DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
July 24th 2009
Christopher Choquangsam, holding son Matthew, and his wife Nazreen, stand by the 2009 Honda Odyssey purchased through the federal CARS program.
Clunk, clunk - ka ching!
New Yorkers are revving up to take advantage of the government's new "cash for clunkers" program that could give them thousands of bucks toward buying a new car.
"Four thousand less out of my pocket - it makes a big difference," said new car buyer Nazreen Choquangsam of Woodhaven, Queens.
Car dealers are taking advantage of the $1 billion plan to reel in recession-ravaged consumers who have been reluctant to splurge on a new car.
They say the program will jump-start sales and get buyers back into showrooms, especially when manufacturers are tacking on incentives of their own.
"This is a perfect storm for a consumer looking for a great deal," said Brian Benstock of the Paragon Auto Group in Queens.
The program is officially being launched today, but dealers have been selling cars using the program since the beginning of July.
Benstock has already sold 40 Hondas and Acuras involving the program, officially called the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS. He's ordered 360 more vehicles and plans a $100,000-a-month ad campaign to get more business.
Harold Bendell of the Major Auto Group said his dealerships already inked 30 deals.
That's just the kind of economic activity that the Obama administration had in mind when it came up with the popular new plan, which also is aimed at getting more fuel-efficient cars on the road.
Choquangsam and her husband were already thinking about buying a new car to replace their 1988 Nissan Pathfinder because she is five months pregnant with their second child.
The creaky old SUV had 170,000 miles on it and no air conditioning. It drained their wallet every time they hit the pump.
"It drank gas," exclaimed Choquangsam, who got $4,500 off the purchase of a $28,000 Odyssey minivan. "What would it have been worth - maybe $100?"
Not everyone is cheering the new program, which has some significant fine print.
Used car dealers say the program is wasteful, in part because it requires trade-ins to be destroyed, not resold.
They also say most buyers won't qualify because their cars are not gas-guzzlers or are worth more than the government voucher.
Tony Virardi's 1994 Maxima is a nonstarter because it gets 19 miles per gallon, one more than the 18 maximum.
He's got an even better reason not to bite - he's out of work.
"It's a good time to buy," said Virardi, 50, of Brooklyn, who is blogging about riding out the recession on nydailynews.com. "But without a job it's not real prudent."
