Your tax dollars go to anyone who buys a Volt. A $7,500 rebate to get the Government Motors Volt program off the ground. Much like cash for clunkers, it’s the government getting into the free market and making a mess of the market.
There are no cheap used cars available today since cash for clunkers took so many off the road. New car sales were just moved forward and everyone loses, mostly you the taxpayer.
Jimmy Carter screwed up the energy markets with oil price controls and allocation. Daisy-chaining oil was prevalent. Someone with an allocation for gasoline sold that right to someone else and it was sold again and again. The U.S. was like the Soviet Union with energy products becoming a black market commodity and lines at the pumps. When Reagan eliminated controls his first month in office, the price went down and the lines went away.
Here are the facts on the $7,500 rebates as reported by the Chicago Tribune, of all places. GM dealers are stealing the money. They sell the car to another dealer and split the money. The dealer buying the car marks the price up to where it would have been without the rebate. And, there’s nothing GM or the regulators can do about the problem. The average Volt is selling for $20,000 more than the suggested GM retail price. A Glendale, Calif, dealership has four used Volts, all with low mileage, priced at $44,000. All bought at auction.
Is it no wonder few Volts are being sold? First, they are over-priced vs. the Leaf at $41,000. But, at $60,000 they are completely over-priced. But, the dealer got $7,500 when he sold it to another dealer at list price, or whatever he didn’t split with the dealer he sold it to.
The second dealer must make a profit less whatever his part of the rebate he shared with the dealer he bought the car from as new. If he sold one of his cars to the same dealer, they both got $7,000 by selling cars to each other.
This stuff makes cash for clunkers look like child’s play. It shows how much smarter car dealers are than our government. And how much dumber we taxpayers are than car dealers. We let our government do this.
Looking for a place to cut cost in government, start here. Stop this program now, dead in it’s tracks. Demand transparency on this so every American can see what a travesty this really is and how tax dollars are being wasted.
Where is Fox News when we need them?
