Cash For Clunkers: Big Money or Big Brother?
By Victoria Nicks
Copyright 2011, by Victoria Nicks
Smashwords Edition
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Cash for Clunkers was a 2009 U.S. government program that offered consumers money to bring in a vehicle that was not very fuel efficient, and buy a new, and more efficient, vehicle. While the program appears to have offered positive results for car manufacturers, dealerships, and consumers, there may have been a darker side to the cash-back program. Using the website, and agreeing to the disclaimer, appeared to allow the United States Federal Government Big Brother-like access to all uses of the computer used to access the Cars.gov website.
The Cars Allowance Rebate System, also known as CARS, or Cash for Clunkers, is a program that was signed into law in June of 2009. This program offered several thousand dollars for the return of inefficient vehicles, when purchasing a new car. The inefficient vehicles that are returned through this program were destroyed, to ensure that they were not resold or reused. This program was intended to boost new car sales, as well as improving the fuel economy of cars on the road by getting rid of cars that were less efficient.
During the course of applying for Cash for Clunkers benefits, the applicant was required to agree to a disclaimer, which flashed up in a warning box on the computer. The disclaimer was to notify the consumer or dealer that using CARS resulted in that computer becoming property of the US Federal Government.