I just bought a Chevy Volt

[cairns]

Unless you look at their books (and you won't get to) you really don't know how much the car costs to make. As GM is in business to make money (unlike, say, Tesla) the development costs will likely be recovered in the long run.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

If the car is leased, the lender gets the Federal tax credit. Most manufacturers "pass through" the entire credit if it's their captive lender (typically), but not GM.

Yes, I heard that's GM Financing's deal these days. They make you give the tax credit back as part of the lease deal. You get the credit if you buy the car, and some dealers will give you part of it back to make the deal work. That could change at any time of course, depending on the market.

[Steve Carlton]

From what I've seen, most manufacturers give back 100% of the tax credit either in a discount of the selling price in the lease or as a rebate. The reason is their captive lender gets the tax credit, because they're the buyer of the car, not the customer. I noticed when I leased my Volt that GM pockets some of the tax credit- they don't pass through the entire amount. It was a great deal, anyway, so it didn't matter.

[wdfifteen]

I paid cash for all three of mine, so I keep getting leasing and buying confused. I was curious about Volt leases so I looked it up on the Volt forum. Geeze, they have so many ways of obfuscating the actual price with leases - makes my head spin. Here's the thread.

when you lease a Leaf/Volt, who gets the $7500 federal tax rebate?

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I paid cash for all three of mine, so I keep getting leasing and buying confused. I was curious about Volt leases so I looked it up on the Volt forum. Geeze, they have so many ways of obfuscating the actual price with leases - makes my head spin. Here's the thread.

when you lease a Leaf/Volt, who gets the $7500 federal tax rebate?

So since your last post, I've been researching and then some. I'm looking into purchasing a lease return premium trim package if I can locate it. Man there is a lot of info, local, federal, YouTube, etc. interesting to see how well the Volt and Prius rated in the NTSB safety crash tests compared to the Modle-S and i-3(not so much).

Even looking into the options for home charging stations and rates.

Lots-o-info


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[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by bugstrider

So since your last post, I've been researching and then some. I'm looking into purchasing a lease return premium trim package if I can locate it.

Used gen 1 Volts are dirt cheap these days. Mrs WD had a base model and I had a premium trim model with leather heated seats. Mine was the one that we kept in the unheated garage. Fifteen minutes before heading to work I would access the app on my phone and turn the heater and the heated seats on. When I got in the car it was toasty warm, every morning. I loved that.
Mrs WD got to use the level 2 charger I installed at our office building. After a 4 mile commute she didn't need a charge, but if it was going to be cold or hot she would plug in and use her phone to tell the car to cool or heat itself before she got in it to come home. She loved that.

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Used gen 1 Volts are dirt cheap these days. Mrs WD had a base model and I had a premium trim model with leather heated seats. Mine was the one that we kept in the unheated garage. Fifteen minutes before heading to work I would access the app on my phone and turn the heater and the heated seats on. When I got in the car it was toasty warm, every morning. I loved that.

Mrs WD got to use the level 2 charger I installed at our office building. After a 4 mile commute she didn't need a charge, but if it was going to be cold or hot she would plug in and use her phone to tell the car to cool or heat itself before she got in it to come home. She loved that.

That good to know. We don't have a garage so it will be important to know too. I've read up on the weatherproof charging cables and weather. I've seen the price range on Gen-1's from the high 12 to low 18's all depending on trim levels and dealers vs private and CarMax etc.

The more I research the more I find myself having to pull the reigns back and hold short for the trim package I want. We have several Chevrolet and GMC dealers that sell the cars the tote as "certified" and most of them time I'm better educated on the features that the sales rep. I'm polite about it, well until they start feeding me BS and assume I know nothing about the car and start bringing up meaningless chatter, then I call them out.

The funny part is that negative press(righteous and data backed) is actually hard to find, which is shocking since there usually is never a shortage of negative press on cars. When you have people, like yourself that are onto the Gen-2, kinda indicates something.

Cheers


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[wdfifteen]

A "Certified" used car is only certified to be used as far as I'm concerned. I think it's a worthless sales tool.

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

A "Certified" used car is only certified to be used as far as I'm concerned. I think it's a worthless sales tool.

I totally agree. Therefore I have a good friend here locally who is casing the same lease return auctions as the dealers.

He owns a car rental company and is the guy we have purchased all of our recent cars through. The most painless way to buy a car. We got our brand new CR-V through.


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[Steve Carlton]

Certified pre-owned means inspected with a warranty. I don’t know what Chevy does, but many programs are excellent.

When the last of the Gen-1s were selling, they were on sale for about half of the MSRP, if you adjusted for the tax credits. Like $20K net for a $40K car. I would just suggest getting a reference point on a new one to evaluate the value of a used one.

[bugstrider]

Depending on time this weekend, I might check out two G-1 Volts in the color/trim I've been looking for and both are low mileage 2015's. They are in the Bay Area and if time permits, will look after the EASY gathering.

Steve,

Good point on the pricing, will check that out too.


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[wdfifteen]

Hope you find what you want at the price you want to pay.

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Hope you find what you want at the price you want to pay.

Thanks, PM sent


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[bugstrider]

Waiting to see if the dealer accepts my offer...... initially they rejected it after a few hours of the negotiation game. Only $500.00 separates us. It was daylight when we arrived.

On the up side, starting to see a few 2016 Gen-2’s enter the used market.




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[wdfifteen]

The gen IIs are nice cars. We just drove ours to Boston and back, 1600 miles, 42mpg. The new drivetrain is a little more efficient at highway speeds because the engine imparts some power to the drive axle mechanically, bypassing the generator.

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

The gen IIs are nice cars. We just drove ours to Boston and back, 1600 miles, 42mpg. The new drivetrain is a little more efficient at highway speeds because the engine imparts some power to the drive axle mechanically, bypassing the generator.

That is good to know. I stopped at a couple local dealers and looked at them. I know there are more interior options for the Volt, but it appears that all of the local available G-2 cars are rubber stamped jet black interior in the local cars.

That said, this interior combination is just plain sexy, at least it is to us.
We like contrast in our vehicles.

I did notice that the instrument panel of the new Gen-2’s looks very similar to the CADILLAC ELR layout that ended production in 2016.Essentially the same car but with a different body and twice the price when new. The ELR must be significantly heavier since the over all mpg is substantially less that the Volt.



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[techweenie]

I had a Gen 1 and now have a Gen 2 Volt. Really nonsensical to get any other compact sedan when you can get 150-300+ MPG in normal driving.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by techweenie

I had a Gen 1 and now have a Gen 2 Volt. Really nonsensical to get any other compact sedan when you can get 150-300+ MPG in normal driving.

Congratulations!
The mileage figures quoted for Volts are a bit misleading. If you're just burning gas (as on a long trip) you get about 40-45 mpg. My car's history shows I'm getting 250+ mpg, but that averages in the electric miles.

[Jim Richards]

I sat in a '18 Volt at the LA Auto Show today. I think it was the LT trim level. It felt a bit on the cheap side to me. Perhaps the Premier (or is it Premium?) trim level would be worthwhile. I guess I won't know until I go to a dealership. It's a nice looking vehicle and the ergonomics seem to work for me. Maybe my next car, if the Caddy ATS doesn't snag me first.

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by techweenie

I had a Gen 1 and now have a Gen 2 Volt. Really nonsensical to get any other compact sedan when you can get 150-300+ MPG in normal driving.

I’m reminded every time I’ve filled this bloody thing up why I’ve been doing the research on the Volt. Especially when I feed the pig every third workday due to my round trip commute. I’d be screwed if it wasn’t for these fuel locations. Even looking at the average fuel mpg without the electrical average WD points out, I’d be ahead in the long run.

I have calculated that the car payment plus insurance will be lesser than my fuel bill for the truck p/month. At the current odometer reading of just over 327,000, well, you know.......if you do the math. Being a power commuter, 24,000/year and that was scaling back the driving this past year from 30+ I have got to do something different. The green Exon Valdez is killing my inner child.


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