwide

By: marco

marco — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:17:26 +0000

Hi

Here in Portugal we have this incentive for quite a long.

The deduction will go up to 2500 euros depending of the vehicle age, always at least 10 years old. And you should own the car for at least 1 year.

The tax credit is deducted on the tax paid for a new car, if it complies with latest euro emission standarts. For example a city car never pays enought tax to take advantage, but a compact
Usually is worth it.
The old car is always recycled on approved locations.

Here it is a strong incentive to change the old car for a new one safer and cleaner.

By: timrock

timrock — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:25:47 +0000

Duh!

By: Need2Change

Need2Change — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 03:03:16 +0000

I don't want a road worthiness inspection that requires an engineer. It could costa lot.

Also to ensure that there are economical cars for sale, i.e. cost less than $4,000, the government could require that one own the car for two or more years before one is eligible for the credit. That way people won't be buying cars just forthe credit. It wouldn't make sense to buy a car for $2K, insure, license, inspect, maintain, and park it just to get a $4K tax credit years later.

By: veek

veek — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:00:09 +0000

We lived in Germany several years ago and they had another way to get older, poorly maintained, dangerous polluters off the road. It was called the TUV inspection.

To keep your car licensed, you would need a periodic roadworthiness inspection, done by a licensed engineer (yes, an engineer) in a central facility (not just your corner garage), and the inspection would take several days. The car could fail for hundreds of predetermined reasons, among them pollution, unrepaired surface rust, or a poorly adjusted emergency brake. They were serious, and there was no appealing the decision -- if they said the car needed a repair, you either repaired it or the car wasn't registered. Needless to say, owners of older cars really sweated it out, and the required repairs were often so expensive and time-consuming that a newer car was the best solution. The only old oil-burning clunkers you saw were ones that NATO servicemen would buy (they were exempt from the inspection). This kind of solution could be adapted to pollution laws, too.

Such an inspection would be another good way to make owning an old polluter less economically viable, and it could also generate inspection fees. Sounds pretty Draconian, and of course in Germany driving was considered more of a privilege than an entitlement, so it may not work here (Germany also had some drunk-driving restrictions that would never get past the ACLU in the US), but it is interesting to see how other countries do this.