Going to take the plunge finally

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Douglas

Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2017
Messages
7
Hi all,

I've been looking to buy a Spark EV for a few years and finally am going to do it. I have a particular vehicle in mind. I talked with the dealership, and got a picture of the open charging port (yes it does have fast charging), and I have seen pictures of the vehicle from all angles, inside and out. It has under 20,000 miles and is a 2015.

I am in Albuquerque, and this vehicle is on the east coast. I thought about straight up offering their asking price in exchange for free shipping of the vehicle to Albuquerque. I checked with U-ship and the cheapest rate they have if I want to ship it myself is $1,492.

I think if they say they will not agree to ship it free for the asking price, I will say no thanks and walk away. I am writing here because I would appreciate any and all advice on buying, and in particular my situation I've described here! Going and getting the vehicle myself is not an option. P.S. The vehicle does have the tire inflator, manual, and charging cable.

Thanks everyone!
 
Well, my first thought is if you live in Albuquerque why are you getting it from the east coast? Los Angeles is a lot closer. Hell, you could find a friend with a full size pickup, rent a trailer and just go pick it up. It would take a day - two at the most.

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inventorylisting/viewDetailsFilterViewInventoryListing.action?sourceContext=untrackedExternal_false_0&newSearchFromOverviewPage=true&inventorySearchWidgetType=AUTO&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity=d2205&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity2=&zip=90028&distance=100&searchChanged=true&modelChanged=false&filtersModified=true

https://www.autoblog.com/used-list/make1-Chevrolet/model1-Spark+EV/location-90028/fuel-Electric/vcond-Used,CPO/sort-1
 
I got mine from Carvana and they ship it for free, so that's an option too. Granted, "free" just means the price might be a little higher than one from a lot, but you can also use referral codes to get $500 off so it all balances out.
 
Douglas said:
Hi all,

I've been looking to buy a Spark EV for a few years and finally am going to do it. I have a particular vehicle in mind. I talked with the dealership, and got a picture of the open charging port (yes it does have fast charging), and I have seen pictures of the vehicle from all angles, inside and out. It has under 20,000 miles and is a 2015.

I am in Albuquerque, and this vehicle is on the east coast. I thought about straight up offering their asking price in exchange for free shipping of the vehicle to Albuquerque. I checked with U-ship and the cheapest rate they have if I want to ship it myself is $1,492.

I think if they say they will not agree to ship it free for the asking price, I will say no thanks and walk away. I am writing here because I would appreciate any and all advice on buying, and in particular my situation I've described here! Going and getting the vehicle myself is not an option. P.S. The vehicle does have the tire inflator, manual, and charging cable.

Thanks everyone!
If it is possible to do, I would suggest you have someone who lives near the car, and has the proper equipment, do two things before you take delivery. 1. Do a scan of the OBD2 port to verify there are no unaddressed codes. 2. Use TorquePro to display the current HV battery capacity.

My leased 2015 Spark EV, which I recently returned at the end of the lease in May, had about 23K miles on the ODO when the battery capacity abruptly dropped from about 17.2 kWh to about 15.5 kWh. The dealer replaced a charging module but the lost battery capacity never returned. However, this was not a problem for me. Even at 15 kWh and 5 mi/kWh, I still had 75 miles of range and this was sufficient for all of my normal daily driving needs.

The lost battery capacity was the only problem I ever had with the car and, if the price had been much lower, I would have kept it at the end of the lease. Instead, I bought a low-mileage used 2016 Spark EV which, so far, has been trouble-free too.
 
Thanks for the tips everyone. As I said in my post, going and getting it was not an option..I also said I had a particular car in mind (right color, milage e.t.c.,) that is why I don't want to just get any Spark shipped from L.A. or wherever. I almost got one from Carvana a few weeks ago that also met my criteria but someone beat me to it by one day! I noticed by the way that the trade in value for my car with Carvana was horrible. I could do much better selling it myself. Thanks again folks.
 
Hoping you went ahead and got the car - my 2016 LT2 has been amazingly reliable, and the performance still brings a smile to the face. Good luck with it
 
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