I purchased my 2018 plug in about 30 months ago. I have essentially a no-interest finance charge of $518/mo and have 30 more payments to make. The dealer has offered to trade back the 2018 car for a 2021 model and to give me a new 60 mo finance charge of $500/mo. Another way of looking at this is that it will cost me another $15K to own the newer car. My questions are: is this a good deal? Can I get new rebates from California and Fed? From what I can see the CA rebate is still $1000 and the Fed rebate is $7500. If this were possible it would be an absolute no-brainer.
My dealer in St. Louis is offering a similar deal. I am sure they don't have a 2021 either. Probably a bait and switch ruse.
Why not just buy a second one for spare parts? I was recently quoted $22K for a 16kWh lithium battery backup for the house. I could buy an entire car with a 17kWh battery for roughly the same net cost. It even has a built in generator to recharge the batteries.
In a mail solicitation from my local Honda dealer this week, I was offered a trade-in value of $23,500+, for my 2018 Clarity, plus another $5445 toward a new Honda. I’d leased my 2018 ($315/mo for three years and 45k miles) but , in February, I turned it in and bought a 2021 Clarity. The residual value, had I purchased my 2018, at the end of my lease in April, was about $16,700. This means if I had held on to the car I could’ve sold it back to Honda, for a tidy profit. Anyone else receive an offer like this? Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
