• September 11, 2009

Despite an end to the "Cash for Clunkers" program, Cars.com reports site traffic and consumer contacts to dealers remain strong.

The Web-based car marketplace says "Cash for Clunkers" doubled consumer contacts to dealers. Since the program ended, per the firm, contacts to dealers have remained equal to the amount of activity the site was experiencing before the program started.

"We had been experiencing a significant amount of new car activity on the site prior to the launch of the program and that activity has remained strong now that the program has ended," said president of Cars.com Mitch Golub, in a release. "While there has been a leveling of shopping activity since the program ended, we haven't seen the huge drop off that has been predicted."

The firm says consumer activity for used cars continues to be strong as well. Consumer contacts with dealers during the "Cash for Clunkers" program was up 6% versus before the program. The site's used car shopping activity post Cash for Clunkers is currently 2%.

"It's clear from looking at the traffic on our site and the resulting vehicle sales reports that the program solicited its desired response in new car shopping and certainly had a halo effect on the used car market," added Golub. "We believe this program helped to revitalize the marketplace and brought consumers back to market in a big way. We are encouraged to see site activity remain strong and are hopeful that this trend will continue throughout the fourth quarter and into 2010."--Karl Greenberg