Cash for Clunkers cost $24,000 per car

 An analysis released yesterday by the automotive Web site Edmunds.com has tallied up the taxpayer bill for the Cash for Clunkers program, and it comes in at a whopping $24,ooo per car with very little to show for it.  In fact, only 125,000 of those were vehicles that would not have been sold anyway.  The program gave car buyers rebates of up to $4,500 if they traded in less fuel-efficient vehicles for new vehicles that met certain fuel economy requirements. A total of $3 billion was allotted for the rebates.  The average rebate was $4,000, but if the overwhelming majority of sales would have taken place anyway at some time in the last half of 2009, it means the government ended up spending about $24,000 each for those 125,000 additional vehicle sales.  Of course the Department of Transportation (DOT) disagrees:  "It is unfortunate that Edmunds.com has had nothing but negative things to say about a wildly successful program that sold nearly 250,000 cars in its first four days  alone," said Bill Adams, spokesman for the DOT. "There can be no doubt that CARS drummed up more business for car dealers at a time when they needed help the most."  Edmunds.com's estimate of the sales increase generally matches what industry experts had thought, said George Pipas, a sales analyst with Ford Motor Co.