For a while, they closed the north gate to the salvage yard on the edge of Beauford so they could park clunkers in the driving lanes. They’d run out of room everywhere else on the sprawling yard.

“It got to the point where we didn’t know where we were going to put the vehicles,” said B & R owner Randy Davis.

More than two months later, about 300 of the 400 cars and trucks are still on hand. Davis isn’t worried about getting all the cars crushed by February or March as required by federal law.

“We’ll make the deadline,” Davis said.

Other salvage yards — especially those in metropolitan areas that were inundated with the 700,000 clunkers traded in nationwide — are wondering if they’ll be able to get all the cars crushed in time. One Twin Cities company still had 5,000 last month and is desperate for an extension, facing the threat of a $15,000 per vehicle fine if the deadline isn’t met.

But Davis joins other auto recyclers in calling for an extension, mainly because he doesn’t want good used car parts to be crushed and partly because he’d prefer not to be forced to meet a deadline that falls in the depth of a Minnesota winter.

The cars and trucks without much potential for providing spare parts are the ones that have already been crushed at B & R. The remaining vehicles have useful parts Davis would prefer to remove and have some car owner reuse.

The program aims to put the gas guzzlers out of commission, so the cylinder blocks and cylinder heads can’t be reused. But other parts on the vehicle can — if there’s enough time to salvage them.

“There’s going to be a lot of good parts cars out here that are going to be crushed (if the deadline isn’t extended),” he said. “And that’s a waste.”

Program gave boost

The Cash for Clunkers program gave owners of certain gas-guzzling vehicles a federal rebate of up to $4,500 if they traded their old car or truck in for a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Auto dealers used companies such as B & R to clear the clunkers from their lots.

The point of the program was to boost the economy, particularly the fortunes of auto manufacturers and dealers, while reducing air pollution. Davis said the program had a positive impact on his business, prompted a couple of employees to be added to the payroll and kept his existing employees hopping.

So like most recyclers we are hoping this program continues but for goodness sakes give us time to clean this mess up.

Ottawa, noting the frenzy over the American “Cash for Clunkers” program, is mulling whether to sweeten its incentive for taking gas-guzzling, polluting older vehicles off the road.

Canada’s “Retire Your Ride” offers the likes of $300 cash, transit passes and bike discounts to those who scrap cars built before 1996. It pales beside the Clunkers program, which pays $3,500 or $4,500 (U.S.) to those who exchange pre-2001 cars that consume more than 13 litres per 100 kilometres for new models that use less than 10.7 L/100km.

The Clunkers deal burned through its $1 billion (U.S.) allocation within days. Late last week, it got $2 billion more.

Will Canada copy Washington, Germany and others with generous giveaways? A spokesperson for Environment Minister Jim Prentice this week indicated that the answer is yes.

“Retire Your Ride was put in place before the economic stimulus measures now being introduced by other countries,” said Tracy Lacroix-Wilson,media relations advisor for Environment Canada. “Minister Prentice is currently evaluating the effectiveness of this program and considering if Canada should follow … in offering consumers a substantial financial incentive to scrap their old vehicles for environmentally friendly transportation options.”

Canada’s program is too small to have impact, environmental or otherwise. Its budget from its start-up last February until its scheduled conclusion in March 2011 is $92 million, with only two-thirds of that for actual incentives. To date, it claims to have “retired” about 11,700 cars, with another 10,000 or so approved. That puts it on track for its annual target, 50,000, says Lisa Tait of the Clean Air Foundation, the non-profit contracted to manage Retire Your Ride for Ottawa.”I think our program is doing quite well,” she says.

But the target is just one per cent of the 5 million pre-1996 cars still on Canada’s roads. Environment Canada says 1 million are deregistered annually, mainly because they can no longer be driven. Retire Your Ride aims to eliminate those still running, but “a comparison with retirement rates before and after … is difficult,” Tait says.

Ottawa needn’t match the Clunkers payments, Tait says, suggesting that something in the $1,000 range might suffice.

But before we leap it would be useful to look at the U.S. experience.

As an environmental program, Clunkers is pale green. According to analysts Edmunds.com, participants now drive vehicles that are 50 per cent more efficient than the wheels they traded in. Not bad, but Clunker deals represent a small fraction of the entire market. More crucially, the average fuel consumption of all cars sold in the two months before the program was 10.79 L/100 km; since then, it’s been 10.14 – a 6.1 per cent improvement. Since recent cars emit fewer pollutants, that should lead to slightly improved air quality. But it will save barely a drop of oil and do nothing for climate change.

Clunkers is also questionable as economic stimulus. It’s been a boon to car companies: The artificially induced demand let them reduce other incentives they offered when desperate for sales. But it’s just a blip. “This level of activity will not continue, as it reflects the behaviour of those anxious and able to participate in the program – and that is a limited set of people,” notes Jessica Caldwell, a senior analyst with Edmunds.

And it raises more general questions, equally applicable to policies like Ontario’s recently announced $10,000 subsidy for Chevy Volt buyers: Should such incentives reward for people who’d make the purchases anyway? And should governments transfer tax dollars from those who can’t afford new cars to those who can?

We’d get more for our money – and the environment and job creation – if governments stopped trying to buy votes and instead set meaningful standards, with financial and infrastructure support for those best able to achieve them.

The additional funds come less than a week after confusing and conflicting messages about the program’s possible termination from the White House and the Department of Transportation. The latest action by the Senate makes it clear that the government wants to see the highly popular program continue. The money will be taken from part of the $787 billion stimulus package approved earlier this year.

Great news for consumers and auto recyclers – keep this program rolling!!  I like to see stimulus money spent this way instead of lining the pockets of fat-cat execs.

• Your vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date
• Only purchase or lease of new vehicles qualify
• Generally, trade-in vehicles must get 18 or less MPG (some very large pick-up trucks and cargo vans have different requirements)
• Trade-in vehicles must be registered and insured continuously for the full year preceding the trade-in
• You don’t need a voucher, dealers will apply a credit at purchase
• Program runs through Nov 1, 2009 or when the funds are exhausted, whichever comes first.
• The program requires the scrapping of your eligible trade-in vehicle, and that the dealer disclose to you an estimate of the scrap value of your trade-in. The scrap value, however minimal, will be in addition to the rebate, and not in place of the rebate.

Consumers Bill of Rights:

• Qualified consumers may participate in the CARS Program between July 1, 2009 and November 1, 2009 until authorized funds are no longer available.
• Qualified consumers will receive a credit of $3,500 or $4,500 for an eligible trade-in toward the purchase or lease of an approved vehicle under the CARS Program.
• Qualified consumers will receive the $3500 or $4,500 at the time they purchase their new vehicle.
• Consumers are eligible for any other advertised rebates or discounts in combination with the credit they receive through the CARS Program.
• Consumers should expect to conduct their deals at their dealership of choice, not on the internet.
• Consumers should expect the dealer’s to provide their best estimate of the scrap value for their eligible trade-in vehicle.
• Consumers should expect that all information collected through the CARS Program will be kept confidential.

They have created the first national brand of accredited auto recyclers, whose harmonized focus is the responsible recycling of End of Life Vehicles thereby working toward a sustainable environment to be enjoyed by generations to come.  You even have the option to donate the proceeds to any charity you desire.  So it gives you two chances to feel good about your decision.