$2500 Ca rebate - lease/finance vs pay all in cash

[ubringliten]

Hello,

I have a couple of questions and I would appreciate your comments. I am deciding on whether to buy or lease and I feel like the dealership is convincing me to lease instead of purchase. I would like to pay all in cash and they said that the $2500 rebate doesn't apply if I was to pay all in cash, but it would apply to financing. Is this true? I read on the rebate website (https://cleanvehiclerebate.org/eng), and there's no mention of it.

2nd question I have is whether this 30 months lease of $456 a month is a good deal or not, based on $43553 (including Fed/State credits, taxes and fees). This $456 also includes a one payment lease to save on the interest rate.

i3 BEV
white
Tera World
20" wheels
Navigation/Technology package
Parking Assistance package
Harmon Kardon speakers

Thanks!

 

[i3Alan]

I am deciding on whether to buy or lease and I feel like the dealership is convincing me to lease instead of purchase. I would like to pay all in cash and they said that the $2500 rebate doesn't apply if I was to pay all in cash, but it would apply to financing. Is this true? I read on the rebate website (https://cleanvehiclerebate.org/eng), and there's no mention of it.

There are various rebates, including a federal tax rebate. The fed tax rebate is applicable to cash, loan, and OC plans, but not to leases. The leaser gets the rebate and BMW will pass some of that rebate on to the leasee as an additional rebate. Car dealers sometimes tie a rebate to a lease or loan deal, and this $2500 may be such a case. Car dealers also lie a lot, so be very skeptical and look at the paperwork to see if it really is so tied. If you can get the rebate on a loan or lease, but not for cash, then just make your down payment for 90% and take the loan (with the rebate), and then pay off the loan with the first payment (or as early as allowed). I'm guessing that the $2500 lease-only deal is the dealer keeping some of the tax rebate for himself and not passing on the entire amount rebated by BMW, which I believe is about $6000 of the $7500 you can get from a non-lease purchase. You should get ALL of that rebate. There are often multiple rebates available, so pry to make sure the dealer is not pocketing some of the factory rebates for his own profit.

 

[jmatero]

With regard to the Federal $7500:
For purchase (cash or finance) and Owners Choice you get get $7500.
For leases, BMW collects the $7500 but only passes on $4875 as a "lease credit" (they keep the rest)

With regard to the California $2500:
Doesn't matter if you buy/finance/lease. You must retain ownership for a minimum of 30 months.
If you lease, the term must be minimum 30 months.

 

[i3atl]

With regard to the Federal $7500:
For purchase (cash or finance) and Owners Choice you get get $7500.
For leases, BMW collects the $7500 but only passes on $4875 as a "lease credit" (they keep the rest)

With regard to the California $2500:
Doesn't matter if you buy/finance/lease. You must retain ownership for a minimum of 30 months.
If you lease, the term must be minimum 30 months.

For 2015 leases BMW passes on the full $7500.

 

[ubringliten]

Thank you all for your replies.

My dealership in Berkeley says that I need to finance a minimum of 30 mos. and a minimum of $7000 to get the CA $2500 rebate.

How does CA program knows that you have the car for 30 mos if I pay in full to the dealership?

 

[gte355u124]

From nearly all the math calcs and discussion with BMW, they (bmw) are basically telling you to lease--i.e. 90% of arguments favor a lease over outright purchase. The depreciation is a huge unknown on these, but looks to be quite massive given 3 year old leafs are worth 30-35% of their value! that's insane. I've also seen barely used $50k new i3s going for $30k with only 1000 miles on them. If you are going to buy, go to the used market. If this were 4 years into the first generation, sure, go ahead and buy new, but the unknown unknowns are too overwhelming in my (and it seems many other members) opinion. Regardless of where the tax credit is going, because of these credits in the end as a consumer you will benefit significantly.

 

[ubringliten]

For what it's worth, you don't have to finance to receive the rebate. I got confirmation from CVRP.

Dear Chris,

Thank you for your email. You do not have to finance the vehicle to be eligible for the rebate. If you agree to the terms and conditions of the rebate, you agree to own and operate the vehicle in California for 30 consecutive months from the date of purchase.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Best Regards,

Jenea Shegog
Project Associate
Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP)

Center for Sustainable Energy®
9325 Sky Park Court, Suite 100
San Diego, CA 92123
Phone: (866) 984-2532
cleanvehiclerebate.org
www.energycenter.org

 

[coreperformance]

If you are going to buy, go to the used market.

Absolutely. That's what I did. No tax credits, but I only paid $31k for a loaded bev. CPO, so I have the original warranty plus a 2 year extension.

 

[dirtboy]

The reason I leased (CA, 36 mo, BEV) was because it is reasonable that BMW or another manufacturer will have a BEV with much better range than the existing EVs. If I buy it, I am potentially stuck with something that will significantly drop in value since range is one of the largest factors for EV buyers. Leasing is my protection against that; plus I can always buy out the lease if I am so inclined. Since used BEVs are selling for less than my lease end buyout, it validates my decision.

 

[steveg]

I live in the Bay Area and I DO NOT LIKE THE BMW dealership in Berkeley!

They seem just too slimy. If you look at their lease ads, they all include both the "just graduated" discount and the "super awesome credit rating" discount.

In other words, the lease prices apply to NO ONE!

I'm not surprised, at all, they told this. Either because they're slimy or because the sales person simply does not know what he/she is doing with regards to eV's. My guess is the latter.

Either way, it's the fault of the dealership and the folks who run it.

Keep looking...somewhere else.