The response has been remarkable here in Ohio.  I was reading a story from The Daily Record today outlining some of the responses from local dealers.  Here are some quotes.

“Traffic has definitely been up the last couple days.  People need to realize that if they drag their feet, they may risk losing the opportunity to get government money for this.” - Nick Sorrano, GM of Park Mazda in Wooster, OH

“It’s a zoo.  It’s as chaotic as it can be.” - Brett Bell, Co-owner of Village Motors in Millersburg, OH

“It’s unbelievable, really. I guess I’m not too surprised because the whole last month was pretty quiet, so we hoped it would be this way. We were pretty well prepared.” - Larry Wood, GM of Underwood Motors in Wooster, OH

I don’t think anyone predicted this kind of response.  Assuming that every recipient of this government program received the maximum contribution, that is over 220,000 gas-guzzling carbon rockets off our roads, replaced with that many 2009 models.  There is little doubt that this number will be met.  Some are already clamoring at the possibility (re: probability) that all of the money from the CARS program will run out before the set expiration date of November 1st, 2009.  When you think about the impact this will have both on the environment and on our consumption of foreign oil, it quickly becomes clear that this program could be rather remarkable and possibly even a precedent for similar programs to come.  We’ve spent this many hundreds of times over in Iraq.  You tell me which is the better investment.

One thing is for sure.  There are a lot of happy dealerships out there right now, and Ohio in particular needed the boost.

For more information, visit Bryan Schaaf’s article at The Daily Record.