This really caught my eye today....a story on CNN and FOX NEWS about a free NEV because of the government tax rebate on some nevs. Is this for real? You get the entire purchase amount listed back as a tax credit? Course I would not get the shipping cost and since I'd want a different color there's a $100 charge for that, both these cost above and beyond the selling price. But that still would mean it would only cost me a few hundred dollars!
https://www.freeelectriccar.com/default.asp
Has anyone on here taken advantage of this deal? I'm not really looking for people's ramdom opinion...but would like to hear from someone who really knows if this is as presented. I'm very interested. It certainly seems valid according to the stories on FOX and CNN. But, you do have to purchase (not get delivery) by the end of this tax year (12/31) and really you're just buying a souped up (maybe) golf cart. But, boy how I'd like to get one of these and experiment with it. Any info that anyone has (please only verifiable info) on these would be greatly appreciated!
Gus
Gushar - your best bet is to check with a tax accountant. It will depend on whether the IRS will consider the NEV a "motor vehicle". It's the IRS definition that's important (not the DoT). For example this is why there had to be an amendment to cover 2-wheelers with a different rebate (10% rather than fixed dollar) - because the IRS (in their infinite wisdom) only consider 4 wheels and above in the relevant tax code.
If I were you I'd ask the company to put something in writing that they will give you a full refund if the rebate is refused.
good luck
John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.
Well, I understand but I've read more now...there's actually a link from the website to the irs site with the actual regulations, and the list of manufacturers and their specific vehicles which have received certification for the rebate...including the amount of the rebate. It is in fact totally legit and this specific vehicle for their selling price does have that rebate amount exactly. Their selling price is exactly the government's rebate amount for that particular model from that manufacturer. In fact, what they have done that probably most other NEV manufacturers haven't done is design their vehicle with enough "kilowatts at the wheel" or something like that...to get certification and the rebate amount up to the amount that matches what they can reduce the price to and still make a decent profit. And certainly doing that sells more of them since one is essentially getting them for "free." Now, the catch here is however that you can't get a tax rebate on taxes you haven't paid. So, as their example in the FAQ illustrates, if you for example paid in $10,000 taxes in the year and say got back normally $2000...then you still paid $8000 more in taxes that you didn't get back...your tax "liability." Therefore, if you pay the $6500 (approx.) selling price of this vehicle then you will get that back from the remaining $8000 you paid as the rebate. So, your tax liability would have to be at least the selling price. Anyway, for a vast amount of people, they pay in enough taxes that they will not only get some kind of refund but the remaining money they don't get back (their actual taxes paid liability) will be a large enough sum so that they do get the entire amount of the vehicle cost beyond even their normal refund. So it is absolutely legit and what a deal for alot of people. But as well you have to get the MCO and get titled or whatever your state requires by December 31. You don't have to have delivery by then...just that the vehicle is titled to you.
Great deal any way you look at it!
Gushar
Gus
Well, dang, I was looking for that electric boat post, leading to my finding this. I decided to do a post mortem on the offering and. . .OOOOOPS!
First I found an OPINION on the offering and the owner of the company, Colin Reilly, which started with "Buyers Beware is the term used when a company or individual is selling a questionable product or service where the details and sketchy or their history is likely to repeat itself." (That's a cut and past of the grammar problem.) The history referred to is over a "Settlement" with the State of Arizona regarding his time in real estate in recent years without charges being filed. So he set up a website on avoiding real estate fraud claims. NOT avoiding real estate fraud, just avoiding the claims. It includes the statement "Colin’s best practices clearly made a difference with maintaining his innocence under Arizona law."
So just to drive Reikiman crazy, let's point out that the link (Now dead) shifted from "Free electric car" to "Free golf kart" (Online, noone can hear you scream.) As I'm sure he'd point out (Choking as he did) if I didn't beat him to it, golf karts aren't going to encourage people to go electric.
Meanwhile, others have said the only thing that made his golf karts eligible for the program was that they have a 17 digit VIN number. That meant at the very least he was required to have a dealers license to sell these golf karts. It is said he did not. Making the buyer ineligible for the rebate. Bureaucracy being what it is, who knows? Maybe people got their rebates. There might not be any lawsuits regarding this.
And not only was he quick to brag about his appearances on TV, he even gave the link for a Cato Institute news report where they questioned his offering to take economic stimulus money intended to encourage people to switch to an electric car and instead give them something that won't fill that role. http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=7166375 (I couldn't get it to play, but that's not unusual for my computer lately.) Without actually seeing that video, I agree with that sentiment.
So I'm getting the idea that a shady history did indeed repeat itself. There's felonies, there's misdemeanors, then there's infractions. It would seem we're taking about a guy who feels that on a scale of 1 to 10 his wrongdoing is a low number, therefore acceptable. I can't go along with that.
So you consider that the people who'll simply have $6-8k to spend for one of his golf karts will be in an income bracket to allow for the full rebate, I'm sure he was marketing to the right crowd. But nobody wanted to see the upper middle class and above have the government buying them golf karts. That certainly was never the intead of the rebate.
And I rather expect that in the next 24 hours after I make this post there'll be a response to it defending his actions, which is what was happening in 2009 when his offering was discussed online.
I always say if you have to EXPLAIN why it's actually in fact okay, it is in fact NOT OKAY. But I'm sure he'll have an answer for that too.
WHo dares, WINS!!!!
From my reading you have to get the vehicle registered/titled by 12/31. Huge difference.
To me there are many reasons not to do this:
"we must be the change we wish to see in the world"
Yeah, "Ethically dubious" is the phrase I wish I could have come up with as I wrote my comment. Some things are graphically, unquestionably wrong: others you can just tell are supposed to be wrong.
In California your dealers usually have a licensed DMV person who I guess gets a rubber stamp on paperworh they bring in. There's a 17 digit ViN, must be right. These places handling the Chinese vhicles usually don't have one of those, so the nonCARB approved engines head out the door with the approved engines and often never do get registered whether they're eligible or not.
The good news is it's no longer an issue, it ended last year. I really am curious now many were sold on this basis and how many checks were issued. I never found any discussion of that aspect of his business. But this guys website said he only had 5 complaints in his RE business although he reached a settlement on over 100 thru the Attorney General of Arizona. Dubious ethics are a part of his life. If there's a new development with electric cars, he might be back trying to cash in. . . .
WHo dares, WINS!!!!