Posted on 05/07/2014 9:16:24 AM PDT by ctdonath2
YOU get the $5000 GA tax credit. The buyer (dealer if leasing, you if buying outright) gets the $7500 federal tax credit.
Only catch there is cash flow: you must put up the money, then get the tax credit/rebate over time (which may be years depending on your tax liability).
My limited understanding of hybrid cars is that they significantly improve city mileage, while reducing mileage slightly on the road. So whether they save you gas or not is pretty much dependent on where and how you drive.
After all credits & rebates & gas savings & insurance changes, I come out about $0. It’s free.
While this would be a poor choice for those with a large family, a long commute, cold weather climate, or a dislike of little cars, it is obviously a good choice for someone in your situation.
It is impossible not to get some form of reward and/or benefit from the federal government, or to avoid patronizing businesses that win competitions with other businesses by integrating government costs and subsidies into the calculus. Even Ayn Rand thought it was acceptable to get some of your money back in this manner.
Over time, fiat money and fiat spending and fiat Quantitative Expansion X and mandatory insurance coverages makes the cost of almost everything only tangentially correlate with the actual cost.
I’m glad you got a car you like at a good deal. I don’t begrudge you that any more than those who certainly didn’t pay in for Medicare Prescriptions and get them anyway.
For those who buy cars that are taxed extra (e.g. Dodge Vipers, and other cars with guzzler taxes), you are the ones feeding the beast. It is wrong, but you are feeding the regulators and the life controllers.
I’ve heard that if a Leaf crashes into a Volt it will cause a nuclear explosion.
I’m getting my tax money back. Don’t think I haven’t put far more into the system than I’m getting out.
Given the system is there in the form that it is, I have no qualms about fairly using it to my advantage. I’ve basically undone confiscation of my own money for a while. I needed a car anyway, what with a ‘98 POS which would cost at least as much in repairs, or far more in replacement, than the Leaf would cost me without any rebates.
As for “evil environmentalism”, being conservative doesn’t mean deliberately trashing the planet. I’m all for being early adopter in lots of high technologies. Insofar as my Leaf may “save the planet”, great. Electric cars are cool.
The rebate program arguably screws up “supply and demand” in the EV market. I may prefer such programs not exist, but as it does and it otherwise works in my favor for improving the evil of confiscation & redistribution, this is the best path I have.
As lots of people are discovering the rebates amount to “free car”, and Georgia is starting to see serious revenue loss in the face of a depleted road maintenance funds, methinks the rebates will be repealed - which is already being attempted.
4 very conservative people in my company of 30 have gone for it, maybe more to come. Given realities, it’s a sensible conservative move.
Oh, I knew this would be fun when I posted.
LOL, prolly not!
Around 80 miles. Great for my normal driving, YMMV.
You just plug it in a normal outlet.
Oh, I’ve paid for it. Just getting my own money back.
Rarely freezes in GA, and just a bit below at that.
Manual warns against parking it at -25 for a week; no danger of that here.
Acceleration is amazing.
Given realities, it’s a sensible conservative move.
I wouldn't pay too much attention to the peanut gallery. They will slam you for "taking their money" while they all claim various deductions & credits on their state & local taxes for dependents, home ownership, charity, etc. Hypocrites.
Burning Kentucky coal thru a high efficiency filter is better than what my prior car was belching on its own.
Whether they save you money or not depends on how many miles you drive and how much extra it costs.
Say I save 10 mpg. Say I drive 5000 miles/year. Let’s use 40 mpg for the hybrid.
5000 miles /40 miles/gallon = 125 gallons/year.
At 30 mpg for regular car:
5000 miles/30 = 167 gallons/year
Gallons saved per year = 42 gallons
Say gas = $4/gal
42 gallons * $4/gal = $168/yr
If you drive 5000 miles/yr you will save $168/yr.
In 5 years (average car loan) you will save $840. If you drive 10,000 miles/yr you will save $1680.
If the cost differential of a hybrid versus the regular car is more than that, then it doesn’t save you anything.
GA’s $5k credit can be carried over. I’m basically not paying GA income tax for the next few years as a result.
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