'Cash for Clunkers' Continues on...for Now.

Cheryl Gardiner is one happy lady today “Its always exciting to get a new car” says Gardiner. And because of a Senate vote last night, she can now get one with a lot more ease. Thanks to the 2-billion dollars put into the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program, you can still drive into the dealership riding in your gas guzzler and drive off in a new car, like a Ford Focus. “We were told we would get 45-hundred” says Gardiner. Shes trading in her 97 Ford Explorer to drive away in a new Ford Escape Hybrid. “This one has a moon roof, so thats always fun” adds Gardiner. It gets around 29 miles-per-gallon. That’s a lot more than the 15 MPGs she got with her Explorer. “We try and buy as environmentally conscious as we can” she says. Lately, Dimension Ford on Coliseum has gotten a lot of Explorers like Gardiners. And the top clunker buy has been the Ford Focus. “Youve got impressive ride quality, impressive price and impressive performance at the pump” says Dimension Ford General Manager, Lance Lombrana. Lombrana says the program has driven in people better than any other program theyve seen. You get “45-hundred from the government, up to 5-thousand in rebates from Ford” he says. You can save almost 10-thousand dollars. But with the initial 1-billion dollars for the program lasting only about 10 days, how far will another 2-billion go? “I think the money will go pretty quick, but I think were going to sell a heck of a lot more cars” Lombrana says. Yet he hopes the new money hangs around more than just a few weeks.