Photo by bormang2 Canada and a few states in the United States are offering incentives to retire clunkers. image:41341:0::0

As the national average for a gallon of gas continues to make its painful ascent, many drivers are left stranded with their fuel eating hunks of metal and empty wallets. In a report today, gas prices were said to be averaging at $4.087, or nearly 40 percent higher than just a year ago.

So where does that leave drivers?

For many, they are hanging onto those heaps because they cannot afford to trade them in or downsize to a more fuel-efficient mode of transport and governments are across the US and Canada are taking notice.

On January, 2009, Canada will officially be operating a program called the National Vehicle Scrappage Program, designed to offer incentives for individuals who retire their 1995 or earlier model vehicles. The program’s goal is to remove at least 50,000 clunkers from Canada’s streets.

Some of the incentives include:

Public transit pass discounts
Bicycle discounts
Rebate toward the purchase of a new care
Membership in car-sharing programs
$300 Canadian Cash

According to a report by Reuters in early June, just over a third of the vehicles on Canada’s roadways were built before environmental standards for automobiles were introduced in 1996. That portion of cars and trucks is responsible for the production of nearly 20 times more pollution than newer models.

Certain states across the US have jumped aboard as well, offering major incentives to those who retire the old inefficient models. Texas launched Drive a Clean Machine at the beginning of the year, which offers a $3,500 US dollars cash incentive towards a new state approved vehicle to low-income city dwellers that own a vehicle 10 years old or older.

According to the Detroit News, a spokesperson from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said “It’s a great way to get those older vehicles off the roads”.
Over 11,000 gas guzzling’ clunkers were taken off of the Texas roads and replaced with more economical automobiles so far this year.

California is also offering a program that gives residents up to $1,500 US dollars in order to retire their vehicle or $500 US dollars to repair their vehicle if they fail emissions testing. Unlike Texas, there are no income requirements for this program and around 16,000 bad clunkers were removed from California roads last year.

As fuel costs continue to soar, many folks are beginning to find ways to cut their driving and gasoline bills. But now for some drivers, there is a way to ease into a more efficient model that gets better gas mileage and more environmentally friendly.

Lets hope others states play follow the leader in this governmental plan. .