Tax, License, Fees on Volt Lease?

Ask the Hackrs
1

I’m looking to lease a Volt in So. Cal. Supposedly the Memorial Day Sales are a good time to do it. But I’m getting confused about tax, license and fees.

I spoke to a salesman today (at Hooman Chevy) who offered me $3499 + 35 payments of $99 plus tax and license (LT with Leather and Bose stereo). I asked what the actual payments would be. He thought that $99 would really be $120 when tax was included. But isn’t tax 9.75%? And he insisted that 3499 was the real check I’d have to write. But when I talked to another dealer (Community) they offered a better deal but said that the initial payment would really be higher when fees were included.

At Community they offered $3250 + $79/mo (LT with cloth), but thought that $3250 would really be more like $5,000 and $79 would be more like $100.

Can anybody shed some light on this? I’m interested in a Volt, but the price has to make sense. I don’t much care whether the cost is upfront or monthly – it’s the total out of pocket that I’m comparing.

Thanks very much!

2

@chevysalesgirl is the go-to person for SoCal Volts - I believe she had posted some pretty good deals with bonus tags.

3

It doesn’t make sense to negotiate when you can just go to @chevysalesgirl and get the best deal possible on a Volt in SoCal

4

Thanks, guys. I will contact her. But I was hoping for some info about what fees are appropriate and how they are calculated.

5

595 acquisition fees. $320 + for registration/tags (I was told the small something was for doing it electronically, perhaps was ripped off a bit, but wasn’t going to fight them over $30), $80 documentation fee + tax on incentive rebates

6

Thanks so much for that. So when the deal says $3250 “due at signing” “+ tax and license,” the tax would be on the incentive, which I think is like $2K – so tax would be around $200? And license is $300 for a total of $500 extra? And then you pay tax on each payment, too, right? Tax is the same as any other product? Or is it different for autos?

Thanks again –

7

the “due at signing” is usually (but not always) a capital cost reduction (“customer cash”) not fees.

8

Not sure I understand. I guess what I’m trying to ask is, when the dealer says X is due at signing, what am I actually paying?

9

No it is not. It nearly always explicitly says plus tax, tags, and fees. The due at signing is a down payment usually

10

Got it. And wow, I guess this is normal, but it’s deceptive. Do you have any idea of what tax, tags and fees might be? How much is reasonable?

11

tax is whatever tax is, tags and fees I listed. 595 + 400(ish)