Clerical errors in Cash-for-Clunkers spare phantom exotics

One of the more sensational stories to come out of the government's Cash-for-Clunkers program was the handful of rare, expensive, luxury or exotic cars that were supposedly crushed program after owners turned them in so they could buy a new econobox.

Well, Jalopnik has stuck with its investigation of the program and discovered that many of the exotics supposedly submitted were phantoms. They were actually far more mundate vehicles that were incorrectly entered in the computer as something rare.

Jalopnik puts it like this:

For instance...the Aston Martin supposedly crushed wasn't actually an Aston Martin. It was actually a Mercury Grand Marquis some dealership employee entered into the Cash for Clunkers database as the sexy British coupe. While the fuel economy of both vehicles made them a potential for turn-in, the Aston would seem like a stupid choice as the resale value would likely be much higher than the rebates offered.

At least its good to see that the government continues to audit the program.

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