How can one Justify the extra coas of the Plug in?

When I looked at the options I wanted (many of which came standard in the PiP), the price differential was much smaller.

 

Let's try to be realistic:

$24,200 = base MSRP Prius

$29,990 = base MSRP Prius plug-in

That's a difference of $5,790 without taking into account the base Prius plug-in is better loaded than the base Prius.

Take those into account, you've got features a little nicer than a model-3, which has a MSRP of $25,765.

That brings the difference down to roughly $4,000.

So without even mentioning the tax-credit, the extra is clearly not as large as implied in the first post.

 

justify it by driving a lot of short city miles and you want a hov sticker?

 

lol, you should try working out the £9,000/$15,000 premium for the UK PIP. You'd seriously need your head looking at by a professional to pay that.

 

...Wait for a sale...our best price on a PiP was about $25500 in NY. The guy who bought it was from WV and he then got $2500 Fed + $7500 state tax credits...so $15500 for a PiP (late 2012). I am thinking we could see lower prices this fall if CA green HOV stickers are sold out soon.

AFAIK, and as reported by Consumer Reports a few years ago, regular Prius holds value better - depreciates less - than almost all other cars. If that situation has changed, I am not aware of it.

 

I did the math when I started my search for a new car about 3 months back; it worked out that I'd have to drive 300,000 kms (200,000 miles) to justify the extra cost of a hybrid. I wouldn't have seen any economic benefit before that. We don't have any government incentives of any kind here. I couldn't see myself buying a hybrid at that point.

But as it turned out, I was able to get a 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in at a $10,000 discount, owing to that it had been at the dealership for 2 years. I still get the full warranty, so it was a no-brainer for me to jump at the deal.

 

In addition to the IRS $2,500 tax credit- Toyota occasionally runs big discounts on the PIP.

IIRC when I got my 2012 PIP in Oct of 2012 they had a $5,000 Toyota Financial credit, my local electrical utility had a $500 rebate, and then there's the $2,500 tax credit... so that added up to a rather substantial $8,000 off the asking price which brought the PIP down to the same price as a Three.

Sometimes it's all about timing...

 

nickfromny,
Try driving that Chevy to a dealer and asking for the trade in value of a 4 month old Chevy with 13,000 miles on it. Anyone trading a car in a year or less is most likely going to take a major hit on the trade, regardless of the brand, but especially one with higher than average miles on the odometer.
In your info is says you have a model "two," so as others have said, the difference in standard equipment between your car and a base PiP is substantial. Besides saving on gas, PiP buyers have other reasons for choosing it, including sending fewer $$ to OPEC.

 

Does the regular Prius get tax incentives or is it just the PiP?

 

1. *As others have said the price difference is less than that
2. *You get the $2500 federal tax credit
3. *Other possible state rebates and HOV lane access
4. *Some employers (and other locations) have free EV charging
5. Electricity is 100% domestic while each incremental barrel of oil saved is imported
6. EV mode in a city removes smog emissions from the inner city
7. *EV driving is cheaper than gas. Nat'l average $0.10/kwh is like $1.00 - $1.50/ gal gas
8. *EV driving for short distances actually replaces lots of 25 - 35 mpg hybrid warmup miles, not 50 mpg miles
9. More EV driving is more quiet time
10. Helps build up the EV awareness and infrastructure

* redo the math on these, then add up

Mike

 

New price of PIP here in Europe is crazy. Best value (as with most cars) is in a 2/3 yr old car.

Payback/cost saving time is a lot quicker on a low mileage used car, but as mentioned above, there are numerous reasons to drive a PIP, not just mpgs. Same for a lot of alternative fuel vehicles I suppose

 

Good list, but I question the 10-cent per kWh figure. I think it's 3-4 cents higher than that in most states and provinces now.

 

Averages at about 8 cents per kWh here

 

I just want to say that the Prius (non plug-in) also gets HOV lane access and some perks (#3). Heavy traffic like in NYC also allows a Prius to drive in EV mode (#6). The regular Prius was the first that brought real EV awareness (#10), no?

Other than that, I wholeheartedly agree with your list. I think the OP blew everything out of proportion. The price of the PiP is justifiable to me. I wish I had bought one.

 

I think it probably depends on whether the service charges are worked into it or not. Here is one 2013 source:


http://www.hydroquebec.com/publications/en/comparison_prices/pdf/comp_2013_en.pdf

 

How do you justify the cost of a Harley or a suburban or a 5th wheel trailer ... that's what we do ... we justify

 

I don't know about other states, but non-plugin hybrids definitely do NOT get HOV lane access in California.

 

I could have bought a Camry for the same money, but I think I got much more value in the PIP.

 

Who bought these never have to justify the cost because this is a want for them and they can afford it.
If if you buy a car to save gas or cost, then purchase price must be factored in.