First the Prius, now the Volt: Getting robbed at the dealership?
Shop around. No tax credit, no Volt purchase!
Some dealerships taking plug-in tax credits for themselves?
Updated 15:46 – Sometimes it’s hard to buy into supply and demand economics. It’s even worse when supply and demand fundamentals favor car dealerships that have rigged the financing game to squeeze every bit of extra money out of typically unsuspecting car buyers.
Thus, the fact that some Chevy Volt dealers are taking the $7500 federal plug-in tax credit for themselves rather than giving consumers the credit is, minimally, disappointing.
But, is this the real story?
It’s hard to say how common this practice is today, but it is happening according to Straightline, although now disputed by others.
Still, should anyone be surprised?
In 2008, hot hybrid cars, particularly the Toyota Prius, saw huge dealer markups added atop MSRP. So, if true, this is nothing new.
But, is this really happening? According to MotorTrend, these dealerships that are not yet authorized to sell the Chevy Volt, so they are simply buying Volts to sell as used, which is not surprising considering the limited supply and high demand.
Anyway, just as Hybridcarblog suggested in Robbed: Buying a hybrid car, shop around if this is a real trend. Don’t reward dealerships that don’t put customers first, especially on a car as important as a plug-in vehicle like the Volt. Just like in 2008, there were dealerships that didn’t resort to markups, and I’m sure this will be the case this time around as well. So, reward those dealerships instead.
As for flipping Volts, as now appears to be the case with this story, buyers beware. It didn’t make sense during the housing bubble and it won’t make sense with the Volt either.
“On Star” Data from actual Volt customers is showing that the average Volt owner goes over 1000 miles before refueling, and that’s with a 9.7 gallon tank. The average fuel economy of real-world Volt owners is 110 MPG.
My Honda Civic Hybrid, at it’s best, went 500 miles on 12 gallons of gas.
For those making under 80K, I highly recommend the $350/month lease price. That is lower than the monthly payment for my Honda Civic Hybrid.
Anyone who makes under $80k/year got robbed on the Volt. The Federal Government is basically stealing money from lower income taxpayers so that folks in the six digit income range can get a big discount on the Volt.
And it’s not an EV. It’s a hybrid. And it doesn’t get 340 MPG, it gets 34 MPG
My Insight-2 cost less than half the price of the Volt, gets 15 MPG better fuel economy, and I didn’t have to steal from the taxpayers to get it.
” These kinds of credits will go away….. along with Medicare, and Social Security.”
if they own both houses of Congress – and the Presidency – …. maybe…. and that means a majority of the country wants them to do that.
So far, it sounds like they have not convinced everyone!
These kinds of credits will go away….. along with Medicare, and Social Security.
I used to be a Republican, but in recent years, Republicans have shown their true colors. They are not heading the same direction I am.
I’ll say it again. If you truly are for growth of hybrids and EV’s, don’t vote Republican. If you like oil vote Republican.
I heard a Republican arguing this week that buying foreign oil is good for the US economy, because the countries that get all that oil money spend it on American exports. Yes!!! He really said that!!!
Sorry. I couldn’t possibly support someone who thinks giving oil money to our enemies is good for the US.
It’s anti-GM, anti-Obama and anti-Govt in general with some of these groups.
they are promoting a Libertarian view that says that govt should not be doing tax-breaks and that Obama is basically a “big-govt” socialist type and that GM is a company that should have failed and not have the govt “save” it.
Once you understand their basic position figuring out these “Volt” type stories is pretty easy to figure out.
There are a good number of Americans who agree with their basic thought and if Republicans took over – you can probably guarantee that these kinds of credits are going to go away.
Found a follow up article on this with an opposing view….
http://m.jalopnik.com/5806946/chevy-dealers-are-not-scamming-taxpayers-on-volt-tax-credits
Like I said. The Volt is now in the middle of a political debate.
You can expect to see a lot more of these types of articles now that the Volt has been declared a target by the right….
Well, if this story were true, I wouldn’t take it as a smear against the Volt, but a smear against car dealerships.
However, it appears this story is kind of true, but “confused”.
Essentially, other dealerships – not yet Volt-authorized – are buying the Volt to sell it as used. Essentially, they are flipping Volts.
You realize of course, that the original source of this information is a right-wing conservative political web site.
I get daily e-mail alerts about the Chevy Volt. I’m surprised how many articles come from these Right-Wing politcal sites.
Since when did an American car become the target of a political smear campaign?
I see now why Lutz is lashing out against conservative talk shows….