The U.S. House voted to expand the program and now local dealers are reacting to the program.

By Melissa Smith, Traverse City Record Eagle
Friday, July 31, 2009 at 7:07 p.m.

TRAVERSE CITY -- For the Bill Marsh Automotive Group in Traverse City, the Car Allowance Rebate System commonly known as "Cash for Clunkers" is a program that's exceeding their expectations.

"Probably the biggest dynamic we've noticed is a lot of the trade-ins are people who ordinarily wouldn't be new car contenders. They would normally buy used cars so it's brought a lot of people who normally wouldn't be in the market for new cars into our showrooms which has been good," says Bill Marsh Jr.

The program, offers government incentives to consumers who trade in old gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient ones. It's brought in about 50 "clunkers" for trade-in to the Bill Marsh Dealership.

"It's stimulating demand. 70% of our economy is driven by consumer spending so this is a program that's enabling consumers, giving them an incentive," says Marsh.

Sales manager, Mike McFarlan at Cherry Capital Cadillac has a similar perspective on the program.

"You talk about immediate results, it's been a great thing for our dealer and customer," says McFarlan.

So, the big concern now is what if the U.S. Senate doesn't follow the house and vote to expand "Cash for Clunkers" by $2 billion.

"We'll continue to work with our customers perhaps on holding the car until things resume again," says McFarlan.

"It would certainly be missed opportunities. So we'd like to see it extended. Certainly our inventory is somewhat depleted but we still have cars left to sell and still like the opportunity to participate in the program," says Marsh.

Although the U.S. House voted in favor of extending the rebate system, Bill Marsh Jr. says he recommends people don't assume it's going to get extended.

"If people are considering taking cash for clunkers I would have them do it soon, like now, this weekend. Because there's no guarantees that the program will continue," says Marsh.