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933 Posts
Like cfspeakman noted in another post, he knew of one other that was getting a Bolt from a CA dealer before GM shut that down - that was me and below is the car. When that word from GM was reportedly given to the CA dealers (which is what my sales rep told me), my car was still sitting at the lot in Mira Loma and had been there for over 2 weeks and so I thought "oh crap I hope I don't get shut down." But by that point we had already completed the purchase paperwork, and while certainly not impossible I didn't think it was highly likely that the dealer would unwind the deal. I think dealers typically love taking money in, but don't like giving it back nearly as much.
When I decided to get one, I first went to my local dealer in VA and asked if they had any on order, and they said that they wouldn't be selling the Bolt. I then went to 3 dealers in MD and each one had some inbound, but none that matched the specs I wanted (Kinetic Blue Premier with all options). Each one said sure I could place a new retail order with them, and it would arrive probably late March or early April, and each one was firm on MSRP pricing.
Like many others here on the forum, I had been following bro1999's Bolt purchase saga and saw that Rydell was advertising $1k off MSRP. So with about $800 for shipping (combined reg & doc fees in CA were about $100 more than in MD) the cost was pretty much a wash with the ability to get one in late January or early February instead of waiting until March/April.
The shipping went well, car arrived at Rydell on afternoon of Tues Jan 17th and sales rep sent me text to go ahead and arrange for transport the next day. I put in the request right away (car has been sitting at Mira Loma for over 2 weeks and dealer didn't have expected arrival date, so all I had set up with broker was the quote but no date), a carrier was assigned by the morning of Weds Jan 18th, and car was picked up from the dealer about 6 hours later. It then sat in a lot near I-5 in Burbank for a couple days (checking location with Onstar) and moved across the country on Sat Jan 21st (maybe late Friday, not sure)- Mon Jan 23rd. I think delivery of over 2,600 miles in under 6 days from when I entered the order is pretty good! Weather was rainy on arrival so the surface of the car was all wet, but walking around it and looking high and low I didn't see a scratch or ding anywhere.
For anyone in the VA/MD area, I plan to take some day trips to check out the DCFC Combo chargers around the region, mainly as a dry run to help with planning possible future trips of a state or two away (I've driven in all 50 states, always nice to hit the road). With the dry runs I can verify the chargers work with the car (and enter confirmation in plugshare for others to see - to include observed rate of charge), assess the actual range of making it there, and not attempt a trip with wife and daughter and find out plugshare was inaccurate about some details. So for those in the area that want to check out the Bolt out of curiosity or especially if you are really considering one, send me a PM and maybe we can get together.
So here are a few pics, when I got the Gen 2 Volt I debated between Silver Ice and Kinetic Blue and went with Silver since I'd never had that color. So this time I went back to the blue.
Free advertising for Rydells for 2,600+ miles:
Backed right up to my driveway:
My car was last one on and first one off - they sure don't leave much space between the back tire and the edge of the ramp:
Initial energy screens... should be easy to improve on those:
When I decided to get one, I first went to my local dealer in VA and asked if they had any on order, and they said that they wouldn't be selling the Bolt. I then went to 3 dealers in MD and each one had some inbound, but none that matched the specs I wanted (Kinetic Blue Premier with all options). Each one said sure I could place a new retail order with them, and it would arrive probably late March or early April, and each one was firm on MSRP pricing.
Like many others here on the forum, I had been following bro1999's Bolt purchase saga and saw that Rydell was advertising $1k off MSRP. So with about $800 for shipping (combined reg & doc fees in CA were about $100 more than in MD) the cost was pretty much a wash with the ability to get one in late January or early February instead of waiting until March/April.
The shipping went well, car arrived at Rydell on afternoon of Tues Jan 17th and sales rep sent me text to go ahead and arrange for transport the next day. I put in the request right away (car has been sitting at Mira Loma for over 2 weeks and dealer didn't have expected arrival date, so all I had set up with broker was the quote but no date), a carrier was assigned by the morning of Weds Jan 18th, and car was picked up from the dealer about 6 hours later. It then sat in a lot near I-5 in Burbank for a couple days (checking location with Onstar) and moved across the country on Sat Jan 21st (maybe late Friday, not sure)- Mon Jan 23rd. I think delivery of over 2,600 miles in under 6 days from when I entered the order is pretty good! Weather was rainy on arrival so the surface of the car was all wet, but walking around it and looking high and low I didn't see a scratch or ding anywhere.
For anyone in the VA/MD area, I plan to take some day trips to check out the DCFC Combo chargers around the region, mainly as a dry run to help with planning possible future trips of a state or two away (I've driven in all 50 states, always nice to hit the road). With the dry runs I can verify the chargers work with the car (and enter confirmation in plugshare for others to see - to include observed rate of charge), assess the actual range of making it there, and not attempt a trip with wife and daughter and find out plugshare was inaccurate about some details. So for those in the area that want to check out the Bolt out of curiosity or especially if you are really considering one, send me a PM and maybe we can get together.
So here are a few pics, when I got the Gen 2 Volt I debated between Silver Ice and Kinetic Blue and went with Silver since I'd never had that color. So this time I went back to the blue.
Free advertising for Rydells for 2,600+ miles:
Backed right up to my driveway:
My car was last one on and first one off - they sure don't leave much space between the back tire and the edge of the ramp:
Initial energy screens... should be easy to improve on those:
