If Cash for Clunkers was designed to help U.S. automakers work off excess supply, it's been a grand slam success. However, it's been more of mixed bag for dealerships.

Many dealers got a huge increase in sales. But those that were thinly capitalized now find themselves hurting as they wait for reimbursements from the federal government. In fact, GM has had to extend interest-free loans to certain car dealers so they can stay in business.

Now the Cash for Clunkers program will end on Monday. It was originally supposed to last until around Thanksgiving. This is now the second time the program ran out of money. The original billion went in a week. An emergency allocation of $2 billion lasted a little longer and is now gone.

Where does the overall car market stand in the aftermath of Clunkers? Right now, the manufacturers have lean inventories and will likely overshoot on production as they ramp up to build new vehicles. Couple that with the continuing weak economy and Clark thinks the next sweet spot for new car buyers will come from Thanksgiving until Jan. 31, 2010.

Our nation used to sell 17 million new cars a year. Now it's more like 9.5-10.5 million annually.

One of the other effects of the Clunkers program has been that the value of used cars has gone up, especially in the $6,000 or lower category. We're experiencing a shortage of these so-called "beater" vehicles, which drives their price up. Yet as the used car market replenishes with more beaters, their price will soften too.