80% of dealers yet to see money from Cash for Clunkers - WALB.com, South Georgia News, Weather, Sports

80% of dealers yet to see money from Cash for Clunkers

By Wainwright Jeffers - bio | email

LEE COUNTY, GA (WALB) - A lot of dealers haven't yet seen a dime from the Cash for Clunkers program.

A survey by Automotive News found 80 percent of car dealers haven't been approved to get their money back.

A lot of the applications have been rejected most of minor mistakes.

Many of the new cars on the lot at Toyota of Albany are gone, they've sold about 35 cars through the program, and are waiting on $124,000 from the government.

"There are a lot of dealers that have dropped the program I know some dealers that are out $500,000 to $600,000 dollars waiting for the government to pay and they're just not paying, it's very successful for the customer, very successful for the automotive industry, short of us getting paid, if we all get paid it becomes a good program," said Alan Murphy, Toyota of Albany GM.

Responding to complaints over a backlog of rebate payments, the U.S. Transportation Secretary assured car dealers today that they will be reimbursed for the program.

Earlier this week the government tripled its work force to handle all the paperwork.

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