If you’re in the market to trade in your clunker for some cash, the clock is ticking. The U.S. Government will be stopping the Cash for Clunkers program on Monday, August 24. The program, officially knows as the Cars Allowance Rebate System (CARS) has been hugely successful, which has led to a backlog of payments to dealers. General Motors has even begun advancing payment to its dealers until the government can process all of these payments.

Instead of letting the next round of funding for the CARS program run out, the U.S. Department of Transportation has decided to declare August 24, 2009 at 8:00pm EDT as the official end of the Cash for Clunkers program.

This doesn’t mean that you must ink your deal by 8pm on Monday; instead it means that the application must be submitted by the deadline. If you’ve recently participated in the program, it may be a good idea to give the dealership a call to verify that the application has been submitted.

If you haven’t yet participated in the program, but hope to, I’d advise you to get to your local dealership as soon as possible. The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) is actually recommending, “All dealers now focus their attention and efforts on submitting reimbursement claims prior to the looming deadline.” Source: PR Newswire

If you’re in the new auto sales industry, you’re probably in for a very busy weekend! The renewed funding for the CARS program is expected to have a significant impact on August 2009 auto sales and it is likely that we’ll see some positive numbers when the figures are released in early September.

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