WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Standing in the sun in a hard hat, sunglasses and polo shirt, Dan Ulrich watched the automobile crusher slowly descend on top of a teal 1995 Dodge Dakota.
The truck groaned, its metal frame bending effortlessly beneath the weight of the crusher, its safety glass fragmenting into tiny glittering pieces.
Ulrich pointed at the now-flattened vehicle.
"That'll be the endpoint of the 'cash for clunkers' cars," said Ulrich, the general manager of U-Pull-&-Pay, a salvage and used parts yard in West Palm Beach. "Those cars will end up being crushed."
As part of its effort to get fuel inefficient cars off the road, the "cash for clunkers" program — formally known as the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS — dictates that vehicles dealers collect under the government program must be disabled and sent to an automobile crusher.
While those cars still currently sit on automobile dealers' lots, salvage yards are gearing up for an influx of "clunkers."
A number of different salvage yards said that they are currently working on agreements with dealers to take the old cars once the government rebate money comes through.
"We'd like to get the cars in here soon. ... I think it's going to bring us a variety of vehicles and parts for our customers," said Ulrich, adding that he's fielded more than 100 calls from dealers.
Parts of those old clunkers will live on as replacement fenders, hoods, starters, batteries, wheels or air-conditioning compressors on other cars.
Under the program, dealers are in charge of disabling the engine of the vehicle by pouring in two quarts of a sodium silicate solution that locks up and "kills" the engine.
Then the disabled cars are sold to salvage yards, which will be able to take and resell parts of the car — other than the now-disabled engine — before sending it to the crusher and selling it for scrap metal.
But dealers haven't junked the clunkers yet.
That's because automobile dealers, concerned that CARS money will run out, are hedging their bets by holding onto the clunkers and holding off on disabling them.
"I haven't been paid for any of the cars yet," said Earl Stewart, owner of the Earl Stewart Toyota dealership in North Palm Beach. "I feel that I should be conservative and have an abundance of caution. ... I won't send them to the junk yards until we are assured of payment."
The Department of Transportation recently amended a rule in the CARS program, saying that dealers can now wait for a rebate from the government before turning the cars over to salvage yards.
Stewart said his dealership, which has traded about 80 "clunkers," has already made agreements with five different salvage yards. However, for now, he's renting out extra parking space to accomodate the added inventory.
"I've not scrapped one car yet," Stewart said. "Once it's official, we'll deliver the cars."
Allison Ross writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: allison(underscore)ross(at)pbpost.com.