Oh I appreciate what you’re saying but I wasn’t feeling defensive when I edited and replied - sorry if it comes across that way. I simply wanted to explain my full thinking and rationale for the benefit of others, and share the options I considered. As I said, it’s all a gamble… one that I willingly took after a lot of careful consideration and analysis. You and many others are right that it’s very hard to guess the future valuation and I could be very upside down as a result or exit early to avoid losses. Regardless, the car is fun and serves my purpose of a commuter car exceptionally well and will save me at least $100+ / mo in gas no matter what.
One of the things I keep thinking about is the long-term value of electric cars. I saw a post/article recently expressing that the drive train of EVs will go 500,000 miles easily. Whether the batteries will is another issue, but the car will generally last a long time. With lower-cost maintenance (tires, shocks, etc.) compared to ICE vehicles, the value of an EV may stay higher than other cars of similar style and class. The Bolt is only a few years old and it’ll be interesting to see if they hold value well after 3-5 years. Or maybe EVs will become so abundant and lower priced that they won’t. It’ll be interesting.
I suspect you’ll see them holding their value poorly as more of the industry invests in electric cars and technology makes bigger leaps, the older cars are going to be more and more obsolete.
There isn’t a huge difference between a 10 year old ice car and a new one. There is between a 10 year old ev and a new one.
I have an ev and a phev in my household, no regular gassers, so i know what you are talking about. The biggest aspects working against the used ev market is tech advancement and fed/state incentives. These incentives get sucked right out in first year depreciation…then they get hit again due to new models with much better battery and range come online. The most extreme example of this is the Fiat 500e…a car that time has left behind.
Cut that to 5 years and it’s still a valid statement.
I think it’s also worth thinking about the competition which could (in 2 years) impact the future value. The Kona, eNiro, Mini Cooper SE, Ioniq, Clarity, used model 3’s, e-Golfs, Leafs, Soul EV’s plus all of the PHEV’s, will create a more crowded market compared to right now. Having said that, if gas prices spike and/or a recession, used EV’s could be in big demand. So who knows.
I think it’s just fairly difficult to predict where the used value of EV’s will be in 2 years.
FWIW, being the proud owner of a day-old 2019 BOLT “fully loaded” LT, I do not see why anybody in their right mind would pay more than 20k for a 3 year old used. Cheap plastic as far as you can see, car shakes at 65 mph lol.
We know Chevy has experience making cars for the rental lot and, with this one, it has not disappointed.
There are some nice features, like the tech but the driving dynamics and overall comfort are sorely lacking.
Long story short, the car better be free after two years for me not to leave it on a snowy on ramp during a Northeaster next winter …
Lol…you just got it so it’s understandable you don’t know this but the shaking is the car’s Driver Alert Assist…so you don’t fall asleep or take your eyes off the road.
Because of the increased weight of the car…lol…i could explain you but you won’t understand
Don’t know about shocks but tires definitely go faster on evs as many of these low end entries, FWD, have trouble dealing with that instant torque.
It’s not that tires, shocks, brakes are cheaper to maintain on an EV, it’s that they’re the only thing to maintain. An ICE has belts, fluids, hoses, spark plugs, etc. that typically cost more than not having to maintain those items. I rarely keep cars long enough to buy tires, brakes, shocks, etc. so it’ll be nice not to spend on oil at least.
I have further revised my math on this purchase to account for the 30-month hold period for CA rebate (which I did not know before I bought the car). Using conservative, but I think realistic, sales prices for a given time period, I estimate that my ideal time-frame to sell is around 1 year but can likely keep the car for up to 3 years and still sell at a high enough value to have only spent $200 per month or less on the car (i.e. depreciation + maintenance only). Factoring in gas savings I still expect the car to cost around $100 / month to have (my electricity is solar so I think of it as essentially free gas). Time will tell. I’ll do my best to update this thread when I do eventually sell to report my results. It’s a fun little car to commute with and I’m enjoying it.
If anyone else bought a Bolt and is trying to achieve the same goal as me, chime in! Would love to hear about your experience with this gamble.
I can report from the front lines.
Got a Bolt LT 39.5k MSRP for 26k
Paid 2k ttl _another 300 due for excise tax this year.
So roughly 28.5k
Will collect 3.8k tx rebate next year ~ all in = 24.7
Just got it appraised for tradein at Carvana came out to 23k with 100 miles on it.
So no free lunch but 1.7k is not bad …only paying roughly 150 a month to drive a bolt for 1 year is not bad
Plus if I trade it in, I recapture some of the sales tax credit, so I could end up driving the bolt for 99 a month. Time will tell…
Big mistake but the rebate is prorated. So factor in around 80 a month in rebate earned for your car.
Also no way BOLT prices recover until Spring, if at all…
