Cash for Clunkers - 9 Dealer Tips for a Trouble-Free CARS Transaction

9 Tips for a Trouble-Free CARS Transaction
By Russ Darrow, AIADA Chairman

Dealers, consumers, and manufacturers all cheered last week when the U.S. Senate approved $2 billion in additional funds for the government’s wildly popular CARS, or Cash for Clunkers, program. With these new funds, and a little experience under our belts, we dealers can expect to benefit from the program’s impact for another month or so.

To ensure that CARS deals are processed accurately and efficiently, OEMs and associations like AIADA are working overtime to make sure dealers have all their questions answered and unique issues addressed.

At the same time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is working to increase its staff responsible for processing the 20,000 per day submissions that come into the program. NHTSA has also made some adjustments to the program’s rules to speed reimbursements and meet dealers’ requests. For example, dealers no longer have to kill a clunker’s engine before we submit paperwork. We do, however, have to disable it before sending the vehicle to the junk yard.

Dealers can do their part, as well, to make the next few weeks run smoothly. Here are�9 tips for a trouble-free CARS transaction:

Pay attention to detail. NHTSA reports that a number of deals are being submitted with incomplete paperwork and missing attachments and signatures. Assign someone at the dealership to be the quality checker before you hit submit.
Remember to write “Junk Automobile/CARS.gov” on the front AND back of the car title. Write it big and legible – some dealers have even had stamps made for this purpose.
Don’t submit PDFs (document scans) in color. Sure, they look pretty, but the time they take to load isn’t worth it. Black and white is the way to go.
Keep PDFs under 8 MB. Anything larger than 8 mega bytes will clog NHTSA’s system. Resolution should be set for 200-300 dpi (per NHTSA’s recommendation) to help the system run more smoothly. If possible, just send one PDF. There’s no need to create a separate PDF for each document, just label each sheet (e.g. title, proof of insurance, etc.) and keep them in order.
Don’t leave transactions on hold for too long. You can hit "Save for Later" and come back to the transaction to complete it at a later time. But don’t wait too long. Submit it at your first opportunity so there is not a backlog of deals in "draft mode."
Make sure the summary of sale and lease documents are signed by the dealer AND purchaser. Get the purchaser’s signature while you have them at your store.
Submit Insurance Documentation. While NHTSA has made changes to the rules regarding proof of insurance for states that do not require insurance (WI and NH), ALL other states still must submit proof of insurance for one year.
Kill the engine before sending a car to the salvage yard. Failing to do so will result in fines and penalties, including removal from the CARS program as a registered dealer.
If you realize you made an error in your submission, don’t wait for NHTSA to process and reject it.� You can follow four simple steps to cancel your submission.

o�� Send an email from your registered CARS email address from your dealership account
o�� Send to 9-amc-nhtsa-cars-ap-supplier@faa.gov.
o�� Subject line should read "REJECT {INVOICE NUMBER}" – enter in the invoice number for the deal you want stopped.
o�� Include in the body of the email all of your dealer contact information and the deal invoice number again.

If you follow these directions, the remainder of the CARS program should be smooth sailing.

In the mean time, AIADA will continue to keep its dealers up to date on all the latest Clunkers news. Dealers are also encouraged to check the government’s website – www.cars.gov/dealersupport – for updates.

�Russ Darrow, AIADA Chairman