Higher credit risk buyers who bought a car using the Cash for Clunkers incentive last year have higher repossession and late payment rates and higher levels of buyer’s remorse than buyers who did not use the program, according to CNW Research.Those in the lowest credit category had a 4.8% repossession rate compared with those who bought similar vehicles without using Cash for Clunkers, which stands at only 2.2%. CNW could not discern if buyers in higher credit categories also have higher repossession or late payment rates.
When it comes to regretting a purchase, one in five who used the government’s $4,500 incentive said they now wish they hadn’t. The buyer’s remorse rate for non-Clunkers buyers was one in 20.
Yeah, so like smart people said… People who couldn’t afford them bought cars because they got a discount, and now they regret doing so. Smart people saw it coming, though, as they correctly noted that most of the cars being traded in for pennies on the dollar were paid off and now people were strapping themselves with thousands of dollars in debt, but hey… They got a new car, right?
C4C was a failure of epic proportions and a farce from day one. Stable working cars were taken off the road so Americans could “stimulate” the economy by taking on more debt.
Now that we’re done robbing Peter to pay Paul, the numbers are bearing out what we knew all along, or at least what those of us with brains knew all along.