Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle?

[mimico_polak]

Not sure what it's like nowadays, but when I was selling cars (new and used at a dealer) the margins on the used were WAY better. We'd try and put people into used cars because of the better money. Then the new car manager would increase the commission on the new so we'd focus on those instead. Overall new was 2-5% and used was 10-15% depending.

As for the Volt here...looks really nice.

Right now I'm sitting on a 2010 Civic Si with 150k...I think it's still got a lot of life left in it and I don't see a reason to buy a replacement as this one's paid off, and the gas bill is around $120-150/month at the moment. I commute by GO for the most part to work, or bike once it gets warmer, so the numbers don't make sense for me...yet.

 

[-D-]

Believe me or don't, it changes nothing for me. I wouldn't publicly post a wholesale number for the same reason I wouldn't ask any store keeper what their cost is on a product I'm interested in simply because it isn't my business and they deserve to make money. What is important is if I'm happy with the price.

If you really want to know some of the workings of the car business I leave Woodbridge around 5 most days and commute to Hamilton. If you want to have a beer and talk cars between those two points send me a pm.

Thanks for the invite, perhaps when the weather is better.
Your premise appears to be one of which I do not have first hand knowledge of which I speak....just sayin' how it comes across.

* someone that bought that car new then ditched it to a DEALER with only 54k on it strikes me as someone NEEDING to ditch that car asap or owner died/divorced/left country and had to ditch the car and the fastest way was to go to the dealer...anyone thinking they paid more than $19k for that car from the owner...I got a bike to sell you...great deal.

 

[slowbird]

I don't wanna jinx it but my charging has been fine. No issues since I last mentioned. As I write this the car has been charging in the garage and will be full by 6am. It's charged fine on public chargers too.

Maybe the outlet had some cobwebs? Lol
My place is less than 10 years old. I don't think these outlets in the garage are GFCI protected. It must have been a power fluctuation or something.

I just noticed the tires they put on aren't even V rated. I wonder what kind of difference having the proper tires will make.

Thanks to Private Pilot and Slowbird for all the information provided.

I think a Volt is in my future.

Cheers.

ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

....I mean.....yeah no problem.

Any questions just ask.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Very well might have been a receptacle issue for sure - some heat from heavy usage may have caused things to sort themselves out.

 

[-D-]

I don't wanna jinx it but my charging has been fine. No issues since I last mentioned. As I write this the car has been charging in the garage and will be full by 6am. It's charged fine on public chargers too.

Maybe the outlet had some cobwebs? Lol
My place is less than 10 years old. I don't think these outlets in the garage are GFCI protected. It must have been a power fluctuation or something.

I just noticed the tires they put on aren't even V rated. I wonder what kind of difference having the proper tires will make.



ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

....I mean.....yeah no problem.

Any questions just ask.

I would encourage you to check that outlet. It showed you signs of issues.
You have an expensive product plugged into a $25 outlet.
turn off the breaker and pull apart the socket, done in 15 minutes.

 

[eljay]

beat them down on price and buy it
looks nice

walk in starting at $18,500 maybe $19000, put a credit card on the table and drivers license faced down...it shows you mean business
tell him your wife has a budget and a deal can be made in the next hour before you go look at other cars

know what you want to spend...They are asking $22k...they probably took that car in at $15k.
you start at $18k and they are at $22l meet at $20k

play this game, tell them you will FINANCE it...even if you plan to pay cash or use your own finance option
let them draw up the contract with final price then when you come back to pay...give them your $$ or finance $$$
they will lower the price because they think they will make it back with their financing.
keep telling them the car is 2014 3 years old etc...lol keep saying old....lol

good luck man

you guys are killing me with these cars...grrrr

Do I get better pricing if I pretend I'll take their financing? I went and spoke to them on Saturday but the car was still "being prepped" they said so I couldn't take a look. They'll call me when it's ready. It came off lease and the guy took out a 2017. Lady at the desk said the guy was obsessed with the Volt...

Eljay, also forgot to mention...when you run that 240V circuit out to your garage, opt for 50A if you can swallow the cost at this point as part of the reno. It will cost more, but it will also be future proof if/when you buy another EV down the road that can actually draw those sorts of amps

Personally I cheaped out and installed 12/2 which is only good for 20 amps at 240V, but the Volt Level 2 charge won't ever exceed 16A so it's OK. I am aware that if in 2-3 years we buy a Bolt however I will have to swallow the cost of running a far larger wire out there however.

Goodtoknowthanksandmyspacebarjustquitworkingneedtorestart...

 

[-D-]

Do I get better pricing if I pretend I'll take their financing? I went and spoke to them on Saturday but the car was still "being prepped" they said so I couldn't take a look. They'll call me when it's ready. It came off lease and the guy took out a 2017. Lady at the desk said the guy was obsessed with the Volt...



Goodtoknowthanksandmyspacebarjustquitworkingneedtorestart...

They get a nice cut if you arrange financing through them so they are more likely to lower the price to get you to buy it so they get the finance commission.

 

[PrivatePilot]

I went and spoke to them on Saturday but the car was still "being prepped" they said so I couldn't take a look. They'll call me when it's ready.

Really? How long has it been on the lot that it wasn't ready to be even viewed, much less test drove or anything?

I'd be asking exactly what the hold up was just to see if it needed work or something.

On a different note, I had my visit with Ontario Motor Sales today. Spoke to an excellent manager who understood the OnStar issue (seems she had been copied on some of the initial emails I had been sending the sales guy) and said she'd work towards an amicable resolution in the coming day or two. Hoping to hear from her today actually as this has already dragged on too long.

Unfortunately, despite asking for service to book time for both an oil change and to address the brake issue today, I got there and they didn't do anything with the brakes - not even inspect them as far as I could see since I was sitting in the waiting room looking through the picture window out to the shop area. They apparently wanted me to leave the car (couldn't do, too much other stuff that needed to get done today, and I wasn't told this would be necessary (I thought I made it clear when I booked the appointment to ensure they booked time to address both issues) and unless I was willing to do that apparently they were swamped with winter tire changeovers...that took priority I guess. Oil change took over an hour, but at least I killed some of that talking to the manager.

The desk guy said something about needing a manager authorization or something to go any further on the brake issue anyway, but it wasn't exactly clear to me exactly what that was all about...but we need to go back a second time at some undetermined date - he said he would call me as well.

Oh, and on the drive home I looked at the oil life monitor and they hadn't reset it. Minor thing I agree, but still...

Not really impressed with OMS at all right now.

 

[fastar1]

Not really impressed with OMS at all right now.

You had lots of warning signs before you bought from them. Can only blame yourself.

 

[eljay]

Story is that it just came in Thursday and ads go automatically to Autotrader as soon as they are in stock.
Guy just sent me the Carproof this morning shows printed April 18, so I don't know if that is back when the guy bought the new one and took delivery this past week?
Carproof shows a few warranty issues looked after, including an Onstar 3G/4G upgrade. Is that the issue you had to resolve?
Looks like guy brought the car in for cleaning every 3 months too... must have been something include in initial purchase package? Who goes to a dealer for a car wash? Only one wash coincides with an oil change.

I hope dealing with Nurse is better than OMS. It's an extra 10 minute drive for me.

Really? How long has it been on the lot that it wasn't ready to be even viewed, much less test drove or anything?

I'd be asking exactly what the hold up was just to see if it needed work or something.

On a different note, I had my visit with Ontario Motor Sales today. Spoke to an excellent manager who understood the OnStar issue (seems she had been copied on some of the initial emails I had been sending the sales guy) and said she'd work towards an amicable resolution in the coming day or two. Hoping to hear from her today actually as this has already dragged on too long.

Unfortunately, despite asking for service to book time for both an oil change and to address the brake issue today, I got there and they didn't do anything with the brakes - not even inspect them as far as I could see since I was sitting in the waiting room looking through the picture window out to the shop area. They apparently wanted me to leave the car (couldn't do, too much other stuff that needed to get done today, and I wasn't told this would be necessary (I thought I made it clear when I booked the appointment to ensure they booked time to address both issues) and unless I was willing to do that apparently they were swamped with winter tire changeovers...that took priority I guess. Oil change took over an hour, but at least I killed some of that talking to the manager.

The desk guy said something about needing a manager authorization or something to go any further on the brake issue anyway, but it wasn't exactly clear to me exactly what that was all about...but we need to go back a second time at some undetermined date - he said he would call me as well.

Oh, and on the drive home I looked at the oil life monitor and they hadn't reset it. Minor thing I agree, but still...

Not really impressed with OMS at all right now.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Story is that it just came in Thursday and ads go automatically to Autotrader as soon as they are in stock.
Guy just sent me the Carproof this morning shows printed April 18, so I don't know if that is back when the guy bought the new one and took delivery this past week?
Carproof shows a few warranty issues looked after, including an Onstar 3G/4G upgrade. Is that the issue you had to resolve?
Looks like guy brought the car in for cleaning every 3 months too... must have been something include in initial purchase package? Who goes to a dealer for a car wash? Only one wash coincides with an oil change..

Ah ok, if it just came in that's understandable then, they are probably certifying it so that makes sense. I initially thought it had been sitting on the lot for a week or four already which is why it didn't make sense that they couldn't show it yet.

Carproof date might have been the day they calculated his trade value and then they actually closed the deal Thursday.

Yes, the 3g/4g OnStar issue is indeed the issue I'm dealing with, so the fact the one you're looking at is done is a bonus.

Sounds like it was well taken care of, though. Always a good thing.

 

[PrivatePilot]

I heard back from Ontario Motor Sales this evening after my (calm, I might add, on both sides) talk with the sales manager this afternoon.

They are going to make good on the OnStar upgrade at no cost to me. Basically, the car was advertised with OnStar, it wasn't mentioned that it wasn't working, so they're going to make it right. They have apparently put into place some other policies to make sure that these sorts of things are properly disclosed in the future.

Anyhow, all good - just need to get the appointment setup now and get the upgrade completed.

 

[nfq]

I heard back from Ontario Motor Sales this evening after my (calm, I might add, on both sides) talk with the sales manager this afternoon.

They are going to make good on the OnStar upgrade at no cost to me. Basically, the car was advertised with OnStar, it wasn't mentioned that it wasn't working, so they're going to make it right. They have apparently put into place some other policies to make sure that these sorts of things are properly disclosed in the future.

Anyhow, all good - just need to get the appointment setup now and get the upgrade completed.

That's a nice outcome. Maybe have them look at the brakes while it's there?

Sent from my LG-H831 using Tapatalk

 

[PrivatePilot]

That's a nice outcome. Maybe have them look at the brakes while it's there?

Yeah, I'm definitely going to to aim to get them to do both things at once. Still a little disgruntled with the lack of action on the brakes (really, someones brake issue would seem to take priority over swapping someones winter tires), but I'm guessing there's a bigger picture I'm not seeing.

I'll stay chill on that and see what happens, but I think they're going to get that addressed as well. I will follow up for sure.

Anyhow, this weekends stats (including today, I had the car all day for running around) totaled around 225KM, total gas consumed was under 2L.

 

[fastar1]

I heard back from Ontario Motor Sales this evening after my (calm, I might add, on both sides) talk with the sales manager this afternoon.

They are going to make good on the OnStar upgrade at no cost to me. Basically, the car was advertised with OnStar, it wasn't mentioned that it wasn't working, so they're going to make it right. They have apparently put into place some other policies to make sure that these sorts of things are properly disclosed in the future.

Anyhow, all good - just need to get the appointment setup now and get the upgrade completed.

Good on you and on OMS. Though that was really the only just course of action, dealers don't necessarily always do what's just. Now to see their response to the impossibly high demand to lube the caliper sliders...

 

[slowbird]

Glad to hear things are beginning to come through for ya PP with that dealer.

I take my Volt back to the dealer tomorrow to get some things looked after and I have to bring up the tires to them now too. I hate these kinds of things. I don't know why buying a car can't be easy. seems like they are always trying to pull something.

 

[mimico_polak]

Glad to hear things are beginning to come through for ya PP with that dealer.

I take my Volt back to the dealer tomorrow to get some things looked after and I have to bring up the tires to them now too. I hate these kinds of things. I don't know why buying a car can't be easy. seems like they are always trying to pull something.

Do the tires makes a big difference in mileage? Obviously sticky sport tires won't help mileage...but how much of a difference would they make?

 

[PrivatePilot]

Do the tires makes a big difference in mileage? Obviously sticky sport tires won't help mileage...but how much of a difference would they make?

Apparently, it can be fairly significant....so much so that a lot of people with gassers who are aiming for increased mileage are finding LRR (Low rolling resistance) tires that are common on EV's/Hybrids are actually their best bang for the buck so they are finding their way onto a lot of cars now, not just fuel-miser cars.

On the Volt specifically people have experienced 2 to 3 MPG lower difference in ICE fuel economy - that's roughly in the range of 0.5L/100KM when you go from 40MPG to 38MPG, for example. A corresponding hit in EV range also occurs, obviously, and that's where most people get upset since EV miles are the most important miles...but in the end, 0.5L/100KM extra fuel consumption isn't a small number either, that certainly can add up over the life of a set of tires.

 

[-D-]

dropping in to say I hate you guys
damn free "gas"
this has been a great thread!

 

[slowbird]

Apparently, it can be fairly significant....so much so that a lot of people with gassers who are aiming for increased mileage are finding LRR (Low rolling resistance) tires that are common on EV's/Hybrids are actually their best bang for the buck so they are finding their way onto a lot of cars now, not just fuel-miser cars.

Yeah I have read the same.

Also doing some research I'm noticing the Low Rolling Resistance tires can be anywhere from 4-8 lbs lighter. Pretty substantial.