Car Dealers get a Big Boost in Sales | ABC30 Fresno

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By ABC30

Monday, August 3, 2009

Fresno, CA But dealers warn, the money will no doubt run out again soon. Hank Hoss and his dad, Virgil drove from Bakersfield to Clovis Saturday to trade in Virgil's 19-92 pickup truck for a brand new one.

"We know that anytime the door can be closed again, so we thought, ok we'll do it this Monday, but we were encouraged strongly to get it done today in case it closes tonight."

Darrell Green had the same strategy in mind. He visited pistoresi in Madera Saturday to see if his Mercury sedan qualifies for the federal government's "cash for clunkers" program, which offers owners of old cars and trucks rebates of up to 4500-hundred dollars to put towards new, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

"The government don't give you very much so when they do, you better take advantage of it."

Future Ford of Clovis has more than 60 clunkers like this one just sitting in their lot. Compared to a normal weekend, they've already tripled their business. "And most of the people that are here this weekend are cash for clunkers customers. They're taking advantage of the free money. And you don't blame them? No, I wish I could!"

Future Ford general manager, James Cagle says they've done 20 "cash for clunker" deals since Friday. His guess, the federal government will run out of money to fund the program as early as Sunday night. v "They've got to step back and count the number of cars that have been sold and see exactly how much money they've got left."

Future Ford had all 17 of their sales people working today. Dealers across the valley anticipate tomorrow being another busy day. But again, they say come Monday morning, the program may be over.