by Rama Sobhani of the Vincennes Sun Commercial

rsobhani@suncommercial.com

VINCENNES, Ind. — While health care officials nationwide are in agreement that the H1N1 flu vaccine is the best defense against the virus that has caused more than 1,000 deaths in the U.S., 19 of those in Indiana, for various reasons some local residents are avoiding the vaccine like, well, the plague.

“I don’t think the swine flu thing is as big a deal as they¹re making it out to be,” said Charlotte Jacobo, a Vincennes resident who said she won’t be getting the vaccine because of previous seasonal flu vaccinations that made her and other family members ill. “I got a flu shot once and got very sick, and my granddaughter had to be hospitalized last year and the year before,” she said.

“The doctor said it would be better if she didn’t get (the flu shot).”

Fava Hendrixson, Vincennes, agrees and said she would rather err on the side of caution against the vaccine because there is too much about it she does not know.

“Personally, I don’t trust it,” she said. “People I know that have gotten it have gotten really, really, sick. Some of them say they wish they hadn’t taken it.”

Hendrixson said she did get the seasonal flu last year and has never had a seasonal flu shot, but getting ill wasn’t enough to make her want the H1N1 shot.

“If you pay close enough attention and get to the doctor in time, you’ll be fine,” Hendrixson said. “The main thing is to be aware of what your body’s doing.”

The county health department began holding immunization clinics last month when the first H1N1 vaccine shipments came in from the state. But a shortage in the number of promised doses forced officials and administrators to turn away people seeking the vaccine. Because of the limited number of doses, immunizations are being limited to at-risk groups such as young children, pregnant women and the elderly.

“We’re still waiting for the vaccine. It has dribbled out over time and we have not gotten the amount that we were told we would,” said Dr. Tom Thompson, a physician who sits on the Knox County Health Board. Thompson believes the vaccine is safe and that all who are able to get a dose should.

“People want this shot. At first people said, ŒI don’t know,” but now that H1N1 is in our community, they are changing their perspective,” he said. “This appears to be a very safe vaccine. Safety is not the issue, it’s getting the vaccine in the hands of the people who can distribute it. We haven’t gotten (enough) and we’re waiting for it.”

That shortage has also caused at least one local resident to abstain from getting vaccinated. Darren Mains said he would rather the small amount of doses available go to at-risk groups than to him. “Younger children, pregnant mothers, they should get it,” he said. “I’m fairly healthy and not sure if I need it. People in health care, people who deal with children on a daily basis, they need it.”

Used by permission of the Vincennes Sun Commercial - for more click here.

(Photo provided by the Vincennes Sun-Commercial.)

for the Vincennes Sun-Commercial

VINCENNES, Ind. — Used car dealers were relegated to the sidelines while the federal “Cash for Clunkers” program boosted new car sales. Not only did they miss out on potential sales, they now are finding more competition for the types of cars they sell.

“We were slow before, but it’s going to make it worse,” said Terry Martin, owner of Martin Used Cars in Monroe City. Martin said the type of cars being traded in as “clunkers” under the program were exactly the types of cars he looks for as inventory: Mostly American-made pickups and SUV’s. He said he had seen some cars that he would have considered good inventory get traded in to be destroyed under the program.

“That’s the type of cars we used car dealers are buying and selling. Some cars should have been crushed, but there were probably some good cars that were crushed too,” Martin said.

The federal program provided up to $4,500 toward the purchase of new, more-fuel efficient car in exchange for older models with lower fuel ratings. The cars traded in were destroyed by pouring liquid glass into their engines. According to Department of Transportation numbers, over 690,000 people participated in the program. With the supply reduced, prices are rising and dealers are paying more for their inventory at auction. Not only that, but dealers that sell both new and used cars are looking to replenish their inventory with more used cars and are providing more competition at auction for that smaller used car supply.

“We go to auctions and are amazed at what cars will bring,” said Tyler Trent, owner of Trent Auto Sales in Vincennes. “Now you see (new car dealers) buying the used cars we’re trying to buy. There are so many more dealers wanting them that it makes the prices go up. Everything’s a lot higher. For inventory it’s about 15-20 percent,” said Martin.

Those are costs which Martin said will have to be passed along to customers. But some say the process is cyclical and things will even out again.

“When new car sales go up, that will take vehicles out of the market, so prices will rise, but they will come back down at some point. That’s basic supply and demand,” said Mark Son, a sales manager at Vincennes Autoplex. It is probably too early to see the impact the reduction in used cars will have on auto mechanics, but there is worry that demand for maintenance will suffer.

“People have traded away their cars that were in the repair zone of around 100,000 miles. Routine things like water pumps, fuel pumps that would have had to be done,” said Patrick Loudermilk, service manager at Martin’s AutoCare Inc. “I know from some of the other shops in town that people have cancelled maintenance to trade (their cars) in.”

The destroyed cars are slated to be dismantled and while auto dismantlers might get a slight boost for a while from the inventory increase, after the bump, the used auto parts market may see some shortages.

“I haven’t noticed (a shortage) yet because I’ve been so busy with (dismantling the clunkers trade-ins), but once this is over it might be a little tougher,” said Bill Beard, owner of Beard’s Auto Parts. Beard buys the clunkers from dealerships where they have been traded in and said the government has given dismantlers 180 days to completely strip the clunkers and have the bodies crushed. This is a significantly shorter period of time than the Beard usually has cars in his yard and he said it is hard to keep up with the government schedule.

“Normally if it’s a newer model car, we keep that vehicle in our facility for a year, year and a half,” Beard said. “So, it’s a shorter time frame. Normally I have one guy dismantling, I’ve increased it to two to get it done much faster.”

Some of the cars that wound up being destroyed as part of the clunkers program may have been donated to charity organizations as well. Scott Porter, director of the auto donation program at St. Vincent De Paul, said donations are higher this year than last, but said he believes they would be even higher if some of the cars traded in were not destroyed.

“I talked to a lot of people in the industry,” Porter said. “They are typically down 15-20 percent.This August was better than the prior year, but … my gut tells me that it would have been even better (without the clunkers program).”

(Used by permission of the Vincennes Sun-Commercial)

And from our friends at the Jasper Herald, this take on the Cash for Clunkers program:

Dealerships hope positive effects of program continue

By KASEY HAWRYSZ
Herald Staff Writer

JASPER, Ind. — After hectic weeks of sales fueled by the government’s Cash for Clunkers program, Jasper car dealerships are catching their breath as they wait for inventory to fill their empty car lots.

“I think it had a lot of positives for the economy,” said Tony Uebelhor, president of Uebelhor & Sons. “But I’m darn glad it’s over.”
After weeks of working around the clock, Uebelhor & Sons is waiting for more inventory to refill lots that have been largely cleared out by the program – and for the money it is owed for the more than 200 clunkers sitting on its lots in Jasper and Vincennes.
But Uebelhor and some other local dealerships say they have good reason to be optimistic for the future.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be anything to write home about, but I think (sales) will be fairly steady for the rest of the year,” Uebelhor said.

He and Curtis Sternberg, sales manager of Sternberg Chrysler Center, credit the program, which ended last Monday, with creating momentum for people buying cars.

“I think demand is definitely up,” said Sternberg, whose dealerships took in about 35 clunkers. “It seems like the economy is going in the right direction.”

Chrissy Luegers, controller at Bob Luegers Motors, agreed, describing herself as “cautiously optimistic.” She said the “major fear” seems to be gone and more people are out shopping for cars.
On the other hand, sales consultant Dennis Hagan, of Ruxer Ford, surmised that sales may be slower for a few months, or even into winter, as dealerships wait for more inventory. Ruxer Ford, which took in 50 clunkers, is completely out of cars that had qualified for the program, he said.

Most dealerships are still waiting for the government rebates they are owed for the hundreds of cars sitting on lots across the county. Waiting on the money means a cash flow shortage for dealerships, area representatives said, but none was overly concerned about it.
Luegers said GM has advanced its dealerships the cash it is expecting from the government.

The process of applying for the funds has been trying, dealership representatives said. Uebelhor said employees had to scan a number of documents, such as registration papers, and upload them to a government Web site. However, with so many people attempting to access the site, it was often overloaded and employees would find themselves having to start over after they’d already spent 10 to 15 minutes on paperwork.
As a result, Uebelhor & Sons took to working around the clock, he said.

“The government Web site locked up so often that we’d have (employees) work all night because it worked better at 3 in the morning than 3 in the afternoon,” Uebelhor said.

Despite the difficulties, area dealerships praised the program overall for the positive effect they said it had on the auto industry. All said they could have sold even more cars if they’d had the inventory.

“It was good for the people who could turn the clunkers into cash, and it caused some factories to bring people back to work. … It could be a little easier from the government standpoint, but it’s typical, I guess,” Hagan said.

Contact Kasey Hawrysz at khawrysz@dcherald.com.