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Cash for clunkers (CARS program 2009)

The 2009 federal program that paid buyers to trade in older vehicles, which then had to be scrapped.

Cash for Clunkers was the nickname for the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), a 2009 federal program run by NHTSA under the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act. Dealers gave buyers a credit for trading in an older, less fuel-efficient vehicle toward a new one.

NHTSA’s 2009 rule explained that many parts of a trade-in could be removed and sold, but the remaining vehicle, including the engine block, had to be crushed or shredded, so trade-in value was unlikely to exceed scrap value.1

The program ended long ago and there is no federal clunker payment today. Businesses that use the phrase today are private buyers, not part of a government program.

NHTSA said federal funds were depleted quickly because of the program’s popularity, and it set an August 24, 2009, 8 pm EDT deadline for completing CARS deals.2 In 2026 NHTSA removed the program’s rules from federal regulations because the program has ended.3

References

  1. Federal Register, “Requirements and Procedures for Consumer Assistance To Recycle and Save Program” (NHTSA final rule, July 29, 2009), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2009/07/29/E9-17994/requirements-and-procedures-for-consumer-assistance-to-recycle-and-save-program ↩

  2. Federal Register, “Requirements and Procedures for Consumer Assistance To Recycle and Save Program” (NHTSA final rule, September 28, 2009), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2009/09/28/E9-23335/requirements-and-procedures-for-consumer-assistance-to-recycle-and-save-program ↩

  3. Federal Register, “Removing Obsolete Procedures From the Consumer Assistance To Recycle and Save Act of 2009” (NHTSA final rule, June 3, 2026), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/03/2026-11074/removing-obsolete-procedures-from-the-consumer-assistance-to-recycle-and-save-act-of-2009 ↩

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