EVERETT — For Buzz Rodland, the federal “Cash for Clunkers” program extended by Congress late Thursday is a headache he can’t afford to get rid of.
The business keeps pouring in, and so do the mountains of paperwork. So far, Rodland Toyota in Everett hasn’t seen any federal reimbursement for the rows of clunkers they’ve disabled and sent to junk yards during the last few weeks.
The 60-37 vote in the Senate to refuel the federal program with $2 billion means the customers will keep coming. People will keep bringing in past-prime gas guzzlers and driving away in new cars made more affordable through the government incentive program.
That will likely mean a few new employees to help process paperwork, a lot of uncertainty about when exactly the dealership will be reimbursed, and a lot of late nights for Rodland’s staff.
“We have found that it’s very hard to close at 9 o’clock,” he said.
The initial $1 billion clunker program ran out in just 10 days. Officials say the additional money should cover 500,000 cars more than the initial 250,000. Senators didn’t make any changes in the basic legislation, which was already approved by the House.
Washington Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both Democrats, supported the bill.
Cantwell had misgivings about the program initially. She planned to oppose its creation until Obama phoned her and changed her mind.
Thursday she sounded more supportive though concerned Congress took the $2 billion away from another effort to promote alternative energy development.
“Clearly this program was a hit with consumers, and given its proven ability to stimulate economic growth during these trying times, it should be extended for a short period of time,” she said in a statement.
“While I question the wisdom of taking money out of a program that is leveraging tens of billions (of dollars) in clean energy investments, I have received assurances from the administration that this funding will be restored in short order,” she said.
Murray has backed the program as a means of giving a jolt to the economy and reducing air emissions from polluting vehicles.
“This is a stimulus for Main Street. It helps families who have watched fuel prices take a bite out of their wallets and it gets gas guzzlers off the road,” said Murray spokeswoman Alex Glass.
Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of the auto Web site Edmunds.com, said the program’s unintended result is that vehicle prices are climbing. “What we’ve created now is a shortage for key models,” he said. “Prices are going up dramatically.”
On Thursday, Toyota Corollas overtook the Ford Focus as the top new vehicle purchased in the program. Rodland Toyota in Everett has swapped 23 Corollas and 24 Prius hybrids for clunkers.
Rodland says he’s had to hire three new employees to help process clunker paperwork, which can take hours to submit for reimbursement.
Jane Hogland, his office manger, said she’s amazed by the deluge of paperwork her staff has to process every time there’s another cash-for-clunker sale. There are the hours spent scanning documents, a government Web site that keeps crashing, and pages of possible errors that could void the application.
“In all the years that I’ve worked at a car dealership, I’ve never seen this level of bureaucracy,” she said.
The government is required to send reimbursement within 10 days, but as of Thursday evening, Rodland Toyota hadn’t received a response to its 13 submitted applications. It plans to send off 26 more today.
You’ve killed a perfectly running car that could have been resold,” Hogland said. “And you’re trusting that you’re going to be getting your money.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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