Cash for Clunkers weekend advice: Prepare to wait and call ahead

If you're considering cashing in on the Cash for Clunkers program before it ends Monday, patience will be essential, car dealership managers say.

"It will be very busy. We expect (Friday), Saturday and Monday will be hectic," said Ylises Garcia, a manager at Toyota of Naperville. Many suburban dealerships are putting a halt to the program before Monday, so calling ahead is also a good bet, managers say.

The government announced late Thursday that the wildly popular stimulus voucher program, which provides consumers up to $4,500 if they purchase qualifying new cars, will end Monday.

Potential car buyers rushed to area dealerships Thursday evening when the Transportation Department announced the ending of the program.

Shoppers still hoping to cash in on the program should have all necessary documents in hand when heading out to go car shopping this weekend, sales managers say.

In order to qualify, shoppers are required to show proof of insurance, a clean title and registration for the vehicle for the past consecutive 12 months, said Damon St. Clair of Arlington Nissan in Arlington Heights.

Many dealers are stopping the program before Monday in an effort to avoid financial risk. Dealers worry that if they aren't able to submit paperwork in time, it could cause financial risk to their company.

This is the case at Schaumburg Toyota."We stopped the program Thursday night," Internet manager Fred Steinhaus said. And Wickstrom Auto Group in Barrington will end the program at the end of the day Saturday.

There is still great interest in the program. Steinhaus said the "phone rang off the hook" Friday morning with potential customers asking about the CARS program. "The phone started ringing at 6:45 a.m.," he said.

Steinhaus added that the program has been more popular than anyone imagined. His dealership sold 215 vehicles since it kicked off in July.

"It has been an absolute home run success," he said. "It gave us a shot in the arm when we needed it."

However, some dealers are expressing concern over the fact that the government is slow to make payments. Steinhaus said his dealership has only seen payouts for seven of the 215 clunkers it accepted.

Wickstrom is also wondering when it will see its cash. "Our biggest concern is when the government will send the money," said dealer partner Collin Wickstrom.

He said the dealership sold about 100 cars through the incentive program. The government has sent the money for only six of those deals.

In an effort to avoid any problems with an overloaded computer system, his dealership will stop the program at the end of the day Saturday.

"We're hoping the computer system is going to be stable enough to handle all the deals that will be put through before Monday," Wickstrom said.

But all in all, he applauds the program.

"It has brought people into the market that would have kept their car for another two or three years," he said.

Garcia in Naperville agreed. His dealership ran out of inventory on the popular Corolla and Camry models after the Clunker program kicked off. "Our sales increased 30 percent," he said.

Garcia expects the showroom this weekend will be much like it was when the program started. Shoppers were forced to wait for up to a half an hour just to talk to a salesperson. "Our sales managers were helping several people at the same time," Garcia said.