BY TED BRIDIS
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON  — The most common deals under the government’s $3
billion Cash for Clunkers program, aimed at putting more fuel-efficient
cars on the road, replaced old Ford or Chevrolet pickups with new ones
that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis
of new federal data by The Associated Press.

The single most common swap — which occurred more than 8,200 times –
involved Ford F150 pickup owners who took advantage of a government
rebate to trade their old trucks for new Ford F150s. They were 17 times
more likely to buy a new F150 than, say, a Toyota Prius. The fuel
economy for the new trucks ranged from 15 mpg to 17 mpg based on engine
size and other factors, an improvement of just 1 mpg to 3 mpg over the
clunkers.

Owners of thousands more large old Chevrolet and Dodge pickups bought
new Silverado and Ram trucks, also with only barely improved mileage in
the middle teens, according to AP’s analysis of sales of $15.2 billion
worth of vehicles at nearly 19,000 car dealerships in every state.
Those deals helped the Ford F150 and Chevy Silverado — along with Ford’s
Escape midsize SUV — climb into the Top 10 most-popular vehicles
purchased with the government rebates. The most common truck-for-truck
and truck-for-SUV deals totaled at least $911 million.

In scores of deals, the government reported spending a total of
$562,500 in rebates for new cars and trucks that got worse or the same
mileage as the trade-ins — in apparent violation of the program’s
requirements. The government said it is investigating those reports and
said in some cases they were probably entered incorrectly by dealers or
based on outdated fuel economy figures.

The new data, obtained by the AP under the Freedom of Information Act,
include details of 677,081 clunker trade-ins processed by the
government through Oct. 16. More than 95,000 of the new vehicles
purchased under the program — or about one in seven — got less than 20
mpg, according to the data.

The new figures, requested four months ago by the AP, represent the
first substantial outside accounting of the clunkers program, lauded by
the White House and the Transportation Department for improving fuel
economy, stimulating sales and taking the dirtiest vehicles off the
road. The data show the average fuel economy was 15.8 mpg for the old
vehicles and 24.9 for the new ones. But plenty of consumers bought
relatively low fuel efficient trucks and SUVs with the help of government
checks.

“If we’re looking for the environmental story here, we’re going to be
disappointed,” said Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive at Edmunds.com, an
analyst firm. “It might have started out from the perspective of
improving the environment, but it got detoured as a way to stimulate
the economy.”

Popular high-mileage commuter cars including the Toyota Corolla, Honda
Civic, Toyota Camry and Ford Focus also were among the Top 10 most
popular new vehicles bought under the four-week program, with 105,280
of those models sold for a total of about $2 billion.

Chris Moss of Smithtown, N.Y., traded in his 1992 white Ford 150 pickup — “it had 5 million miles on it and needed $50,000 in repairs, if you know what I mean” — for a new Chevrolet Malibu hybrid for his wife.
When he drove his old truck to the dealership’s back lot with the rest
of the clunkers, “90 percent of what you saw were old 150s and
Explorers,” he said. Moss posted a video on YouTube of his old truck’s
final day, called “Rust In Peace.”

The $3 billion program, known officially as the Car Allowance Rebate
System, ran from July 27 to Aug. 25 and generally required that new
vehicles get better mileage — at least 22 mpg for cars and either 15
mpg or 18 mpg for trucks depending on class — and that trade-ins get no
more than 18 mpg. The trade-ins were required to be destroyed in
exchange for either $3,500 or $4,500 rebates.

“The value that the customer got for a lot of these vehicles was just a
gift, no question,” said Scott Pundt, sales vice president for the
Dorschel Group of Rochester, N.Y., the No. 4 dealership in the U.S.
with 592 vehicles sold under the program. “We were appraising
220,000-mile vehicles that were really rough, and they were getting
$3,500 or $4,500 for them.” Four out of five old cars turned in there
exceeded 100,000 miles.

Some deals raise eyebrows:

In at least 145 cases, mostly involving trucks, the government
reported consumers traded old vehicles that got better than or the same
mileage as the new vehicle they purchased. The government said it was
continuing to investigate. A driver in Negaunee, Mich., traded a 1987
Suburban that got 18 mpg for $3,500 toward a new Silverado pickup that
got only 15 mpg. An Indianapolis driver traded a 1985 Mercedes 190 that
got 27 mpg for $3,500 toward a new Volkswagen Rabbit that got only 24
mpg. “It’s possible some quirky deal slipped through the cracks,” Anwyl
said.

In at least 15 deals in nine states, owners of large pickups cashed
in old trucks for between $3,500 and $4,500 toward new Hummer H3 SUVs
that got only 16 mpg.

A driver in Arlington, Va., traded a 1999 Ford Explorer with 15 mpg
in July for $3,500 toward a new $28,000 Jeep Commander that weighs
about 4,700 pounds and gets 16 mpg.

In at least 32 deals, drivers traded older vehicles for new large
trucks — including versions of Toyota Tundras, GMC Sierras, Chevrolet
Silverados, Dodge Rams and Ford F150 pickups — that got only 14 mpg.

A driver in West, Texas, earned $4,500 in July in exchange for a 1989
Chevrolet Suburban SUV that got 14 mpg and bought a 2009 Suburban that
weighed 5,900 pounds and got 16 mpg. Across Texas, seven of the 10 most
common transactions involved drivers trading old pickups for new ones.

Car-crazy California led clunker sales with more than 76,000 trade-ins,
followed by Texas with roughly 43,000 and New York with nearly 37,000.
In California, the Honda Civic was the No. 1 new car and no pickups
ranked higher than 18th. In New York, the Hyundai Elantra was No. 1.