Cash for Clunkers not ready yet

Officially, the federal CARS (Car Allowance Rebate System) rebate system kicked off yesterday. But don't drag your clunker down to your local dealership just yet. According to the government's official CARS Web site, the program won't be up and running until around July 23, 30 days after President Obama signed the "Cash for Clunkers" act into law.

That's because mechanisms for dealers to sign up for the program and to be reimbursed the rebate money may take a few weeks to implement. So, it may take a little bit longer before you can take advantage of the program. The CARS program will provide rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 to new-car buyers who trade in vehicles that get lower mileage for scrap. For more details see our earlier post. That hasn't stopped some Web sites from springing up to lure consumers to register and give their names to dealerships as sales leads.

For the record, cars.gov is the only official cash-for-clunkers Web site. There will be no need for consumers to register for the program, and rebates will come directly from dealers, not in the form of physical vouchers.

For more information on the Cash for clunkers program, see our guide.

—Eric Evarts