new spark ev owner in Alabama

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mspicela

Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2013
Messages
8
I'm the happy new owner of a Spark EV 2LT. I live in AL, so my local dealers don't sell it. I purchased mine from San Jose and had it shipped. I couldn't test drive it so had to base the purchase completely on YouTube videos and online reviews. I got to drive one for the first time when I drove mine when it arrived today! I have to say, I'm very happy. We loaded up the whole family and drove around. It was peppy and fun. For being such a small car, it was comfortable for 4.

20131028_154134.jpg
 
Did the dealer make you sign a "no warranty out of California" disclaimer? Good luck when the time comes... Toyota is playing hardball on this with their compliance car,the Rav4 EV.

Here's a blurb from a Chevy dealer:

"Buyers from out of state try to buy Spark EVs from Bunnin, but Chevy dealers are under orders from GM not [to] sell the BEV to any buyers not from Oregon or California because GM wants the zero emissions credits, he said."

http://www.plugincars.com/chevy-spark-ev-becoming-sleeper-hit-128696.html#comments
 
Nope. I did not sign any such agreement.

The good thing about the Spark EV is that much of the car is based on an existing car (the regular Spark) and much of the EV portion was borrowed from the Volt. My local Chevy dealers service the gas Spark and the Volt. My CA dealer told me that my local dealer should be able to service it, if they are able to service Volts. I'm also hoping that they start selling them nationwide in the next few years. If we call continue to advocate for them and the sales go up, that certainly will increase the changes of their sales nationwide.

What motivations would GM have to not sell it to customers who are willing to buy their product, even at a premium like me? I can see why they wouldn't want to invest in training all of their sales folks, doing ad campaigns, etc in markets where they don't think there is enough demand. It would be up to us early adopters to prove to them that there is a demand.
 
^^^
Good luck to you. If you need any dealer work on your car (e.g. recall, dealer maintenance, warranty work, out of warranty work, etc.), you could become one of the first test cases to see what the dealer can do and what GM does.
mspicela said:
What motivations would GM have to not sell it to customers who are willing to buy their product, even at a premium like me? I can see why they wouldn't want to invest in training all of their sales folks, doing ad campaigns, etc in markets where they don't think there is enough demand.
Because they want to earn CA ZEV credits. AL isn't California nor a CARB emissions state. You hit the nail on the head w/the rest of it.

A number of Rav4 EVs (also a CA ZEV compliance car) were being sold to folks outside CA. What Toyota did at http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8857#p8857 is a means of strongly discouraging that. Want a Rav4 EV outside CA now? No $14K incentive for you.

For reference, see http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4143 and http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6853. http://green.autoblog.com/2013/10/17/tesla-sells-most-zev-green-car-credits-gm-buys-most/ and http://insideevs.com/tesla-leads-sellers-of-zev-credits-in-past-year-gm-leads-as-a-buyer/ might be interesting to you.
 
This is a total shot in the dark, but my suspicion is that he dealt with an independent shipper from California who bought and registered the car in California then trailered it to Alabama with a load of other cars going cross country.

I am guessing this based on him saying he paid a premium. I assume he's a fairly dedicated EV advocate and a very loyal Chevy owner. I would be pretty shocked if he doesn't have a Volt in the garage as well.
 
FutureFolly said:
This is a total shot in the dark, but my suspicion is that he dealt with an independent shipper from California who bought and registered the car in California then trailered it to Alabama with a load of other cars going cross country.


There's a whole new business; selling CARB-ZEV cars out-of-state! It would be difficult to do a lease, but an out-right sale could be "rented" to anybody out of state, while the car stays registered in California for three years and the owner collects the $2500 state money.

So, the fee would be three years of registration, plus sales tax, plus full cost of the vehicle, plus shipping to you, and a contract to purchase at the end of the three year rent period for $1.

Everybody wins!
 
But, wouldn't that get you in trouble in your state?
Here you have 30 days to register the car to MA plates

Who would the car be Registered to? The dealer?
Insurance? is it a Lease?
 
tigger19687 said:
But, wouldn't that get you in trouble in your state?
Here you have 30 days to register the car to MA plates

Who would the car be Registered to? The dealer?
Insurance? is it a Lease?

Just like driving a Uhaul truck or a Hertz rental car, they have license plates from all over. The owner is in California, paying taxes and license plates in California.

The car would be registered to the owner. The renter would be driving the car wherever they wanted, even out-of-state.
 
Well, I would have a hard time here in MA as I would be pulled over all the time and have to explain that it is a rental car.


At any rate, they are "suppose" to be coming to the rest of us (maybe just the other ZEV states?) this year.
So I would think that this would be a mute point.

Honestly I don't know why anyone would lease any way. Too many cons... you don't own it but still have to pay all the fees/sales/taxes on it, limited miles.....
 
I dont know if Spark EV will leave California and Oregon, but here's the CARB state coalition - California, New York, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, Maryland, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The eight states combined account for 23 percent of U.S. vehicle sales, according to California’s Air Resources Board.
 
Arizona (2012 model year),[1] Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico (2011 model year), New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.[2][3] Such states are frequently referred to as "CARB states" in automotive discussions because the regulations are defined by the California Air Resources Board.

ZEV states are California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont

There is a difference. ZEV is Zero Em.

I think the ZEV states may get them faster, not sure about VT as there is such a wide open area that might not have chargers
 
If Chevy is having trouble getting these cars throughout California, I'm not sure how long it will be before they get them to other states. I think I might be the only person in San Luis Obispo County to have a SparkEV. I hope not, but I haven't ever seen them listed for sale at local Chevy dealers and haven't seen any on the road in our area. :cry:

Maybe if they do start selling them in other states, it will be as here. The bigger cities get them; the more rural areas get ignored.
 
I am thinking that maybe the "outter" areas may not have them because there are few Public Charge Plugs ?

That would be my only thought.
Easier to sell when there are many open plugs available.


Kinda like selling a gas car with no gas stations for a 1000 miles ;)
 
I am thinking that maybe the "outter" areas may not have them because there are few Public Charge Plugs ?

That would be my only thought.
Easier to sell when there are many open plugs available.


Kinda like selling a gas car with no gas stations for a 1000 miles

You could be right. That might be Chevy's thinking. In our town, we have only one 240 charger (Tesla has 4 chargers here). In the city of San Luis Obispo there are quite a few 240's (Tesla doesn't have any there).

But, here's the thing....
I NEVER use public chargers. What Chevy's forgetting is that since most of us "single-home dwellers" have our own garages, we can have our own chargers. Plugging-in in my garage is way more convenient than dealing with a plug-in station. When I leave the house in the morning, the car is fully charged. I work in the town I live in, so my commute isn't long. I plug the Spark in as soon as I get home so it's always ready to go wherever we might want to take it in the evening. The Spark isn't my "toy," it's the car I drive all the time. If my husband and I go anywhere in the county together, it's the car we take. For long trips we take his Honda CRV.

I don't think I'm an exception to any rule. I'm no big risk-taker. There are a lot of people out there like me. Fiat 500e's are selling well in our area. Chevy has to wake up! San Luis county is part of California!
 
I see your point.
The Fiat is too small and only a 2 seater. People will just buy the Smart Car as they have it here in Boston for a long time.

I think Chevy needs to make the base price small. Not everyone will be able to use the Fed Credit on their taxes.
 
Is you can't qualifyfor the fed tax credit then just lease. You get the CA rebate and the lease rate combined with the fuel savings will make it cheaper than most any used car over 3 years. The mileage is unlikely to to be an issue if you only charge at home.
Is it really that hard to find the spark ev in stock? My local dealer have 5 or more in stock most of the time.
 
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