Cash for clunkers

Other than the cruise control occasionally acting up, there was nothing wrong with Lynn and Marcy Wise’s 1996 Jeep Cherokee.

The Wises also felt they couldn’t go wrong with the federal government’s $4,500 offer to get rid of the 13-year-old rig.

So the Samuels couple took advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program, trading in their Cherokee for a$24,000, 2009 Jeep Patriot at Riverside Auto Center. To sweeten the deal, the Wises received a $3,500 rebate from Chrysler.

“It was just too good to pass,” said Lynn Wise, who doesn’t traditionally by new vehicles. “The first year’s deprecation is already taken off.”

Cash for Clunkers is a $1 billion federal stimulus-funded program that allows anyone with cars and trucks that are 1984 models or newer eligible for a $4,500 trade-in rebate. Vehicles must get 18 miles per gallon or less.

Owners must prove the car has been continuously registered and insured for the past year, which implies it’s been driven. The program ends either before the money runs out or by Nov. 1.

Ken Yount, a salesman for Riverside, said the Wises were the first to take advantage of Cash for Clunkers at the Bonners Ferry dealership, but at least 10 more possible deals are in the works.

“It’s doing just what they wanted it to do,” Yount said about the rebate program. “Its stimulating the economy.”

The Wises Cherokee, which had 137,000 miles, will have its engine removed and disabled before the rest of sport utility is recycled.

Their new Patriot gets 28 miles per gallon.