Clunkers: Dealers get ready for the 'hangover'

After the mad rush of car sales sparked by Cash for Clunkers, dealers will now find they have plenty of downtime to count their money.

The popular program, which ended Monday, will leave many showrooms without cars to sell or customers looking to buy them.

"We're definitely going to have a hangover," said Edward Tonkin, vice president of the Ron Tonkin Family of dealerships in Portland, Oregon and vice chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association.

As of Monday morning, dealers had submitted 625,000 Clunkers applications to the government seeking a total of $2.58 billion, according to the Department of Transportation.

The Department of Transportation said Monday that it would give dealers extra time to file their rebate applications after its Web site for handling the submissions was overwhelmed.

The department said the deadline for dealers would be extended beyond 12 noon Tuesday to make up for time that was lost while the system was down.

After the heady rush of Clunkers sales, the return to normal -- especially in a market where "normal" means deeply depressed -- may be difficult to deal with.

"I think you're going to be able to shoot a cannon through here and not hurt anybody," Tonkin said.

In the short run, dealers will see sales drop precipitously, said Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of the auto Web site Edmunds.com. link....