By Kirk Johannesen, The Republic
johannesen@therepublic.com
A long row of cars, trucks, sport utility vehicles and minivans lined a littleused back car lot, where weeds grew through the cement.
Some looked as if they had limped to their final destination, with smashed bumpers, shredded tires, rust patches and sun-faded paint.
Others appeared fit to be sold as second vehicles for a family or a teenager's first ride.
The death that awaited them is the result of life being injected into auto sales at the Bob Poynter dealership in Columbus.
Bob Poynter is among dealers nationwide experiencing a spike in sales because of the federal government's Car Allowance Rebate System, which provides incentives for consumers to trade in gas-guzzling, higher-polluting vehicles for newer, more environmentally friendly ones.
Critics of the "Cash for Clunkers" program say many viable vehicles are being destroyed instead of being presented as options for some car buyers.
However, qualified "clunkers" can earn a car buyer a $3,500 to $4,500 credit toward a new vehicle: a sizable incentive for a car buyer.
"Take the gift. That's a lot of money," said Randy Wetzel, sales manager at Poynter.
The dealership has sold about 50 vehicles through Cash for Clunkers, about 30 of which are Hyundai models, making July Poynter's best month ever selling that brand.
As busy as the sales staff has been sending customers off in sparkling new vehicles, Wetzel's staff and technicians have been equally busy preparing the vehicles' death certificates and administering the lethal injections of sodium silicate into the engines.
When a deal is struck with a customer, paperwork is submitted to the federal program for approval. Once the clunker is accepted and registered, an invoice number is written on the windshield, and the vehicle is set aside.
Wetzel said once he's learned that payment from the government is on the way, the dealership proceeds with killing the clunker by disabling the engine.
Sodium silicate is injected into the engine, and it is run without oil at a high rpm for an extended period.
"It's quite boring, actually. It just stops running; the engine seizes up," Wetzel said.
Once the engine is dead, paperwork is filed with the government indicating when the engine was disabled. Also, the engine is tagged to indicate that it is disabled and unusable.
Poynter has a deal with Ebbing Auto Parts Inc. in North Vernon to pick up the dead clunkers.
Ebbing supplies the sodium silicate and pays Poynter $50 per clunker. Ebbing hauls them away, and has 180 days to make money off the parts before the clunker must be crushed.
Usefulness cut short?
While the program is helping people trade in old, gas-guzzling vehicles and boosting new car sales, it's causing concern for some groups who think usable cars are being scrapped.
Human Services Inc. program Wheels to Work, which helps low-income people purchase cars, relies on donations of used cars as a way help people obtain transportation.
Donations already are down because of a tax rule that took effect a few years ago, and the troubled economy is causing people to keep their cars longer, said Peggy Idlewine, director of independent living. Now the Cash for Clunkers program could take away future donations.
Only one car has been donated this year, and four people are waiting, she said.
Wheels to Work could accept some of the vehicles people are trading in at dealerships, Idlewine said.
"Within our program we have to be careful not to take guzzlers, but there is a range of vehicles in there that are viable transportation," she said.
Some of the vehicles being traded could continue to serve as usable transportation, said Ryan Bultman, service manager at Ray's Automotive Center.
He said that's because Ray's services a lot of cars worth about $3,000 to $4,000 that probably would qualify as clunkers.
"People are making repairs to them and keeping them on the road rather than having a car payment," Bultman said.
The popularity of the program and resulting new car sales could mean fewer people coming to Ray's for repairs, he said, but he added that he hasn't seen that happen because the state of the national economy is still causing people to extend the life of their vehicles.
Bultman said the environmental goal of Cash for Clunkers is good.
"I think it's a good idea ... if it's doing what it's intended to do," Bultman said.
However, he said he also has heard that some people are buying vehicles with an insignificantly better fuel economy.