Edmunds, the greatest American heroes since Nelly Bly, have saved the world from Cash For Clunkers problems by posting the tough questions and sending the hardest of hard-hitting press releases.
According to a note sent by their corporate communications department, the company has been "pressing" the NHTSA on Cash for Clunkers dilemmas. Have they been using the bully pulpit? Did Michelle Krebs chain herself to Ray LaHood? Not quite, here's what they've done:
Consumers have been heavily engaged on Edmunds' CarSpace.com message boards (http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX/.f1db290?displayRecent) and Edmunds Answers (http://answers.edmunds.com/) seeking advice on their Cash for Clunkers purchase made over the past several weeks after learning their vehicle is no longer eligible because the EPA made mileage "refreshes" late last week.
Ah, as we've always expected — it will be the message boards that slowly change the face of human history.
Why didn't we think of that? Silly us. When we started receiving consumer complaints related to to the EPA switching numbers we actually called the NHTSA and informed them of the problem which, before hearing from us, they were unaware of.
And rather than setting up an "answers.jalopnik.com" site we hounded the EPA to actually release a list of cars, which we first brought you yesterday. It was, it seems, all a waste of time. Edmunds had it under control the entire time. Our bad. Thank goodness a site like Edmunds had readers talking to themselves about it or we'd never have the answers consumers need.