Ailing car industries across the country received a much needed boost from a government program this summer.

The Car Allowance Rebate System, also known as “Cash for Clunkers,” ended Monday, August 24 after exhausting all the funds provided by the government.

The program was so successful that clunker owners dried up the initial $1 billion appropriated for trading in the cars in less than a week. Excitement for the program forced members of Congress to add an additional $2 billion for clunker trade-ins.

​Initial funds were supposed to last until October of 2009, but the government didn’t anticipate the popularity.

Trading in gas-guzzling cars for new cars is a strong step toward reducing harmful emissions to the environment from older cars and giving a boost to the struggling car industry.

Local car dealerships are thankful for this opportunity, as well.

Gary Settles, new Ford sales manager of Paul Miller Ford in Lexington, said that most of the people approaching his car lot have a clunker to trade in, according to a Kernel article.

Keith Purdon, general sales manager at Freedom Dodge Chrysler Jeep, said that the program gave his business a real boost, according to a Kernel article.

“It was a blessing,” Purdon said. “It turned our business around completely.”

At the same time, though, the federal government needs to plan their programs more appropriately.

The cars targeted by the program would normally only receive about $500 dollars on a trade-in, if that. “Cash for Clunkers” offered from $3,500 to $4,500 for a qualifying car. Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of that?

​Car dealerships did their part to sell their cars and use the funds appropriated by the government, now the government must hold up their end of the bargain. Sales managers at dealerships are now relying on the government to deliver the rebates in timely fashion.

“We’ve got a lot of money out there that we haven’t gotten,” Purdon said.

The federal government needs to process these rebates and return the money in order to see the full effect of this program. If the government doesn’t follow through, they will lose and so will the car industry.

At a time when the government is spending a lot of money on special programs, they should not have been stingy with this program. “Cash for Clunkers” had good intentions but ran out of money.

The long term effects of the program have yet to be seen, but any program that allows students to trade in old cars to help both the environment while also putting cash into their pockets can have its flaws overlooked.