I have yet to find any dealership where the EV specialist knows anything about EVs and isn’t an asshole. I’ve been browsing cars for over a month now, and 99% of car dealers have one of two things:
- A guy that knows nothing about EVs, but thinks he does.
- A guy that knows things about EVs, but will outright lie to you.
Sometimes this applies to the car itself - sure, it’s got the preheat. Oh you want it in writing? Okay it doesn’t have the preheat, I admit it.
More often this applies to the tax rebates. Hyundai dealers in Connecticut were illegally applying the state and federal EV credit to cars above 50k MSRP, and when called out on it are just like “c’mon, you’ll get it.” Like dude, you’re ASKING me to defraud the IRS?
Today, I dealt with these assclowns: 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E Select (autohausinc.com)
“Qualifies for up to $7500 in tax credits.”
No, it doesn’t. The used EV credit is for 25k and below. This is 27.5. It will not get a dollar. I talked to them about this… and got willful denial every step of the way, to the point that I showed them the IRS policy, pointed out the exact wording, and told them no one on earth would be eligible for it, to which they kept telling me “not all buyers are qualified.” I’m like, no one can get a dollar back from the government for that car. Take that off your website.
The response? " Without an application we cannot answer if you will personally qualify, but we know for a fact there are credits available for our car. I apologize if you feel mislead."
I’m just so frustrated. It shouldn’t be this hard to find a worthwhile used EV under 25k or a new EV under 50k, but everywhere in Connecticut it seems the dealerships play it up and mark the new MSRPs over 50k and the used EVs around 28-33k, and almost all of them then still act like you’d still get the rebates. I’m happy to be smarter than that, but I feel sorry for all the people in Connecticut who will fall prey to the assholes at Hyundai dealerships and used car dealerships in this state.
People give Elon a lot of shit. And a lot of it is warranted.
But here’s one thing that he got right: He quickly recognized that the existing dealer network would not give EVs a fair shake. They would be obstructionists to the EV transition. That was a major justification behind their decision to sell direct to customers.
(Cutting out the middle man certainly helps profits too)
I was shaking my head until that last sentence
elmo could absolutely not care less about the buying experience or anyone giving evs a “fair shake”, he just wanted to minimize costs and maximize profits. same reason he’s currently in a pointless slap fight with the swedish labor unions.
That’s true, but this is one of those cases where corporate greed (mostly) aligns with what the customer needs. Like replacing bank tellers with ATMs and websites and phone apps.
You and kaisenls1 are totally at odds on this one.
Yep. One of my favorite things about buying a Tesla was not having to deal with a sales person or dealership.
Bought the car on my phone, spent 10 minutes picking it up at the service center.
Same here and when our daughter bought hers, the rep spent 30 minutes to explain to her how the different features of the car work and set up her account, etc. No time was spent with him trying to sell her aftermarket services.
But at the same time. If you walk into a Tesla sales centre and ask questions you get the correct answers from a knowledgeable person that doesn’t work on commission.
Now they just need to fix their service problems.
Yup, dealerships need to go out of business but somehow you still find apologists all over this sub that try to defend them if only to try and stick one to Musk. . . Like the guy is an asshole but so is every other auto exec.
Hell I had that just trying to get a hybrid Camry.
In my opinion most car manufacturers no longer need the dealer network depending on the service requirements of the cars. EV’s don’t require as much service. I purchased my current car online and it was the best buying experience I have ever had.