Considering option to purchase

[doyari]

Hi.

I have been a faithful rider of 2014 SparkEV (w/o fast charging) for almost three years (43K miles) now.

I had originally leased the vehicle and am now considering to buy it back.

My 1st question is: Do I still qualify for Federal Tax credit after three years if I chose to buy?
2nd question: What would be the reasonable price offer I can make to the owner (bank) of the vehicle?

Thanks.

 

[Cwhite]

Sorry to tell you that the leasing company already got the federal ($7500) tax credit when they bought the car that they then leased to you. I have not seen many used Sparks selling but seeing that new ones are going (locally here in Oregon) for under $20,000 (and if you buy you do get the $7500 back(if you owe that much in fed taxes)) I would think a used Spark would have to be well under $10K. But that is a total guess. I still have 2 years left on our lease but my wife loves Sparky so much I really think we may try to buy it at the end. The Bolt looks nice but we never use the 90 mile range we have now so I don't really want to spend the extra money for the extra range. Good luck

 

[SparkevBlogspot]

CWhite is right. you can't get tax credit on used EV. Check autotrader for new ones. Even in CA, I see some advertised for around $20K while OR and MD sometimes show as low as $16K. If you can take full tax credit, you could get new SparkEV with DCFC for under $10K, and certainly under $13K in most places. That is, assuming those advertisements aren't lies!

If I had to make an offer for 2014 without DCFC, depending on mileage, it'd be under $10K, maybe even under $8K depending on what new deals are available in the area. I doubt they'll bite, though.

 

[xylhim]

This is something that is always on my mind, especially as my lease ends next March.

The residual on my car is 16K- which is way more than I would consider spending for this car. Nissan Leaf's are well under 10K on the used car market, and that's where the Spark should stand as well. The three options I see keeping Spark:

A. Negotiate with the lease company for a lower buy-out. It states in the lease contract that this is possible. I would be very interested if anyone on this forum has begun this process and what luck they have had. Although I have a feeling the leasing company could care less how much the market value is- they'll make the dealer take the loss.

B. Return the vehicle, and then buy it back from the dealer. This would have the advantage that the dealer will sell it back closer to market value. The disadvantage is that I would end up paying for scratches/dings/bumps, before turning around and buying it back.

C. Don't get too attached to the exact car I have, and simply buy another Spark on the used car market (autotrader, craigslist, car auction house, etc.).

Honestly I hope to spend nothing more than 8K for the Spark by next March- with 200 mile cheap EVs on the market, that's the most they should really cost.