With the government's Cash for Clunkers program slated to end Monday, sleek, shiny automobiles with that brand-new car smell were rolling off the lots on Saturday as consumers rushed to cash in on the deal.
"We've had a pretty good day today and a pretty good day yesterday," said Troy Bullard, executive manager of Ken Garff of Ogden on Riverdale Road.
"We've done a lot of clunker deals," he added, estimating that they made up 50 percent of his automobile sales in July.
In return, the dealership took in "some real beat-up, gas-guzzling cars that were pretty bad," Bullard said, with most of them pushing 150,000 to 200,000 miles on the odometers.
"They needed to be off the road," he said, motioning toward a hammered pickup truck that had obviously seen better days.
The $3 billion government program officially ends in Utah on Monday at 6 p.m. Many dealers, however, quit offering the rebate Saturday, citing the mountain of paperwork involved and slow delivery of reimbursement checks.
Superstar sellers at the Honda dealership include the Fit, Civic and CRV, inventory that leaves the lot nearly as quickly as it arrives, Bullard said.
The same holds true at Ed Kenley Ford in Layton, where manager Paul Moon said the Focus, Fusion and Ranger are sold out.
"There's been a little clamoring going on, but we haven't had enough inventory to support it," he said.
Moon said the dealership had 20 clunker transactions, hauling in old beaters in exchange that were barely road-worthy.
His main concern is getting reimbursed from the government, keeping his fingers crossed that the old adage of the "check is in the mail" really means the check is in the mail this time.
That same skepticism prompted Sean Kingman, general sales manager at Cutrubus Volkswagen/Audi of Layton, to cease participation in the program Friday.
"We were skeptical" about getting reimbursed, he said.
The Layton dealership has processed 10 clunker deals and on Saturday was getting numerous phone calls from would-be customers hoping to cash in their clunker.
"There have been some people who were frustrated because we aren't participating," he said.
Unlike his Layton colleagues, Bullard said the government has reimbursed for a few of the clunker transactions. He had to wait, but the money did come in.
The biggest confusion in the program, he said, has been misleading advertising by some dealers who make it appear that a clunker can be traded in for a used car. Only new cars qualify.
"People have been really confused about that aspect of it," he said.
e-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com