Spark EV in Upstate New York

[gmarcucio]

Some pictures of my Spark EV I just purchased a few weeks ago. I was lucky to find one used at a Chevrolet dealership in upstate New York. I installed the GM racing stripes on it yesterday. Love the car!!!! I wish GM would roll this vehicle out to the other states.

 

[blownb310]

It looks great!

Congratulations in getting one of these gems in New York State!

Mike - Albany Capital District EV Drivers Group

 

[jsca72]

I'm so pleased for you! Enjoy!

 

[tigger19687]

So who will service this car for you ? Was it a GM dealer and they will service it ?

I ask since it is not for sale around here and I would be nervous about WHO would be touching it.

Did you get a good deal ? How many miles ?

 

[gmarcucio]

The Chevrolet dealership I purchased it from assured me they would service it and said any other Chevrolet dealership would. They told me if a Chevrolet dealership refuses to work on it to let them know. However the dealership I purchased from is 200 miles from me so it would not be convenient for me. I would do the very little routine maintenance that needs to be done including NYS inspections (I am a certified inspector) and hope that if I need warranty work I won't have any issues bringing it to my local dealer that I have purchased 6 new vehicles from in the past 8 years. If they refuse to work on it I will take my Spark (and my business in the future) to another one of the 5 dealerships within driving range of the Spark's capabilities. The worse case scenario if I had a major warranty issue I would have to have it flatbed back to the dealer I purchased from. A lot of speculation and worries when you purchase a vehicle such as this but that's the price you pay when you want the vehicle! I have a friend that is a alternative fuels instructor at two local colleges and a certified Volt technician at another local dealership. I might have to push the political power button and see if he could get me into that dealership for warranty. A lot of diagnosis and repairs today on new higher tech vehicles are done with the assistance of GM over the phone such as the case with my Volt when it went into the shop for a week with a MIL light on. I purchased the Spark with 2,400 miles on it two weeks ago and now have 3,400 miles. I paid $2,400 under MSRP. I'm averaging about a 100 miles on the range so far. Love the car!!!!

 

[TonyWilliams]

I paid $2,400 under MSRP. I'm averaging about a 100 miles on the range so far. Love the car!!!!

Congrats in your new car. Of course, the dealer likely took the $7500 federal tax credit (or likely it was one of the managers pocketing the credit personally). This was a common scam with the Volt, and too easy to do. Just buy the car, ship it to out-of-state to a market devoid of EV's, and wait for the resale. But, even without a resale, the $7500 federal tax credit is already in the bag from the original sale. They can also claim any local state credits, too (I have no idea what New York might have).

They made a lot of money, but hopefully you're happy. Obviously, their promises of EV service for a car specifically not sold outside of California and Oregon is just that... words. We had a similar issue with Toyota Rav4 EV; the dealer would agree to service the car out-of-state, but when the dealer billed Toyota USA for warranty or "Toyota Care" service, the dealer was denied payment. Needless to say, service and warranty quickly stops.

One dealer actually printed the repair order that said "ship the car to California for warranty repair, per Toyota".

Anyhoo, I wish it all the luck in the world. It's tough being an EV driver outside of the USA west coast.

 

[gmarcucio]

The car was never titled or registered so my tax credit applies. I double and triple checked with them to make sure this was true and each time they came back and said yes I will be able to apply for the tax credit. It was also stated in their ad in which I kept a copy of. if it wasn't for that I would have not paid what I paid. Thanks for pointing that out though!!!

 

[sparkyps]

Shame that someone took that $7500 tax credit and only discounted the car $2400, but the car is a lot of fun to drive so enjoy.

The Chevy 2-yr scheduled maintenance only covers tire rotations for the Spark, no big deal if the dealer can't get Chevy to pay for that, easy to find free rotations elsewhere. I don't see any restrictions on warranty repairs that would limit it outside CA/OR so while Chevy might not like resale cars ending up outside their home state I doubt they would deny warranty coverage.

 

[gmarcucio]

Shame that someone took that $7500 tax credit and only discounted the car $2400, but the car is a lot of fun to drive so enjoy.

The Chevy 2-yr scheduled maintenance only covers tire rotations for the Spark, no big deal if the dealer can't get Chevy to pay for that, easy to find free rotations elsewhere. I don't see any restrictions on warranty repairs that would limit it outside CA/OR so while Chevy might not like resale cars ending up outside their home state I doubt they would deny warranty coverage.

The car was never titled or registered so my tax credit applies. I double and triple checked with the dealer before I purchased to make sure this was true and each time they came back and said yes I will be able to apply for the tax credit. I told them straight out I didn't want it if I couldn't get the tax credit. It was also stated in their ad in which I kept a copy of. if it wasn't for that I would have not paid what I paid.

 

[Chocula]

The car was never titled or registered so my tax credit applies. I double and triple checked with the dealer before I purchased to make sure this was true and each time they came back and said yes I will be able to apply for the tax credit. I told them straight out I didn't want it if I couldn't get the tax credit. It was also stated in their ad in which I kept a copy of. if it wasn't for that I would have not paid what I paid.

At least for California, under 3000 miles is still considered new, New York is probably similar. I don't think you will have any problem with the tax credit. This was possibly one of the demo vehicles. Some of the Spark promotional videos were shot in New York City. I am curious if the winter range will hold up better than the Leaf with the thermal conditioning of the Spark.

-Chocula

 

[TonyWilliams]

Shame that someone took that $7500 tax credit and only discounted the car $2400, but the car is a lot of fun to drive so enjoy.

The Chevy 2-yr scheduled maintenance only covers tire rotations for the Spark, no big deal if the dealer can't get Chevy to pay for that, easy to find free rotations elsewhere. I don't see any restrictions on warranty repairs that would limit it outside CA/OR so while Chevy might not like resale cars ending up outside their home state I doubt they would deny warranty coverage.

The car was never titled or registered so my tax credit applies. I double and triple checked with the dealer before I purchased to make sure this was true and each time they came back and said yes I will be able to apply for the tax credit. I told them straight out I didn't want it if I couldn't get the tax credit. It was also stated in their ad in which I kept a copy of. if it wasn't for that I would have not paid what I paid.

The only thing that will matter is what's on your contract... does the sales contract identify your car as new or used?