I fear the mpg stats are misleading because of the inverse nature, but as a rough approximation, 690,000 cars were replaced. Their average mpg went from 15.8mpg

I fear the mpg stats are misleading because of the inverse nature, but as a rough approximation, 690,000 cars were replaced. Their average mpg went from 15.8mpg to 24.9mpg (these numbers were most likely calculated incorrectly by the DOT). At 10,000/year that is a savings of 230 gallons/car/year or about 1/6 of a billion gallons/year. Very roughly, it would appear to have been a good buy purely from the import/export angle assuming that each gallon saved comes out of our imports. (This also may be very wrong because the program only accelerated the replacement, so it isn't fair to assume that the clunker would still be running 10 years from now. On the other hand, it may have spurred people to more efficient cars to get the larger rebate. That could be a lifelong change when people realize they can get along fine with a more efficient car. I only rarely miss my 17/18mpg 3/4T truck now that I drive a cheap 25/40mpg tiny car. I can borrow or rent a truck when I need it.)