Chevy Volt Hybrid Tax Credit scam: Dealers selling cars to each other, cashing in.

What do you expect? They're car dealers. They'd sell their first born for a tax credit.

It's nice to know our tax dollars are hard at work.

 

The government should come down on these dealers hard.

 

Absolutely shameful. If only Americans knew where their tax dollars were going. The dealerships trading Volts is as funny as it is pathetic. Let GM play these games. There's only one place that matters for Volt sales and that's in people's garages and it doesn't look like thats happening.

 

I don't remember hearing about Toyota dealers exploiting when Prius qualified for tax credit.

 

Different situation. Prius credit is dependent on AMT, while EV are $7500 tax credit for anyone buying one, AMT or not.

 

Didn't the HYBRID credit require 3 years of ownership or else you had pay back the difference upon selling early?

It would appear as though the ELECTRIC credit has shortcoming that's being exploited... one that's clearly not in the spirit of credit... more like milking taxpayers.
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Does it matter?

If you buy a new volt for $X then get $Y back in federal credit, you paid $(X-Y) for it. It took up to a year to get $Y back.

Now if you buy a volt for $Z flat out, no rebate hopefully Z ~= X - Y. So the dealership waits a year for the credit, you get the "credit" immediately and a used vehicle. Z > X - Y by a little bit more than likely.

If there exists an idiot who is willing to pay $X and get no credit, then let them. We can't babysit everyone.

 

John, you are right. Prius tax credit required certain number of year of ownership.

2k1, the difference is who end up getting the money. It is either the dealer or the buyer. Dealer getting the incentive defeats the purpose of the tax credit -- an affordable alternative "fuel" vehicle.

This exploit also boosts the sales number of the Volt. Everything about it is a scam.

 

If this is really happening, agreed, it is very shameful and yes, hopefully government does something about this.

It'd be interesting to see if there's confirmation going on about this over in Volt forums or if it's just anti-Volt FUD that's being thrown around.

 

Only if the price is not reduced and the dealer takes the credit. If it is either/or, I don't see the bad.

It boosts the sales right now. But then they sell those "used" volts and it doesn't get counted again.

Just playing devil's advocate here.

 

I haven't read the fine print ... but I thought one's credit was disgorged if the vehicle was sold w/in 3 years. Maybe Malorn will chime in if he's lurking. But certainly seems a strange way to make (paltry) sales.

http://nlpc.org/stories/2011/05/31/gm-admits-dealerships-are-taking-chevy-volt-tax-credits

 

I'm with 2k1 here, I don't see this as a big deal. In fact, customers might like the idea of buying the car already discounted by $7500. Welcome to the world of subsidies, where every person in the chain from the manufacturer to the end consumer grabs as much as they can. Cash for Clunkers was a money grab for dealers too. I wonder about sales tax on the $7500. If the dealer is taking the rebate it sounds to me like the dealer is paying the tax, and can only hope to recoup the expense when the car is sold. Interesting gamble.

It really is hard to get a handle though on actual sales of the Volt to end consumers, and no doubt 'purchases' by dealers are confusing the issue even further. Soon enough the cars will show up in lots stacked up like hummers if this is all a shuffle, and then the Volt will die. If I was a car dealer I would like the idea of putting $7500 in my pocket today, but only if I could sell the car at a final profit.

By the way, GM has announced increased production *capacity* from late June; it will be interesting to see if more cars are actually *produced*.

 

Also I presume some Volts are being purchased by gov't agencies. Don't know if they'd pay full price or get a discount.

 

GM may be finding out now how tough the hybrid/electric business is after spending almost 4 years of development and maybe 10 years trashing its rival. Recently GM CEO said " He will not be caught dead in a Prius". GM is going to have to make this vehicle take off or they are going to sell a lot Chevy Cruzes.

 

I wouldn't pay more than $30,000 for a used Volt. A brand new Volt cost 42,000. Tax credit is $7,500. That's $34,500 after tax credit. Being a used car, it'll lose value. So $30,000 for a used Volt sounds like a fair price.

 

If they are playing shell games, sooner or later they will be smoked out and found out. If the car is a stinker, they might have trouble selling them 'used' at 30k.

 

101 Volts, 10 LEAFs, 5 Thinks.

At the same time they said Federal agencies should use midsize or smaller sedans in executive fleets "except where larger sedans are elemental to the agency mission".