F*** NY State on Bolt EV rebate!

Geohec said:

Unless your are put a crazy amount of miles on your 2014, then I'd say waiting will net you more money in your pocket. Waiting a few months on the west coast, equated to $3000 off.

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I can wait on purchasing to save $$$.
I put about 15K miles/year on my car, that's about 1250mi/month. I have 46.5K mi on my 2014 Volt that turns 3yo next week.

No matter what, I'll have to wait till at least April before making the purchase because of the $2k NY Rebate, I can wait till mid summer if it means a significant savings.

Who knows.. if the NY dealers continue to be anal-retentive about MSRP only pricing... I may end up getting the Bolt from CA (if their discounts keep increasing) and have it shipped here. I've done it before, it was no big deal.

Any news on rebate?

^ of course not.... it's NY, they practically invented the word "procrastinate".
The $2,000 rebate will become law on 4/1 which is a Saturday... hopefully the dealers will have some info on in that next week at least

The dealer I go to was going to contact the dealer association to see if they have any info. No news as of yet.

I think one of the local dealers near me is already deducting the $2,000 rebate from the "internet pricing" on their website on Bolts.
I sent them an email to confirm... but no reply yet.


Another local dealer seems to have taken offense and written me off completely as a potential sale when I even mentioned the possibility of "any discounts off MSRP?" at his dealership on the Bolt... he started his email with "I appreciate the opportunity but..." and ended with "...Best of luck to you."

I think that is shorthand for "F U very much." Do you think they were more polite when they were trying to sell Chevy Citations?

^ Don't know... was the Citation $40K?

It's not like it's a $15k Kia, $40K is still a pretty decent chunk of change...

NYRob said:

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Another local dealer seems to have taken offense and written me off completely as a potential sale when I even mentioned the possibility of "any discounts off MSRP?" at his dealership on the Bolt... he started his email with "I appreciate the opportunity but..." and ended with "...Best of luck to you."

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This wasn't the Chevy dealer in Roslyn, was it?

jbakerjonathan said:

This wasn't the Chevy dealer in Roslyn, was it?

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No, it's out in eastern Suffolk past Riverhead.

For whatever reason, the east end dealers all have the same take-it-or-leave-it attitude when it comes to sales.
They low-ball your trade 20% below Blue Book, and charge MSRP for the new vehicle. I've bought quite a few vehicles from out of state dealers over the years because the Long Island dealers stick together like a pack of wolves regarding trade-in's and MSRP policies.

Some day they will realize there's something called the internet where consumers can shop with vendors from out of their local area

NYRob said:

No, it's out in eastern Suffolk past Riverhead.

For whatever reason, the east end dealers all have the same take-it-or-leave-it attitude when it comes to sales.
They low-ball your trade 20% below Blue Book, and charge MSRP for the new vehicle. I've bought quite a few vehicles from out of state dealers over the years because the Long Island dealers stick together like a pack of wolves regarding trade-in's and MSRP policies.

Some day they will realize there's something called the internet where consumers can shop with vendors from out of their local area

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That's not just an east coast phenomenon. That happens everywhere. There are plenty of people who get new car fever that they are willing to pay near MSRP and not do the work to shop around, I, on the other hand, got my last two vehicles knocking $10K and $23K off MSRP with deals of the decades. Jest haggle like a Ferengi and be willing to walk if you don't get the deal you want. What do you mean there aren't any more...that's what more means.....

llninja said:

... Jest haggle like a Ferengi and be willing to walk if you don't get the deal you want.....

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At this stage, I have no problem walking away from a bad situation.
I ended up getting my 2012 Prius 5 from PA because no NY dealer would sell that car without the $5K Advanced Tech package- that I didn't want. I literally stood up and walked out of the local Toyota dealership when the salesman just refused to even look at options to get the vehicle I wanted.

The good thing is, I have till the end of 2017 to purchase the Bolt (for tax reasons), I can wait till summer or even fall when the 2018 Bolts come out and they have to discount 2017 models.

llninja said:

...There are plenty of people who get new car fever that they are willing to pay near MSRP and not do the work to shop around.....

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You mean like that guy in NY who not only paid MSRP but knowingly passed up the $2,000 NY rebate because he "couldn't wait" two more weeks till April 1st to get his hands on his Bolt...

NYRob said:

No, it's out in eastern Suffolk past Riverhead.

For whatever reason, the east end dealers all have the same take-it-or-leave-it attitude when it comes to sales.
They low-ball your trade 20% below Blue Book, and charge MSRP for the new vehicle. I've bought quite a few vehicles from out of state dealers over the years because the Long Island dealers stick together like a pack of wolves regarding trade-in's and MSRP policies.

Some day they will realize there's something called the internet where consumers can shop with vendors from out of their local area

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I've been doing business with the one in Riverhead. I've never gone to the one on the South Fork. I've toyed with the idea of buying on the West Coast and driving back to LI. In fact, on my 2015 summer road trip in my new 2014, I made an appointment to visit Rydel in LA, but cancelled when I called ahead and determined that no 2016s were available at all.

My son was interested in leasing a 2016 and I brought him to Riverhead to speak with my salesman. Living in Lake Grove, he decided to shop in Huntington, too. He found that the price was significently lower and Riverhead wouldn't budge, thus losing the business to Huntington. I agree with your take on East End dealer attitudes toward horse-trading.

jbakerjonathan said:

I've been doing business with the one in Riverhead.

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Riverhead is where I took my Bolt test drive.
Once the other salesman informed us (yes- me and my salesman who had no clue) that the $2k NY rebate starts on 4/1/17 and would not be applied retroactively to any prior EV sales- my salesman pretty much couldn't get rid of me fast enough.. they all but pointed to the front of the building and held the showroom doors open for me.
They didn't even ask for my contact info...

Was the informed salesman by chance Michael R.?

jbakerjonathan said:

Was the informed salesman by chance Michael R.?

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Mike R. was the salesman who didn't even know there was a $2k NY rebate, he was surprised when the other (older gray/balding) salesman informed "us" that the rebate only started on 4/1/17 and would not be retroactive.

LOL. Michael is my friendly salesman.

jbakerjonathan said:

LOL. Michael is my friendly salesman.

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Yes, he was friendly and polite.... just not knowledgeable about the Bolt and it's features... nor the $2K Rebate... which is kind of a big thing if I had missed out on it due to his lack of information regarding the 4/1/17 start date.

He originally told me it's a tax credit like the $7,500 fed tax credit and that I have to claim it when doing my taxes next year, the other salesman overheard that and gave us the correct info on the rebate.

After the test drive, back at his desk- when we discussed price... he literally didn't know what they were doing with the Bolt pricing- so he called the sales mgr on speakerphone with me still sitting there and said "what are we doing on the Bolt pricing... MSRP right?"... the sales mgr replied "yeah, MSRP..." and hung up.

Very unprofessional for the two of them to discuss their pricing policy over speakerphone in front of a potential customer IMO...

I guess one of the reasons I like to do business with him is that I think that I can read him like a book - and I mean that in a kind sense. His lack of knowledge spurs me to find out the answers from more reliable sources, such as from this site. I measure his talk with what I already know or think I know. By continuing a quasi-relationship with him, I can better get the measure of the man and can better fine-tune my BS filter. I guess that may be why I stick with that dealer. That, and being only 12 miles from my house, which is a plus when my Volt needs service - a very, very infrequent event.

All of your observations are valid and they lost you as a potential customer as a result.

Lets not loose sight of that the start date is prior to 4/1/17 and April 1st is what they imply the program effective date will be. Time will tell if NYSERDA will have the program up and running any time soon. The lack of information the dealers have at this point is not encouraging.