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Cash for clunkers

September 2, 2009

Germany's popular car-scrapping bonus program has reached the limits of its budget. The only hope for Germans still hoping to take advantage of the deal is to get on the waiting list.

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A crane crushes a car
Around 2 million Germans signed up for the country's cash-for-clunkers programImage: AP

The final application for one of Germany's car scrapping bonuses cleared the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control on Wednesday. At the start of the day, there were just under 5,000 car bonus applications available, but before noon, the last had been snapped up by German consumers.

Germany's car-scrapping bonus entitled car owners to trade in cars older than nine years old for a 2,500 euro ($3,500) bonus towards a newer, fuel efficient vehicle. The German government had set aside five billion euros ($6.6 billion) for the project, which amounted to an allocation for about 2 million consumers.

The German government has announced there are no plans to extend or replace the cash-for-clunkers premium. However, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control announced that a waiting list of 15,000 people will be maintained in case any current applicants who have been given the chance to receive the bonus don't actually claim the money.

mz/AP/dpa
Editor: Nancy Isenson

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