Cash For Clunkers mania swept across the nation with gusto the second week of July, dominating the national conversation for days and spurring new car sales. Along with “Swine Flu,”” “Cash For Clunkers” was one of the most queried term on search engines for the entire year.
However, the federal government’s next stimulus-driven money dole-out, Cash For Appliances, has not received anywhere near the attention of ‘clunkers.’ Instead of trading in cars, you trade in appliances for rebates toward newer, more energy-efficient models.
The likely reason for the slow buildup is that program is rolling out state-by-state, instead of being rolled out nationally, like Clunkers.
Each state is taking its own slice of the $300 million pie provided by the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. That means 50 different sets of rules, 50 different sets of eligible models and 50 different start dates. To date, only a handful of states have announced how their programs will work.
Even at this early stage, it’s clear that states will take sharply different approaches to distributing this money.
The Tennessee Cash For Appliances program, for example, only makes rebate money available for heat pumps and air conditioners and doesn’t plan to launch its program until April 22.
Meanwhile, Kentucky’s Cash For Appliances program has many more eligible appliances, including washers, dishwashers, freezers, boilers, hot water heaters and furnaces, but does not have an official start date.
In New York, it’s not even being referred to as Cash For Appliances. It will be called New York’s Great Appliance Swapout and begins in February.
Wisconsin, Ohio and Texas are among other states that have released more specific details on the program. More states are expected to announce plans over the coming weeks.
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