Paul asks…
Did the fuel efficient car rebate amendment make it in the stimulus?
From what I heard, senator Tom Harkin was trying to set up a account of 18 billion dollars I believe giving 10,000 dollar rebates to people who traded in their old cars for more fuel efficient ones, Does anyone know if this amendment made it in the stimulus ? I heard it this amendment was facing stiff opposition from trade lobbyist and might not make it , And if it didn’t, Is their any kind of a rebate or incentive for the buying of a new car ? Thanks for your answers. God bless.
CSC101 Customer Service answers:
“Sales Tax Deduction for Vehicle Purchases. The bill provides all taxpayers with a deduction for State and local sales and excise taxes paid on the purchase of new cars, light truck, recreational vehicles, and motorcycles through 2009. This deduction is subject to a phase-out for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $125,000 ($250,000 in the case of a joint return). This proposal is estimated to cost $1.684 billion over 10 years.”
“Plug-in Electric Drive Vehicle Credit. The bill modifies and increases a tax credit passed into law at the end of last Congress for each qualified plug-in electric drive vehicle placed in service during the taxable year. The base amount of the credit is $2,500. If the qualified vehicle draws propulsion from a battery with at least 5 kilowatt hours of capacity, the credit is increased by $417, plus another $417 for each kilowatt hour of battery capacity in excess of 5 kilowatt hours up to 16 kilowatt hours. Taxpayers may claim the full amount of the allowable credit up to the end of the first calendar quarter in which the manufacturer records its 200,000th sale of a plug-in electric drive vehicle. The credit is reduced in following calendar quarters. The credit is allowed against the alternative minimum tax (AMT). The bill also restores and updates the electric vehicle credit for plug-in electric vehicles that would not otherwise qualify for the larger plug-in electric drive vehicle credit and provides a tax credit for plug-in electric drive conversion kits. This proposal is estimated to cost $2.002 billion over 10 years.”
The benifits you are speaking of were stripped out in the dark of night and replaced with a high speed rail for Harry Reid.
Joseph asks…
I am looking at buying a new car in 2-3 months. How will the govt bailout effect prices?
Will there be more/better deals after the bailout or will they take the money and say fuck the customer like they usually do…and stop giving incentives/rebates.
CSC101 Customer Service answers:
Well, here, let’s flip it around.
You own a business. You’re in danger of going out of business. And you keep getting ***hole customers coming in, wanting to pay less than what you’re asking for your products, because they know you’re going out of business, and want to cheat you out of the last bit of money you might make.
What would your response be to that? Pretty much any reasonable person, would say **** the customer, and keep the prices the same, because it’s all the income they have left.
And if the customer was even remotely concerned about the business, they wouldn’t be ***holes in the first place, trying to get cheaper prices. They’d be trying to help the company out.
Steven asks…
Want to buy a new car or truck?
So why can’t it just be like going to the store and buying like a loaf of bread or gallon of milk? Everybody pays the same and you don’t have to deal with rebates, incentives, salespeople, etc. No wonder the big 3 are losing money. Maybe if they made it more friendly it would be a more positive experience that people wouldn’t dread. Not to mention that the selection is limited.
For Rusty: I get your point. But you forgot about Person C (me). The one who doesn’t like to haggle and doesn’t want to pay too much for an overpriced product.
CSC101 Customer Service answers:
I will explain this from a business perspective.
Okay, so lets say that a new car, brand X has an msrp of $1,000
The dealership charges a sticker price of $1,500 so they can make an additional $500
BUT they do have rebates that if you, the customer chooses, can spend time on to get the car back to the msrp of $1,000.
And then maybe if you like to haggle you may be able to get the salesmen to knock off another, lets say $100 bringing the price to $900
So, from this example we can deduce that some people who are fiscally responsible will do everything they can to save some money, in the above example this buyer would have saved about 40% by taking time to do rebates and things and haggling.
NOW we go to the bigshot lawyer who doesn’t have time for anything, he goes into the local car branch, asks about Car Brand X and falls in love with it, he could fill out some rebates and stuff, but he doesn’t have time for that and he doesn’t really care if he has to pay extra, it’s more trouble to him to have to fill out a few confusing forms than it is to pay an extra $500, the salesperson recongizes that this is someone who he can take advantage of so he tacks on another couple hundred dollars under some miscellaneous bogus fee bringing the total of the car to over $1700 now. The lawyer doesn’t care, that’s chump change, he just wants his car without hassle, accepts the price, pays it and leaves.
So person A(the cheap guy) pays $900
and Person B(Lawyer) pays over $1700
Just to throw a random number out there let’s say that only 20% of people are like person B who will pay a higher price, the car store will still make much more money this way than if they had a price that was set in stone for everyone. It’s Business, it’s money.
Money controls everything.
Oh, and bottom line…..
BLAME PERSON B!
Courtesy of Y!Answers