It would appear that we might indeed be on our way to car loan credit from the Feds any day now.  As it appears in the stimulus plan, it basically means that you will be getting a tax break for interest on a car loan unless, of course, you are making a little too much money.  According to http://www.freep.com/ the bailout provision will last around one year:

“Mikulski’s proposal would grant a tax credit for vehicles bought between Nov. 12 of last year and Dec. 31 of this year. The tax break would only go to families making less than $250,000 a year, and would only apply to interest on loans up to $49,500.

“Everyone wants to save auto manufacturers, but no matter how much government aid we give to the Big Three auto makers, they can’t survive if consumers don’t start buying cars,” Mikulski said.”

The automakers are undoubtedly having a rough go of it, but will this plan really help?  I suppose it might, but in at least one instance it is a bit redundant.  The Feds have already granted Chrysler 1.5 billion dollars so they can offer “no interest” loans.  So we have already paid for Chrysler to offer “no interest” loans, and now we will be providing a break for the other car companies.  One question not answered: Will this only apply to domestic vehicles, or foreign models too?  Are we helping the dealers or the makers here?

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