2016/2017 Volt Getting Dealership to Rebate Federal Tax Credit

Ask the Hackrs
1

Hi,

I’m trying to lease a 2016/2017 Chevy Volt Premier Trim with Driver Confidence 2 Package. MSRP is around $41,000. I’ve been able to talk one dealership to go down to $34,500 purchase price if I paid cash or financed. I’m trying to get them to turn it into a lease but they just put the cap cost of the same $34,500 and come up with a residual value of $20,500, and money factor .0004. It works out to a monthly payment of ~$400 when I heard other people are getting Volts for $200/month. They just won’t budge and add the $7,500 federal tax credit to either the residual or more preferably as a cap cost reduction. At this point I don’t know if I should just buy the volt outright and take the tax credit myself and take on the market risk. How can I get them to budge or is it purely just the fault of GM’s lease financing? I was reading on this forum that GM isn’t offering the full rebate either which is just bullshit. Any way to sell the car to a 3rd party leasing company at that price and have them take the depreciation risk?

Thanks!

2

GM financial is keeping the extra fed rebate for themselves. It is not the dealer fault so keep that in mind when negotiating.

Try next month. Maybe slower volt sales means GM will increase the amount to the leasee.

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3

Thanks. They weren’t adding in any GM lease cash at all, lol.

So is there no negotiation room to have GM financial to not keep the extra rebate for themselves? Sorry its the first time I’ve ever bought a car so I’m not used to how this works. And even though the dealer would sell me the volt at $34.5k if I do a lease they put it down as $36.5k sales price. I got them to add back in the GM lease cash of 5,135. What’s up with them jacking up the sales price another 2k for the lease? I called them on it and they were like yes, you can purchase at 34.5k or you can lease at 36.5k. They were saying I was getting some rebates at the 34.5k price that I can’t get in the lease. I was like why won’t you sell it to GM Financing at my purchase price instead?

It’s been a frustrating buying experience and gives me a much hatred of car salesmen. Using the lease’s residual value as a trade in cost for buying I’d be out 8.3k total cost over the 3 years while leasing I’d be out 11.1k after accounting for all sales taxes & CA rebates. $2,800 is an expensive put option by going with the lease for downside protection. It means the volt would have to sell at $17.7k or lower in the future for leasing to win out. I guess with current 2013 volts going for $15k here in the bay area maybe leasing is still better.

I’m only going to hold onto the volt until I take possession of the Tesla Model 3 in 2-3 years.

4

You do not get the entire federal tax credit for leasing a volt. This is normal the dealership is not pulling a fast one on you.

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5

Quote looks right. Nothing fishy that I can see.

For leases, there’s $5,137 lease cash (all cars) and $500 Bonus Tag cash (select VINs only).

For purchases, there’s $1,000 California Bonus Cash (all cars) and $1,000 Bonus Tag cash (select VINs only). These differences would account for a $1,500 to $2,000 difference.

I’d say the selling price is excellent. Volt Premier is pricier to lease than Volt LT because of its lower residual.

As far as the lease vs. buy calculation:

Lease: $1,500 drive-off + (35 * $367) - $1,500 CVRP + $395 disposition fee = $13,232 total cost over 36 months

Buy: ($36,500 * 1.095) + 348 DMV + $116 upfront fees - $2,000 cash rebates - $1,500 CVRP - $7,500 tax credit = $29,432

You’d have to sell a three-year-old Volt with 45,000 miles for over $16,200 for the purchase to be better. There’s also the opportunity cost of capital.

Dealers can be frustrating, but their existence also allows for the epic lease deals we come across from time-to-time. In this case, the dealer is likely losing money on a unit basis to get their monthly volume bonus.

I’ll probably buy a Model 3 as well, but I highly doubt there will be cheap leases – because everyone will be paying the same amount.

6

Thank you for breaking down that calculation for me. :slight_smile: I also got a quote on the base LT trim model and for that one it doesn’t seem like they are fully applying the GM cash of $5,137. I’m only seeing them deducting $4,450. They are swearing up and down that the full $5,137 is being deducted on this. Is it?

7

Looks like that quote is for the 2017 Volt, which has a reduced incentive amount ($4,450) but a higher residual compared to the 2016.

BTW, this quote is for a 36/10K lease, whereas the previous one was for 36/15K.

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Thanks. I asked them for a 36/15k lease. How can you tell? Good to know about the residual. I asked them in writing for 36/15k. It’s frustrating dealing with this.

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Here are the residuals for 36/15K…

2017 Volt LT: 55%
2017 Volt Premier: 53%

2016 Volt LT: 53%
2016 Volt Premier: 50%

To get 12K/year, add 2%. To get 10K/year, add 3%.

Not sure if you’ve had any luck getting the $1,000 private offer, but it’s worth a try… Chevrolet $1000 private offer, how to get it?

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Thank you so much! Yup, I’ve gotten the private offer too. I’m waiting to bring that one up in the dealership in person so they don’t play games with that rebate. :slight_smile: I’ve gotten it to pop up a few times as I’ve been on the fence for a month buying a volt lol. It’s either a volt or a used lotus elise for me (leaning towards the volt.) This dealership has been the 2nd most difficult to work with and they are an hour each way away and their inventory is over 2 months old so they want to move them it seems. I’ve been trying to get everything in writing so I just go in, sign it, and pay. I don’t want to waste a 2 hour roundtrip drive to discover an issue like what you found with incorrect mileage in the lease quote.

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I called the salesman on the quote and even mentioned the residual value %s. He swears its a 15k mile quote on the LT so I guess when I go in to get it we will see. I will absolutely walk out of the dealership if the paperwork and quote don’t match penny for penny.

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Sadly when I went to pick it up as expected the residual got bumped down to 55%. They wouldn’t budge one cent on the price even after showing the sales manager the agreed upon price and giving his salesman a chance to correct the quote 4 days ago in writing. There was also bumper damage on the brand new car that they were refusing to fix until I signed the lease. I just walked away from the deal.

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Might get luck that they’ll call you back with it being the last weekend of the month…If you don’t hear from them I’d check back on Monday and see if they’re willing to deal

14

They honored the original agreement and delivered a different Blue 2017 LT Volt without bumper damage to my residence after the BBB and GM Corporate got involved! Thank you everyone for your help! Here’s a pic of the finalized lease numbers. :slight_smile:

1 Like
15

Just got this deal in So. Cal. I am fairly happy with it, although it is not as good as the $85/month deal available in MA!

2017 Volt LT
36mo/15K

MSRP: $34,095
Selling Price: $30,795
Incentives: $4,550
Out of Pocket: $2,795*
MF: 0.0004
Res: 55%

Monthly $209.67
Tax: $15.73 (Ventura County, CA - 7.5%)
Total: $225.40

  • Includes $1,500 California Rebate, $499 excess wear policy, $796 first month + DMV + doc fees
2 Likes
16

Your drive off was $2700?