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ST. LOUIS NEWS TODAY - Sunday, August 2, 2009
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Clunker Bill Stimulates Economy Before Government Cuts First Check
ST. LOUIS (SLFP.com), August 2, 2009 - The governments Cash for Clunkers program (C.A.R.S.) began stimulating the economy a month before the first rebate check was cut to a consumer for a new vehicle. "Manufacturers and dealers have spent millions to reach consumers who qualify for the $4500 government funded rebates," said Sharon O'Connell from www.CashForClunkersInformation.org.
Big budgets have been activated to implement campaigns targeting clunker consumers who are eligible for the program and the early results suggest the returns will be worth the investment. "We predict that the annualized selling rate for July will exceed 10 million vehicles for the first time this year due to the government program bringing dormant consumers back into the market," adds O'Connell. "We think August could do even better with a million or more sales due to increased demand from the CARS program."
"The stimulus helps local markets more than national car companies because car dealers stimulate the local economy through their big advertising expenditures, job creation and enormous state tax revenue," said O'Connell. "A small dealership who sells 100 vehicles a month spends an average of $500 per car in advertising, which is a total of $50,000 that is spent in local advertising."
Courtesy Chevrolet, one of GM's largest dealerships in the country, "bought new inventory, hired additional salespeople and increased our ad budget by 88%," said Scott Gruwell. "We spent $200,000 on a targeted direct mail and web campaign to every customer in our market and we launched a regional information portal called www.CashForClunkersDC.com," said Vince Sheehy, owner of www.Sheehy.com in Washington, DC, Virginia, Maryland and Baltimore. "So far we have sold over 100 vehicles while most dealers in our area are just getting started."
Since over 80% of consumers initiate their vehicle searches online, Automotive Manufacturers and retailers have spent a lot of money online. Ford Motor Company is promoting its program on their home page where consumers can link to a website that promotes Ford models that qualify.
Early Spenders are the Early Winners
Most of the economic activity generated up to this point has come from early spenders who also appear to be early winners in the race to reach clunker consumers. The winning retailers have been marketing to consumers for weeks while others are just getting started. Hyundai and a small group of dealer groups got a head start when they announced they would help consumers participate in the program starting on July 1st, while others were turning them away until the final rule was published on the 24th.
The NHTSA and the National Automobile Dealers Assn. warned dealers against doing transactions before the final rules were announced on July 24th. Despite these warnings, Hyundai and a few dealers took the risk to help consumers get rebates when the law said they could. "Hyundai has attributed 10 percent of July's sales to the program and some dealers have generated hundreds of incremental sales," said O'Connell.
"We quickly created a program that helped consumers take advantage of the program and it has helped our sales a lot," said Rick Case, who has 6 Hyundai stores as a part of one of the most successful automotive groups in the country. "So far all our sales are conquest sales. More than 70% of the clunkers were Ford or Chevy trade ins, 71% of the clunkers were SUVs, 93% had over 100k miles and 71% qualified for the $4500 because SUV's only need a 5 mpg improvement to get the full $4500 rebate. The average clunker trade in gets 17 mpg and the average new vehicle gets 25 mpg, which is an average of an 8 mpg improvement," explained Case.
Distracted Driving the Top Reason Drivers Feel Less Safe than Five Years Ago
ST. LOUIS (SLFP.com), August 2, 2009 - Thirty-five percent of drivers said they feel less safe than they did five years ago, according to the second-annual 2009 Traffic Safety Culture Index released by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Overall, the majority of American motorists report that they feel no safer now than they did five years ago.
In an effort to spark the dialogue about improving our safety culture and working toward the goal of zero deaths on our nation's highways, the AAA Foundation launched its second-annual survey of the driving public on a wide variety of issues.
"Over the past twenty-five years, motor vehicle crashes have, prematurely, violently and tragically ended the lives of one million Americans - killing more of our children, teens and young adults than any other single cause," said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger. "That's one death every 13 minutes."
Distracted driving was top-of-mind for motorists, with 80 percent of motorists rating distracted driving as a very serious threat to their safety. Even those who admitted to distracted driving acknowledged they were putting themselves in danger. For example, more than half of those who admitted to reading or sending text messages or e-mails while driving indicated they were much more likely to have an accident.
"As mobile technology evolves at a breakneck pace, more and more people rightly fear that distracted driving - phone calls, e-mails and texting - is a growing threat on the highways. The 2009 Traffic Safety Culture Index shows that people today fear distracted drivers almost as much as drunk drivers," said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger.
Following are highlights from the 2009 Traffic Safety Culture Index:
- 90% of respondents said people driving after drinking alcohol was a
very serious threat to their safety; 87% said the same about text
messaging or e-mailing while driving
- 80% of motorists rated distracted driving as a very serious threat to
their safety, yet many admitted performing distracted behaviors like
talking on the cell phone or texting or e-mailing while driving within
the last month
- Over two-thirds admitted to talking on a cell phone and 21%
admitted to reading or sending a text message or e-mail while
driving in the past month
- Nearly 90% said that texting or e-mailing while driving was a very
serious threat to safety, yet 18% of those same people admitted
texting in the past month
- 58% said that talking on a cell phone while driving was a very
serious threat to their safety, yet 55% of those same people
self-reported talking on cell phones while driving in the past
month
- Nine out of 10 people considered running a red light unacceptable, yet
26% of those same people admitted to running a red light
- Nine out of 10 people considered tailgating unacceptable, yet 24% of
those same people admitted to tailgating in the past 30 days
- 63% considered speeding 15 mph or more on the highway unacceptable,
yet 28% of those same people admitted doing so in the past month.
Fully 95% of people rated speeding 15 mph or more over the speed limit
on residential streets unacceptable, yet 21% of those same people
admitted doing so in the past month.
A previous AAA Foundation survey found two out of three drivers mistakenly believe using a hands-free cell phone is safer than talking on a hand-held device. In this survey, the use of a hands-free cell phone was the only behavior that more than half of all drivers rated as acceptable, yet numerous other studies have shown it is equally as dangerous as talking on a hand-held phone - both quadruple your risk of being in a crash.
"There are many motorists who would never consider drinking and driving, yet they think it's somehow okay to text or e-mail while driving. We need to stigmatize distracted driving to the same degree as drunk driving in our culture, because both behaviors are deadly," said Kissinger. "This survey shines the light on drivers behaving badly; it also raises some dangerous public misconceptions. We'd like to end the belief that 'it's the other guy's problem' and end the false sense of security that 'if I chat on a hands-free cell phone I'm somehow safer.'"
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