Knowing the car business like I do, it seems ripe for exploitation. Lets, for a minute, assume that I am the guy in the tower “penciling” this deal. A customer shows up with a trade that qualifies. Lets say he or she is trading in an old clunker, and it is a V-8 with lots of miles. Not too much to worry about there, as the customer will be tickled to get a voucher worth 4500 bucks. So, I place a value on the trade, of say, zero. The trade will likely be sold at auction for 500 dollars or less. But the customer will never see that money, not will that value be credited in his deal. Like i said, $500 in a car deal is pretty small potatoes.
What if the trade is clean, and has acceptable mileage? If i know the customer is desperate for that voucher, i am going to low-ball his trade by as much as possible, in fact, much like early lease deals, I’ll probably try to “swallow’ the whole trade, which means I’ll structure the deal in such a way that the customer never knows the value of his trade. It is done everyday, and to otherwise smart people.
There are other issues, like what is really being saved energy-wise when the trades will likely be sold to someone else. But this bill is a license to steal.
Its the nature of the car business.
