No doubt this will be no surprise to anyone who has dealt with car dealers before, but an article in the business section of my newspaper, written by Tiffany Hsu of the
L A Times, reports that some GM car dealers have priced their new Volts more than $20K above the $41,000 list price of the vehicles. While, other dealers are selling the Volt as used and claiming the $7,500 tax credit for themselves and leaving the eventual buyer of the car ineligible for the credit.
As an example, Town & Country Chevrolet in Milwaukie (?), Oregon, is asking $51,999 for a 2011 Volt, "pre-owned" with less than 100 miles on the odometer. Another dealer in Glendale, CA, is asking $50K for a Volt with 50 miles on it. Glendale Hyundai has 4 "used" Volts, priced at $44,995, but the dealer is keeping the $7,500 Federal rebate.
Mark Modica, an investigator for the National Legal and Policy Center, said that dealerships are buying Volts from other dealers, claiming first title to the cars in order to qualify for the Federal tax incentive and then reselling the "used" vehicles at inflated prices. Mr. Modica reports that one Chicago Chevy dealer, planned to apply for the Federal credit after driving the car only 10 miles so as to make it "used".
GM expects to make 10,000 Volts this year and 45,000 Volts next year. Here's hoping that customers will not buy from these dealers and instead will purchase their Volts from a dealer who treats them fairly.
Anyone planning on overcharging us Empulse buyers?
