Opinions on the best value in a used EV

[Hersbird]

I saw a $21,000 Bolt on Seattle Craigslist but it has an amazing 83,800 miles on a 2 year old electric car. That is an amazing 114 miles a day, 356 days a year, for 2 years. Not that I think $21,000 is a good deal, but think that's pretty hard core electric miles. If that dude had a solar array to charge it, he saved $7000 in gas with a similar car in Seattle traffic. Then again solar in Seattle may not be that great LOL!
https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/c...942351504.html

[redpoint5]

I'd rather be dead than attempt to put in 114 miles per day in Seattle. Probably takes 12 hrs to put in that distance there, if you wake up early enough. I once spent 90 minutes trying to get onto I-5 South.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

I saw a $21,000 Bolt on Seattle Craigslist but it has an amazing 83,800 miles on a 2 year old electric car....

When I looked in March you could buy a new Bolt for $20 - $22K after rebates and tax credits.

[redpoint5]

Which is a crazy high price with reports of people getting new Bolts for something like $25k before any incentives. With $3650 federal, and Oregon's $5k subsidies, we might be able to get a new Bolt for like $17k all said and done...

Which reminds me that I need to look into this before the next federal tax incentive decrease.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Which is a crazy high price with reports of people getting new Bolts for something like $25k before any incentives. With $3650 federal, and Oregon's $5k subsidies, we might be able to get a new Bolt for like $17k all said and done...

Which reminds me that I need to look into this before the next federal tax incentive decrease.

Right now the cheapest Bolt on my local dealer's website is $27,290. You can get another $1000 if you are a current GM leasee.

My figure didn't include the $2500 low income Oregon credit as it seemed very unlikely that someone could slide under the income cap AND pay $7500 in federal income tax. Now with the credit halved and GM making up the difference with a $3750 rebate it could be possible.

Which then begs the question - how do people expect to sell used Bolts for $20K?

[Hersbird]

Used Bolts with 80k on them no less. In a 2 year old gas car it shouldn't have more than 30k on it so 50k over mileage is at least a $5000 hit on resale. I would expect high mileage is even a bigger hit on electric but maybe not. I also didn't realize there are that many tax incentives. Personally I wouldn't get more than about $3500 federal and zero from any state or local so a Bolt is over $30,000 new for me.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Used Bolts with 80k on them no less. In a 2 year old gas car it shouldn't have more than 30k on it so 50k over mileage is at least a $5000 hit on resale. I would expect high mileage is even a bigger hit on electric but maybe not. I also didn't realize there are that many tax incentives. Personally I wouldn't get more than about $3500 federal and zero from any state or local so a Bolt is over $30,000 new for me.

$30K is way too much even without any Federal or State incentive.

This is only GM discounts taking the price from $39,790 MSRP down to $27,790

https://www.brucechevrolet.com/Vehic...-OR/3275620213

Maybe another $1000 of if the GM financing discount can be combined with the $3750.

[redpoint5]

Only the uninitiated are paying MSRP on the Bolt. Many people report paying well under that.

https://www.chevybolt.org/forum/55-2...elow-msrp.html

You can also convert traditional IRAs to a Roth to bump up taxable income for the year to have enough tax liability to get the full federal credit. Essentially you avoid paying tax on the front or back-end of that portion of retirement savings. That's how I had figured to take advantage of both the federal tax credit and the modest income credit from Oregon.

EVs probably don't depreciate as much due to mileage as their ICE counterpart, but depreciate faster than average due to age. I'd have no problem buying an EV with 80k on the odometer; my only problem is that people want too close to what you can get them new.

[Snax]

Originally Posted by JSH

Right now the cheapest Bolt on my local dealer's website is $27,290. You can get another $1000 if you are a current GM leasee.

My figure didn't include the $2500 low income Oregon credit as it seemed very unlikely that someone could slide under the income cap AND pay $7500 in federal income tax. Now with the credit halved and GM making up the difference with a $3750 rebate it could be possible.

Which then begs the question - how do people expect to sell used Bolts for $20K?

I have a mortgage on a $360k home and still ended up taking the standard deduction this last year. The current tax credit structure is a joke. My bet is that most people buying with that in mind failed to do the math on it.

We only got half the credit back when the Escape Hybrid was introduced. Nothing has changed aside from the DEQ credit - which I am eligible for as a single father with 3 dependents - barely!

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

You can also convert traditional IRAs to a Roth to bump up taxable income for the year to have enough tax liability to get the full federal credit. Essentially you avoid paying tax on the front or back-end of that portion of retirement savings. That's how I had figured to take advantage of both the federal tax credit and the modest income credit from Oregon.

You could but it is still tricky to get the full $7500. The income cap for a couple living in the Portland Metro is 88,603. If that couple took nothing but standard deductions they would pay $7374 in federal taxes. You could likely do it as a single person with no deductions.

Also the Portland Metro has the highest cap. Live in Bend and that couple can only make $77112. Live in Medford you can only make $65,318. The cap is 120% of the median income in your metro