This had to have taken some pressure and cajoling in order to get GM to approve it. I was told flat out that I was not eligible for an MSRP swap or substitution of collateral in New Jersey but I didn’t press them beyond that point, just took the money. It looks like people’s mileage can definitely vary though!
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I went for trade first, but numbers did not make sense, so I went for SOC, GM rep said if my dealership agrees, I can do SOC. After few emails back and forth I got the car today. I went for CT5.
Btw you were the one who inspired me to hunt for Bolt in NJ, even though I had no idea what I was getting into. But in the end it worked out well. Now I am looking to sell my car once everything straightens out GM’s end.
May I ask if your contact buys Cadillac, I am looking to move mine once GM finishes everything, the car right now only has 12 miles on it (however will be putting more miles as week goes on).
I want to get into electric again, may be id 4 or EV6. Frankly its way too cheap to run and maintain compared to gas car (missing bolt already lol).
Interesting… I was told if I go through with swapping my Bolt for a Silverado to do a similar flip that it’s not a “true MSRP swap” and that the incentives that applied to my Bolt wouldn’t carry over so I’d end up paying more even if the MSRPs were the same, but it seems like it did for you. Congrats!
Yeah, the issue is all the reps are clueless and there’s 3 different things they can do.
- Buyback
- Trade
- Collateral Swap
You want the third option so the incentives carry over. If you do a trade, they will take out mileage for usage and potentially some of the incentives and it ends up being not worth it. I definitely think it’s a YMMV and you might have to call a few different times and speak to different reps to get the answer you want/the process going in the right direction. Definitely a lot of work, but definitely worth it for $15k IMO.
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So true! Almost every rep I talked to would contradict what someone else would tell me. But that’s good to know, I was actually offered a collateral swap but I opted for just the straight buyback since the collateral swap would have the original lease end date.
I probably left a lot of money on the table but I just about had enough of the headache, glad you made enough off them for the both of us haha!
The funniest thing about my situation is that I would have ultimately been better off keeping the Bolt now that I’ve changed jobs and gas is through the roof. I’m most likely going to switch cars with my wife this weekend, it makes absolutely zero sense to take my Gladiator to work around 80 miles round trip per day when there’s toll discounts available for an EV as well as free charging available on the parking decks at work. Even paying for gas I’m coming out ahead vs my previous combination of paying for mass transit and parking but this sweetens the deal even more. If I still had two Bolts I could lower my costs even more.
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I think the Leaf leases well from time to time.
You can also try a plug in hybrid of some sort. If you can even do 30 miles on EV, charge up at work and do 30 miles back, might be worth it.
I still have a Bolt premier so I’ll probably just switch over to that and let my wife drive the Jeep. I’ve got more than enough miles to last the duration of either lease and it just makes more sense to use the Bolt for my longer trip with free charging. I’ll have to make some decisions down the road, it’s hard to turn down the opportunity to purchase the Bolt for around 20k once the battery has been replaced and I get a new 8 Year warranty on it. I really think I want to buy the Jeep though and I’m not sure I want to carry two car notes. I’ve been spoiled with the “free” or “nearly free” cars so I’ll need to start planning accordingly. Hopefully the market conditions are better in a year or so!
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Agree about the free/cheap cars. I also need to make adjustments. No more cheap BMW’s 
I now basically have to buy cars, and the payments suck are a lot more expensive. Oh well. At least I’m trying to buy cars that will hold their value (Bronco, Maverick)
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Should gas prices continue climbing, or even stay at this level (who knows…when oil was heading to $150/barrel 15 years ago everyone thought that would never end either) I have a difficult time believing that trucks/suvs are going to hold their value.
But who knows…if you had told me 18 months ago that people would be paying MSRP+ for Kias and BMWs I would have laughed in your face.
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I had a bolt i swapped out weaks before this broke out, I later got a C8.R at MSRP, imagine the possibilities. Great job OP I hope the adventure made up for the inconvenience.
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You are my hero and I’m trying to replicate the same thing on a lease SOC, but in SoCal. Currently trying to find a dealer willing to host the swap.
GM pays well for hosting the swap, so try to find one that has done it before. There is some strange paperwork involved, so if dealership does it for first time, there will be few road blocks as they try to figure out what is going on.
There are many different terms used for Collateral swap. I’ve heard it called:
MSRP swap
VIN swap
MSRP exchange
Collateral exchange
15k profit makes me very untired quickly ….
Add Emotional Damage to that list too
I think I just give it back.
I agree. Unless you wanna work for a bigger pay day on a swap like OP.
OP, how much time did it take for GM to add your swapped SUV to GM finaiancial account? And did you have to call anyone?
Its been almost 2 weeks for me and car is not on my account yet, so trying to get an idea as to how much time it would take. So I can start looking at options to sell the car. Thank you