Comments on: The Retire Your Ride Program

By: Useful Used Car Pricing Resources | MoneySense

Useful Used Car Pricing Resources | MoneySense — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:44:31 +0000

[...] repairs to keep it in running condition. So with a heavy heart, I turned in my old car to the Retire Your Ride program and went looking for a replacement. I wasn’t interested in getting a brand-new car — the [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:22:07 +0000

I had a car which didn’t qualify so I ended up donating it to the Kidney Car Program of Ontario. Got a sweet tax receipt, they guaranteed and delivered on a free tow within 48hrs and the guys who came even helped me get my rusted plates off. Hard to beat in my opinion. check it out http://www.kidney.ca look for the green button to donate to kidney car or call 1-866-788-2277.

By: Gary Dee, Portland, Oregon

Gary Dee, Portland, Oregon — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:21:00 +0000

The monthly transit pass offer in Montreal is for 15 months, that’s $1050 at $70 per month and only gets better if the STM raises fares during that time. And if you drop off your old ride, that’s worth a $100 tax deduction on your 2010 return ($50 if you have the recycler tow it).

I moved to downtown Montreal and having a car is a big pain with costly private parking if you want to avoid tickets from street parking.

By: Useful Used Car Pricing Resources | Canadian Capitalist

Useful Used Car Pricing Resources | Canadian Capitalist — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:48:12 +0000

By: Phil S

Phil S — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 11:59:19 +0000

@CC. It really depends upon the condition of your 1992 Accord. If your 1992 Accord is in MINT condition, with a “like new” catalytic converter and exhaust, clean fuel injectors, no sludge in your oil pan, clean valves, well lubricated powertrain and such… Then I’d agree that the carbon footprint of a 1992 Accord is not much less than a 2004 Accord.

That said, I think the majority of cars on the road which are over a decade old are highly unlikely to be in mint condition. Anything short of a routine complete re-build of the car would likely result in much higher emissions or fuel consumption, oil & coolant leaks, etc.

By: Canadian Personal Finance Blog » Blog Archive » Random Thoughts: HST, HST, HST!!!!

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 06:15:18 +0000

[...] Capitalist points out that even though Canada never had a Ca$h for Clunkers program it does have The Retire Your Ride Program, which is useful if you drive an old beater like he [...]

By: Canadian Capitalist

Canadian Capitalist — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:37:36 +0000

@Phil: I don’t know what the net cost of the program to the taxpayer is because the parts in the car are being recycled have some economic value. I do think that $300 is rather modest which may explain why the aims of the program are rather modest: 50,000 vehicles retired per year. Though I did take advantage of the program, I’m not entirely sure if replacing my 1992 Accord with a 2004 Accord really helps as the carbon footprint of the newer Accord isn’t all that better than the old one, at least, according to this calculator:

http://www.aircare.ca/retireyourride/ryr-calcselect.php

By: Phil S

Phil S — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:22:32 +0000

Even without a publicly funded incentive program, we have a pretty good system of trading in our old cars when buying a new one. Many older trade-in vehicles are pretty much destined for scrap metal yards but dealerships often give some trade-in value just to provide incentive for you to buy from them.

I think the only time I would agree with a government incentive program is to take old cars off the road from people who are NOT planning to purchase another vehicle to replace it.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:42:45 +0000

Interesting that according to President Obama’s website, my 1991 Sundance has exactly the same carbon footprint as a 2010 Ford Escape.

By: Patti

Patti — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:35:11 +0000

I agree that a lot of older cars are better made than new ones. So why get rid of it? However when these older cars quit, what do we do with them? Our ’92 Caravan blew the motor, it cost $200 to tow it home, and here it sits. Scrap yards want us to pay them to tow it away. How about a program to recycle parts that would not leave the owners totally broke??? My dad was in this business…so I know scrap yards make money.