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The Cash for Clunkers program was, in many ways, a resounding success. The program was fully utilized almost as soon as it was implemented and thousands of Americans traded in their cars for more fuel efficient vehicles, effectively giving dealerships a much needed shot in the arm. However, one caveat of the program has proved somewhat problematic for the eventual recipients of said clunkers.

In order to prevent fraud and remove inefficient cars from the road, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration ordered that all trade-ins for the Cash for Clunkers program be disabled. Not only that, they had to be disabled within 180 days of the trade. In normal circumstances, auto recyclers take the time to carefully strip out all the valuable and useable parts from a vehicle before shredding it or crushing it. Even with the clunker used engines pumped full of sodium silicate, parts like the transmission, drive train, axles and other parts remain useable. Because many of these cars were traded in long before their prime had expired, these parts were potentially even more valuable to consumers seeking replacement parts than before.

But with the huge influx of cars needing junking, auto recyclers were overwhelmed. With the deadline creeping closer and the cars awaiting processing piling up higher and higher, many auto recyclers feared they would be forced to crush cars whole, without first salvaging the valuable components that were, for all purposes, still in pristine shape. This would mean a huge loss of revenue for the auto recyclers themselves as well as a vast missed opportunity for aftermarket consumers to realize deep discounts on used transmissions and other auto parts.

Luckily, after much outcry, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration granted a 90 day extension to the deadline, giving auto recyclers at total of 270 days to process traded-in clunkers.  According to Recycling Today, the initial 180 day deadline was first decided upon based on the estimate that the Cash for Clunkers program would only bring in about 250,000 vehicle total that would need processing. However, after the first $1 billion allocated was quickly depleted, the program took on another $2 billion, effectively tripling the size of the program. The result was about 700,000 vehicles total winding up in the junkyards in need of recycling.

The deadline extension is a reluctant compromise made by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration. Ideally, the agency would like to see the program wrapped up – with all the vouchers paid out and all the resultant clunkers processed and accounted for – and then be done with the administrative burden. However, auto recyclers stated they would ideally need an entire year to ensure that all the useable parts were extracted. This would, in effect, extend the need for oversight of the program for much longer than intended, and thus amount to greater costs for the program which has already ballooned to three times its size.

Whether the additional 90 days will be enough time  remains to be seen – but for now, it appears that we may get to see some lower priced used auto parts in the market in the very near future.