Have you heard of the Cash for Clunkers program? If you happen to have eyes and a heartbeat the answer to that is probably yes! Cash for Clunkers has been making the headlines for months as the government's pet project to help jump start our economy, offering lower income Americans struggling to come up with the cash they need to buy reliable transportation the opportunity for a fresh new start. The ads you're seeing out there aren't telling you everything though. Here's a sneak peek at what your auto insurance company needs you to know, and why you should listen before signing on the dotted line.

It's like this. Auto insurance rates have been on a steady rise and fall in recent years. They climb up, then plummet back down when the economy takes a dip. This process repeats over, and over, and over again. Regardless of where insurance rates happen to be at the moment, however, there is one thing that never changes-you're always going to pay more to insure a newly financed vehicle than you did for your old clunker.

When you participate in the Cash for Clunkers program you're going to be given a $3,000-$4,000 credit (give or take $500) for your secondhand car, even if it wasn't worth that much when you bought it. In exchange you can drive off the dealer lot with a brand new, shiny set of wheels that's going to look great sitting in your driveway and, thanks to that hefty government credit, isn't going to cost you nearly as much in car payments as it would have a year ago.

It's the perfect solution, right?

Here's the catch. The minute you go to insure that shiny new car your auto insurance rates are going to go up. A lot. Why? First and foremost, your insurance company doesn't care how much you paid for the car. They're interested in its replacement value, which is the amount of money they're going to have to pay you if the car gets totaled somehow. That number doesn't take government credits into account, and since you're insuring it at its full value you're going to be paying a lot more than you were when you could have replaced your car by selling your living room sofa. (You laugh, but it's been done!)

The second thing you need to consider before hopping on the Cash for Clunkers bandwagon is the amount of auto insurance you're going to need for your new car. The dealer that happily hooked you up with a great deal is anxious to make sure it hangs on to its investment. That means they're going to want to make sure you're carrying collision and comprehensive insurance on your car along with your regular liability.

All of this is going to send your auto insurance rates climbing, which is fine if you can afford it but has driven some Cash for Clunkers participants to let their insurance policies slip because their already thin budgets just won't stretch to a car payment AND the extra insurance. Cash for Clunkers is a great opportunity, but only if you do the math before signing on the dotted line.