How Much I Paid for My Bolt

[bluebolt]

Location: Chevy dealership in greater Boston, Massachusetts. (Although I was satisfied with the price, the dealership experience was not stellar, and so I'll omit their name.)

Purchase date: first half of September 2017

Specs:
- Bolt Premier
- Infotainment package
- Driver confidence package
- DC fast charge
- No higher-cost color
- No OnStar

Deal parameters:
- MA Drive Green (http://www.massenergy.org/drivegreen)
- 3-year lease
- 15k miles per year
- 2 maintenance visits included
- GAP insurance included
- US federal $7,500 incentive goes to lease provider, and so is folded into monthly payments

Pricing (monthly payments are fuzzed into a range for anonymity):
- $200 net down payment (expected), including first monthly payment

• Debits
  • - $2,500 paid upfront to dealer
    - $450 doc, registration, title, license, sticker
  Credits
  • - Expected rebate from MA state government of $2,500 in several weeks (keeping my fingers crossed!)
    - $250 conquest lease

- $315-$319 monthly payment for 35 months

• - $295-$299/month for 15k miles (I could alternately have selected $265-$269/month for 12k, or $255-$259/month for 10k)
  - Tax at 6.5%

- $395 disposition fee
- $0 acquisition fee (ordinarily this is $595 but the dealer folded it into the monthly payments)

Total cost of ownership: around $11,700 for 3-year lease = around $3,900 per year (not including at-home charging station)

My price approach and negotiation was helped by the posts on this forum, and so I hope that this post is helpful to others in turn.

 

[Anonymous]

Pretty solid deal I feel, love the car just looking for a solution with the drivers side seat being uncomfortable.

There is a fix for the seat bottom. The seat back remains an issue to be resolved.

No doubt, the seats are awful!!! I spent about a week negotiating a lease deal with a few local Orange County and LA Chevy dealers. Simspson Chevrolet in Irvine was offering the best numbers. I went to my local dealer with the intention of leasing a premier. However, after sitting in the car for about 15 minutes I could not tolerate the narrow seats. I found the seat backs more of a problem than the seat bottoms. Both the leather and cloth seats were uncomfortable. I am 5'7" and weight 158 lbs.

The lease numbers are as follows:

White Premier, MSRP of $43515,12k per year, $1182 due at signing, $340 per month including OC taxes.

The LT model with a MSRP of $39588 with dc fast charging and same mileage would cost $277 per month including OC taxes.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Location: Chevy dealership in greater Boston, Massachusetts. (Although I was satisfied with the price, the dealership experience was not stellar, and so I'll omit their name.)

Purchase date: first half of September 2017

Specs:
- Bolt Premier
- Infotainment package
- Driver confidence package
- DC fast charge
- No higher-cost color
- No OnStar

Deal parameters:
- MA Drive Green (http://www.massenergy.org/drivegreen)
- 3-year lease
- 15k miles per year
- 2 maintenance visits included
- GAP insurance included
- US federal $7,500 incentive goes to lease provider, and so is folded into monthly payments

Pricing (monthly payments are fuzzed into a range for anonymity):
- $200 net down payment (expected), including first monthly payment

• Debits
  • - $2,500 paid upfront to dealer
    - $450 doc, registration, title, license, sticker
  Credits
  • - Expected rebate from MA state government of $2,500 in several weeks (keeping my fingers crossed!)
    - $250 conquest lease

- $315-$319 monthly payment for 35 months

• - $295-$299/month for 15k miles (I could alternately have selected $265-$269/month for 12k, or $255-$259/month for 10k)
  - Tax at 6.5%

- $395 disposition fee
- $0 acquisition fee (ordinarily this is $595 but the dealer folded it into the monthly payments)

Total cost of ownership: around $11,700 for 3-year lease = around $3,900 per year (not including at-home charging station)

My price approach and negotiation was helped by the posts on this forum, and so I hope that this post is helpful to others in turn.

Hardly any dealer experience is stellar, so c'mon, was it Quirk? Muzi? I'm in the market so I could really use some feedback. What didn't you like?

Also, no comfort package? Or did you just miss that?

Your numbers don't look bad at all. How's it feel? Seats ok?

 

[bluebolt]

No comfort package is offered for the Bolt Premier.

Between the two dealerships you mentioned, I consider Muzi employees overall to have better knowledge of the electric vehicle market than Quirk employees. But your mileage may vary quite a bit depending on who you encounter. In any case, no matter how well they know the product, I sadly suspect that no one at any Chevy dealership will go out of their way to ensure that you get a great price and that you walk away feeling like you got a great deal. Chevy personnel are perfectly nice people, but GM incentivizes them to pursue short-term, quick wins, regardless of the long-term consequences.

The Bolt is an astonishing technical success, a true harbinger of the future, trapped like a mosquito in the rusty amber of GM's long-faded sales-and-service model. This mismatch is exemplified by the single-page "maintenance plan" that comes with the car, describing how and when the fully-electric car should get oil changes, down to the type of oil. So much for attention to detail.

I hope that GM can rejuvenate their sales and service approach to support this marvelous car before their technical lead narrows.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

A Jurassic car? Love it. Inverted poetry.

It can be a drag at any dealership, but at least Quirk has a lot on the lot to look at, maybe find the one with the best seat.

Sorry, forgot comfort package items were standard on the premier.

 

[LeftieBiker]

- US federal $7,500 incentive goes to lease provider, and so is folded into monthly payments

No. GMAC keeps $5000 of the Federal credit, gives $2500 as consumer lease credit, and if you buy the car off lease, charges another $5000 extra on the residual. Why? Because they can.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

But if you don't buy it, it doesn't matter, the raised residual still reduces your payments.

 

[LeftieBiker]

But if you don't buy it, it doesn't matter, the raised residual still reduces your payments.

Yes, by about $300 total, as estimated by one of the proponents of GM raising the residual a while back. So GM has to give up little in typical leasing situations, but EV drivers who can't collect the tax credit for buying, and who hope to lease and then buy, get hit hard - twice.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Twice? No hit while leasing, just if you buy at the end. Probably will just assure that no one buys.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

But if you don't buy it, it doesn't matter, the raised residual still reduces your payments.

Yes, by about $300 total, as estimated by one of the proponents of GM raising the residual a while back. So GM has to give up little in typical leasing situations, but EV drivers who can't collect the tax credit for buying, and who hope to lease and then buy, get hit hard - twice.

You're still not understanding how GM applies this $5k. They apply it to the residual. If you lease and return, it saves you $5000. Plus you don't have to pay interest on that $5000, so it really saves you $5300.

If you lease and buy for the stated residual, then you get hit once for the $5k, while having saved $300 in interest, so $4700. Of course if you finance, you'll still be paying interest on the $5k, so it's not saved - just moved.

I don't like GM's structure any more than you do. Mostly because I hope to lease and then buy in order to claim the full credit. The way they structured it, they are strongly encouraging people to jump into a new lease, in a perpetual leasing cycle. That, or you have to actually negotiate with GM in order to convince them to give you the $5k off the buyout price. I don't know how successful others have been with the Volt. I wouldn't want to put myself in that situation.

 

[Anonymous]

Purchased a Bolt LT from FH Dailey Chevrolet in San Leandro CA in early September. (But not Labor Day weekend.)

Comfort and convenience package and DC fast charger options. $35k before taxes etc.

Worked with internet sales and had offers from a few Bay Area dealers as well as credit union service and GMS pricing. This was the best I found.

Fun car! Thanks to this forum for giving me a sense of what others have paid, which was helpful in negotiating.

 

[bluebolt]

My understanding of how GM applies the $7,500 federal incentive to the Bolt lease agrees with what GetOffYourGas posted. In other words,

- $2,500 is applied directly to the capitalized cost
- $5,000 is used to inflate the residual value

Now, I might be wrong about any or all of the above. But I hope that I'm right, because this structure favors exactly what I want.

I do not intend to buy the Bolt at the end of the lease (because I assume it will be obsoleted by next-gen EVs). So the higher the residual value, the lower the monthly payments, and the better for me. I am fine paying a bit of interest on the higher residual value in return.

If I am propelled into a "perpetual leasing cycle", great! That is also exactly what I want. I've owned several cars in the past, and I don't want to own cars any more -- only lease them.

Overall I think that GM's lease structure aligns well with my goals (assuming that my understanding above is correct).

 

[LeftieBiker]

You're still not understanding how GM applies this $5k. They apply it to the residual. If you lease and return, it saves you $5000. Plus you don't have to pay interest on that $5000, so it really saves you $5300.

If you lease and return, it saves you about $300, and gives GM $4700. I don't see a reality here in which GMAC keeping $5k of the tax credit saves the lessee that same $5k. I think you're confusing that $300 saved with somehow having the whole lease discounted by $5k. That is what would happen only if GMAC applied the $5k to the down payment, as NMAC does, instead of keeping it and raising the residual.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

You're still not understanding how GM applies this $5k. They apply it to the residual. If you lease and return, it saves you $5000. Plus you don't have to pay interest on that $5000, so it really saves you $5300.

If you lease and return, it saves you about $300, and gives GM $4700. I don't see a reality here in which GMAC keeping $5k of the tax credit saves the lessee that same $5k. I think you're confusing that $300 saved with somehow having the whole lease discounted by $5k. That is what would happen only if GMAC applied the $5k to the down payment, as NMAC does, instead of keeping it and raising the residual.

The lease being discounted by $5k is exactly what happens when GM inflates the residual by the like amount. On a lease, you pay the purchase price - residual, plus interest on the difference. So a $5k higher residual results in $5k less payments by you, the leasor. The $300 you keep quoting is the extra interest you are not paying on the borrowed amount. So yes, you save $5300 if you lease + return compared to if GM simply kept the money as you claim.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

+1^, yes, that^

 

[GernBlanston]

Purchased our LT with every available option, including the false floor in the trunk, for $3,000
under MSRP. Evergreen Chevrolet in Issaquah was advertising $3,500 under MSRP for their LTs
and $4,000 under MSRP for Premiers at the time, so we told the local dealer that we didn't really
want to drive to Issaquah to buy a car, but that we gladly would for 3 grand. Done deal.

 

[LeftieBiker]

You're still not understanding how GM applies this $5k. They apply it to the residual. If you lease and return, it saves you $5000. Plus you don't have to pay interest on that $5000, so it really saves you $5300.

If you lease and return, it saves you about $300, and gives GM $4700. I don't see a reality here in which GMAC keeping $5k of the tax credit saves the lessee that same $5k. I think you're confusing that $300 saved with somehow having the whole lease discounted by $5k. That is what would happen only if GMAC applied the $5k to the down payment, as NMAC does, instead of keeping it and raising the residual.

The lease being discounted by $5k is exactly what happens when GM inflates the residual by the like amount. On a lease, you pay the purchase price - residual, plus interest on the difference. So a $5k higher residual results in $5k less payments by you, the leasor. The $300 you keep quoting is the extra interest you are not paying on the borrowed amount. So yes, you save $5300 if you lease + return compared to if GM simply kept the money as you claim.

There is just one problem with this argument: it confuses "inflates" with "raises." The inflated residual is generally agreed to be more than the car is actually worth, so it isn't a "savings" in any rational sense, because GMAC has also pocketed $5k in return for doing it. You can always raise the residual in a lease deal, and the lessee will get lower payments, at no cost other than it being more expensive to buy the car. I know this because this is exactly the kind of deal that I got with my 2013 Leaf: $149 a month payments and a $23k residual. So why was my deal so good? Because NMAC also applied the full $7500 tax credit to the CCR. We wouldn't be having this seemingly endless argument if GM were simply passing on all or most of the tax credit, and also raising the residual. Instead, we having people lining up to defend GM (although that line has gotten smaller lately) by trying to say that taking $5k up front and then charging another $5k for purchase is good for the lessee. GMAC is relying on people to keep repeating their spurious line on this, and in large part it's working. There really is one born every minute, I guess...

 

[DucRider]

You can always raise the residual in a lease deal, and the lessee will get lower payments, at no cost other than it being more expensive to buy the car.

I think we've discovered the root of the problem.
You truly believe that a finance company can raise the residual to any amount they want with no financial consequences to them?

You are familiar with Nissan offering thousand of dollars off the agreed upon residual price to entice people to purchase them. And they still have thousand of returned cars to sell at auction? Nope, no cost to them at all :roll:

When they raise the residual, they get LESS money.

The inflated residual is generally agreed to be more than the car is actually worth, so it isn't a "savings" in any rational sense, because GMAC has also pocketed $5k in return for doing it.

If they raise the residual by $5K, they get $5K less in "rent" on the lease. Even if 25% of lessees purchased for above market value (highly unlikely) they would only see $1,250 of that back. The higher the residual is above market value, the lower the percentage of conversions to a sale without a substantial cash incentive.

A lease is not a purchase contract, no matter how desperately you want it to be. It is a means to "rent" (the actual terminology in the lease documents) a vehicle for relatively low monthly payments.

And I'm not defending GM Financial. I think it is a BIG mistake to structure the lease the way they do. Not because they are ripping people off, but because they will be in the same boat as Nissan and have to offer a huge discount at lease end or have to liquidate returned lease vehicles at auction. Either avenue is very likely going to cost them much more than the $5K they "pocketed".

Let's look at your current LEAF.
$149/mo x 36 months = $5,364
Add in the $7,500 tax credit and they will net $12,864.
You are obviously NOT going to purchase it for $23K, so they will sell it at auction for ~$8K (if they are lucky). But they are not "screwing you" because they showed the $7,500 as a CCR? Would you feel any different if they showed $2,500 as a CCR and a $28K residual? Would they "pocket" that extra $5K? Or would their bottom line be the same?
They will get <$21K in total for the car either way, but since you have no intentions of purchasing at lease end, you don't care what the residual is. You only care that the monthly payment is $149 (and it made you happy to see the $7500 as a CCR).

GM Financial is not screwing you any more than NFS did. In order to get the benefits of an artificially low payment, you have to be willing to return the car at lease end. Either they will offer it to you at a lower price than the residual in the contract, or they own the car (and have to sell it for wholesale value).

 

[LeftieBiker]

I was indeed perfectly willing to return the car at lease end. Thanks to lease extensions I haven't yet had to do that. Instead I've saved a huge amount in payments over the 4+ years I've driven the car.

I think we've discovered the root of the problem.
You truly believe that a finance company can raise the residual to any amount they want with no financial consequences to them?

This is my biggest problem with you. I wrote no such thing, so stop with the strawman arguments. My point was that raising the residual is not somehow linked to keeping part of the tax credit - they are separate acts. When you folks stop acting as if raising the residual is a great thing even when GMAC pockets $5k of the tax credit, I'll stop calling you on it.

 

[DucRider]

I was indeed perfectly willing to return the car at lease end. Thanks to lease extensions I haven't yet had to do that. Instead I've saved a huge amount in payments over the 4+ years I've driven the car.

I think we've discovered the root of the problem.
You truly believe that a finance company can raise the residual to any amount they want with no financial consequences to them?

This is my biggest problem with you. I wrote no such thing, so stop with the strawman arguments. My point was that raising the residual is not somehow linked to keeping part of the tax credit - they are separate acts. When you folks stop acting as if raising the residual is a great thing even when GMAC pockets $5k of the tax credit, I'll stop calling you on it.

They CAN be independent acts, but raising the residual costs them that same amount of $ off their bottom line. They can offset it with part of the tax credit, or take it as a delayed reduction in the selling price of the car.
If your residual on your current lease was $28K and they only showed a $2,500 CCR, would you care?

You are free to go to a 3rd party leasing company that will give you the $7500 as a CCR and assign a residual in the 30% range. Youy payments will likely be $500+/mo, but you will get the full benefit of the tax credit and be able to purchase the car for something close to market value at lease end.

If you want the lower monthly payments, remember TANSTAAFL.