7/10/2009 'Cash for clunkers' may mean less cash for some
Cathy Woodruff

Many charities and nonprofit organizations that depend on donations of old cars -- from public radio stations to local fire departments -- are hoping the federal "cash for clunkers" program won't mean less cash for them.

Aimed at removing older gas-guzzling vehicles from the road and encouraging purchases of new, more fuel-efficient ones, the new federal incentives are expected to kick into gear around July 24.

Participants could get credits of $3,500 or $4,500 toward the purchase of a new vehicle.

But charity officials note that the federal program, formally called the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS, has rules and limits that will make it impractical for some would-be car buyers.

Those restrictions -- along with a limited window to participate -- may be enough to keep the program from cutting too deeply into the flow of donated vehicles.

"We're taking a wait-and-see approach to see how it affects us," said Carol LaFleur, executive director of the National Kidney Foundation of Northeast New York in East Greenbush.

Nationally, the Kidney Foundation receives some 35,000 car donations annually, and locally, 1,000 vehicles are contributed in a typical year, LaFleur said.

Last year, the regional chapter raised about $250,000, a quarter of its budget, through auto donations, she said.

Donors can gain tax credits of at least $500 with an auto donation, and more if the auction value is higher, said LaFleur.

Albany-based WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is among many public radio and television stations around the country that benefit from automotive gifts to the Car Talk Vehicle Donation Program.

Last year, those donations were worth more than $42,000 to the station, said Dave Galletly, WAMC's senior vice president.

"I suppose we'll lose something" because of the clunker program, "but I hope it's not too much," said Alan Chartock, WAMC's president and CEO.

The Car Talk Vehicle Donation Program accepts some 7,000 to 10,000 vehicles each year, raising approximately $2 million to $3 million for public radio, said CEO Mark Jones. The program also handles auto donations for many other charities, including the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Jones's organization, based in a suburb of San Francisco, handles the logistics of accepting vehicle donations, including title transfers, and contracts with a Rhode Island company, Advanced Remarketing Services, to dispose of the autos.

In addition to the altruistic value of contributing a vehicle, some donors also are drawn by the simplicity, compared with handling their own trade-ins and sales.

"We are trying to dispose of the vehicle as quickly as possible with no lingering liability to the donor or the charity," Jones said.

The rules for the CARS program add some complexity to the process, he said.

People discarding old vehicles that get more than 18 mpg -- which Jones said covers only about 10 percent of passenger cars in the country -- wouldn't qualify for CARS, nor would transactions that don't lead to the purchase or lease of a new car.

"It really is targeting a small segment of the market and trying to point them in the direction of buying a newly manufactured car from Detroit," said Jones.

And even if the fuel efficiency of the trade-in car is poor enough to qualify for the maximum $4,500 credit, "it doesn't necessarily make a new car purchase affordable enough for the average clunker driver," said Joseph Hearn, president of Advanced Remarketing Services.

There's another aspect of the federal program that should help keep a sufficient supply of jalopies flowing to the Defreestville Fire Department, said the department's president, Timothy J. O'Connor.

The rules require that the trade-in vehicle is drivable, and many of the cars donated to the fire department for use in training aren't even roadworthy, O'Connor said.

"Ninety-nine percent of them are inoperable -- or maybe they are running, but they're dragging an axle down the road," he said.

The department makes a little money from junk sales of the old cars, once members are done with them, but O'Connor said their greatest value isn't monetary.

He pointed to a recent head-on collision on Route 43. The firefighters who responded had trained intensively, extricating crash dummies from battered donation cars, and managed to rescue the people involved.

"If these guys were not at the top of their game, we would probably be looking at three fatalities right now," said O'Connor.

Cathy Woodruff can be reached at 454-5093 or by e-mail at cwoodruff@timesunion.com.


Clunker considerations

The federal Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), commonly called "cash for clunkers," comes with some strings attached.

When does it start? Transactions on and after July 1 may be eligible for credits, but some details remain to be finalized. July 24 is the estimated time for final rules.

When does it end? Nov. 1, or when funds are exhausted.

What old vehicles qualify? Generally, trade-in cars must be less than 25 years old, get 18 mpg or less, be in drivable condition and be registered continuously and insured for a year.

What is the credit amount? $3,500 or $4,500.

Do all new cars qualify? No. There are limits on price and fuel efficiency, depending on the type of vehicle.

On the Web: http://www.cars.gov