More Cash for Clunker Funds Flow to Dealers

SEE ALSO: Cash for Clunkers Consumer Guide

Government ensuring dealers won't be left holding credits

WASHINGTON July 29, 2009; Neil Roland writing for Automotive News reported that Federal refunds to dealers tripled on Tuesday, the third day of the cash-for-guzzlers program, as some dealers expressed concern that the program's $1 billion budget would soon be depleted.

The U.S. Transportation Department is taking steps to ensure that if the program budget is exhausted, dealers will not be left holding the bag for credits they paid to customers but did not get reimbursed for, a spokesman said.

"We will not, repeat will not, put those dealers at any risk in terms of transactions they may have in the pipeline," agency spokesman Rae Tyson said in an interview [Wednesday].

The U.S. Transportation Department approved $68.9 million in reimbursements as of early Wednesday morning, up from about $17 million the day before, Tyson said. The difference comes to $51.9 million in a 24-hour period, or triple the total refunded since the program began last Friday.

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