Cash-for-guzzlers funds will run out before Nov. 1, dealer group warns

The cash-for-guzzlers program will run out of its $1 billion funding "well before" its Nov. 1 expiration date, a spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association said Thursday, after the government said dealers have already applied for 10 percent of the funds.

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, dealers had submitted 22,782 deals worth $95.9 million in reimbursements, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday in a statement.

That's an average of $4,209.26 per deal, indicating that a majority of sales include $4,500 vouchers. Dealers filed $27 million worth of requests during the workday Wednesday, compared with $51.9 million filed during the previous 24 hours. The system for filing applications is now in its sixth day.

The cash-for-guzzlers program has a $1 billion budget to pay dealers back for giving consumers $3,500 to $4,500 for trading in some gas-guzzling vehicles for new ones with better fuel efficiency.

The $95.9 million is the amount of money dealers have requested for reimbursement, NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said Thursday.

Tyson said he wouldn't "make any prediction" about when the funding will run out.

Sales eligible for the reimbursements could have taken place as early as July 1, but the government released rules for the program July 23 and allowed dealers to register on July 24. About 23,000 dealers have submitted registrations, and 19,328 of those have been instated into the program so far, NHTSA said.

You can find information on the program at www.cars.gov.

By Chrissie Thompson and Neil Roland- Automotive News