2017 Honda Clarity Electric (36 mo/20K) for $199/mo with $899 due (not including taxes, registration and fees) CA and OR residents only

Range is my main concern too. I drive around 70 miles a day, most of it is highway.

Some dealers told me that they are expecting few at the end of this month. That’s why I wanted to see if anyone got it in SoCal (specifically OC) this week.

Let’s hope it’s 125 miles range. Honda will get 2 ZEV credit if they can hit 125 miles.

I wonder how much higher the lease is gonna be and if we can just swap the payment plan like that(2017 owner). But 125 miles of range is really tempting.

The “125 miles of range” was just a wish from the previous poster. There is no indication that there will be any actual significant changes for the 2018 Clarity BEV, other than perhaps something minor like additional colors (speculation), since the 2017 has only been on sale for a few months. It would take significant re-engineering to add 40% more range to the car in order to reach 125 miles.

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Not really, they could activate the unused batteries early (and sack the battery life) or they just swap out the batteries for a newer model.

For the Manufacturer, this is easy…for the consumer…well that’s another story.

Ok, picked up today. Will report on range later this week after a few trips to work. Attached were terms. I did not haggle… just took what they offered.

How is the insurance cost on the BEV Clarity? I know it varies case by case and provider to provider but is it generally more expensive to insure an electric car? I’m pretty close to getting one of these and my insurance company is closed today for quotes. Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

I just added my car and I’m paying $503 semi annually. Full coverage

I’m paying about $515 (6-months) with Geico

I’m paying $375 every six months with State Farm. Less expense than the car it was replacing. That was a 2008 Mazda5 Grand Touring.

I also replaced a Mazda 3 (2017 Touring 5-door) and my rate with Costco Ameriprise only went up about $30 every 6 months for same coverage.

Based on this post I got mine yesterday at DTLA and can confirm that it was exactly $899 out of pocket. Swiped my credit card and it was all mine. Rather than “Dealer Contribution”, on my contract it shows $699.62 “Noncash Credits” plus my $899 for a total of $1598.62 to start the lease. Essentially a $700 cap reduction and $199 first payment. Looks like no tax paid by me on the first payment or cap reduction.

It was interesting to see that the contract paper is a specific form used for the “Clarity Electric - California” only.

blodg1, who was your sales guy at DTLA?

My wife took her BEV Clarity to Weir Canyon on Saturday to address some paint peeling from one of the rims, when she bumped into her sales rep. He said there are currently 40 people on the waiting list for their BEV’s at their dealership. Good luck to everyone trying to get theirs.

My salesman was Bryce Sutherland. He was extremely accommodating and he drove the car all the way to my house in South OC late last night! I had raced up there solo in order to grab one of the 3 they had on hand with no clue how I’d get two cars back. I paid for an Uber for him to return to LA.

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Picked mine up 2 weeks ago. Confirming what others have said about being told that 2017 production was halted, next batch will be 2018 with higher price but same range.

My first EV. One way to work with mostly freeway driving is 22 miles. When driving with no traffic at 70 with the adaptive cruise and no climate controls on, used 33 miles of range from Sacramento to Folsom. A little less battery used the other direction because it is more downhill. With the great weather and new batteries, often a full charge is showing over 100 miles of range so no problem doing a round trip if charging is not available.

I am also always in eco mode, not sport.

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Any idea where I can get one of these ? Called couple dealership in socal was told that waitlist is 3-5 mo wait and can’t find one electric yet. All they do is trying to sell me the hybrid

hey Joey, i’m in sac as well. where did you get your clarity from? do you know if they expect anymore shipments?

We’re in the same boat, trying to find a 2017 electric.

Is there any sort of comprehensive inventory checker, or do we have to check with every dealer individually?

Any idea if the 2018 electrics will have a similarly good lease rate?

I’m slowly learning about the tax credit and rebates and trying to compare buying (where we get the $7,500 tax credit) and leasing (where Honda gets the $7,500).

Our local dealer’s first lease proposal, at $528 for the hybrid, made the $199 deal for the electric look incredible.

Leasing the hybrid Touring model was looking dismal, but then out of the blue our other local dealer came up with an offer for $349 for 36 months with $2,999 at signing. (Edit: I just learned, below, that the California rebate wouldn’t be available if I bought out of state, so I’m dropping the idea of the electric-only version.) Using the Leasehackr calculator I worked backward to come up with the effective Sales Price.

MSRP $37,490
Sales Price $34,100
Money Factor .0012
Document Fee $80
Acquisition Fee $595 upfront
Miles/Year 12,000
Months 36
Down Payment $1,388
Untaxed Incentives $5,200
Residual 45%
License/Registration $400
Sales Tax (Ventura, CA) 7.75%

Monthly Payment $349
Payment Incl Tax $376
Drive Off $2,999
Leasehackr Score 8.1 years
Disposition Fee $0
Total Lease Cost $15,755

The best purchase offer we’ve received is $35,230 which would give us the $7,500 tax credit for a net purchase cost of $27,730. Compared to the leasing deal’s sales price ($34,100 - $5,200 = $28,900) the purchase looks like it’s $1,000 cheaper. (If we pay cash and ignore the cost of money.)

Am I correct in thinking that the leasing deal is about the same as the purchase deal? If they are about the same, in general terms is it better to lease or purchase? (I’d tend to lean towards purchasing, just to avoid the monthly paperwork.)

The next variable is my wife’s 2009 Audi A4, which we would love to trade in even if it costs us a little bit of money for the convenience. Kelly Blue Book made a “guaranteed” purchase price offer of $6,584 with a trade-in range of $7,226 - $8,705 and private party range of $9,740 - $11,921 for trade-in values. I’m kind of thinking that any additional negotiation might be solely in regards to the trade-in and am contemplating accepting the purchase offer and shoot for at least $10,000 on the trade-in.

Are we moving too fast, doing a deal with only the second dealer we’ve seriously talked to? Or do those numbers look good enough to try to wrap this up quickly?

Thanks for any advice or criticisms. I’m way out of my league on this stuff but would like to do the deal as soon as possible. I know, I read the post about patience and not letting heated seats make up for a crummy deal! The other option is to hang tight and see what the 2018 electric-only version looks like, but I haven’t heard anything yet about release dates or possible changes to the car.