Spooky deals… **UPDATED**

I’ve been told that GM’s leasing incentives for the Volt are coming to an end at the end of October 2013. Here’s the current deal, straight from the Chevy website:

“Lease a Chevy Volt for $299/Month for 36 months:

Example based on national average selling vehicle price. Each dealer sets own price. Your payments may vary. Payments are for a 2014 CHEVROLET Volt with an MSRP of $34,995. 36 monthly payments total $10,764. Option to purchase at lease end for an amount to be determined at lease signing. Lessor must approve lease. Take delivery by 10-31-2013. Mileage charge of $0.25/mile over 36,000 miles. Lessee pays for maintenance, repair and excess wear. Payments may be higher in some states. Not available with other offers. Residency restrictions apply.“

If you do the math on gas & maintenance savings and add in the cost of electricity to charge the Volt, this is a pretty sweet deal. We’ll use my real-world experience from the last year:

I drove 21,000 miles in my first year, but for the sake of argument, we’ll go with the 12,000 miles per year allowed by this lease deal. If your work commute is 32 miles, even on the hottest or coldest days, you should be able to do your entire commute on electricity. That would eat up 8,320 miles of the 12,000 each year, and at the rate I experienced of 3.31 miles per kilowatt hour (measured at the charger*), your commute would cost you $276.50 per year (electricity cost estimated at 11 cents per kilowatt hour, the national average). That leaves 70.77 miles per week for weekend or after work driving, for a total of 3,680 miles for the year. We’ll be pessimistic and say that that entire amount of miles is split between weekend and after work driving, when the battery is depleted (you’ll actually do better than this example). 38 of these miles will be electric and the remaining 32.77 will be using the gasoline-powered range extender. The cost of this driving would be 38 ÷ 3.31 X 11 cents ($1.26 per week) plus 32.77 ÷ 37MPG X $3.30 (premium gas per gallon), totaling $2.92 per week, for an annual total of $217.50. So your total fuel cost (electricity and gasoline) would be $494.00 per year or just $41.17 per month!

You would also not need an oil or filter change for the entire lease. If, in a non-Volt vehicle, you normally have your oil changed every 5,000 miles and drove 12,000 miles per year, you would have the oil changed 7 times over the three years, or 2.33 times per year. If an oil change costs you $35, that’s an additional $81.67 per year or $6.81 per month you won’t have to spend.

Finally, let’s say you currently drive a car that’s paid off. That’s a nice feeling. We’ll also be generous and estimate that you car gets the same MPG as the average new car today (24 MPG). That car would cost you 12,000 ÷ 24 MPG X $3.00 (cost of gallon of regular gas). That’s $1,500.00 per year. Now add the cost of oil changes at $81.67 per year and your paid-off car is costing you $131.81 per month in fuel and oil costs. The Volt’s operating cost is $90.64 per month less than the car you have now.

Let’s take that off the monthly lease cost of the Volt to see what getting a Volt would mean in additional cost to your monthly budget. $299.00 – $90.64 = $208.36 per month over what you’re currently paying, operating your paid-off car! I’ve intentionally been very conservative with the calculations.

Now, let’s tweak this a bit:

• Electricity cost: 9¢ per kilowatt hour (in Texas, this is pretty easy to get, just check Power To Choose. Heck, you can even get electricity as cheap as 6¢ per kilowatt hour!)
• Electric performance 3.31 miles per kilowatt hour (the government estimates 35 kilowatt hours to go 100 miles, but I drive aggressively (i.e. Sport Mode) and still get 115.85 miles in 35 kWhs)
• Your paid-off car gets 20 MPG

Using these figures, the Volt’s fuel cost will be $431.93 per year. Your current car’s fuel and oil changes would cost $1,881.67 for the year. That’s an advantage of $1,449.74 per year, for the Volt, or $120.81 per month. Subtract that from the monthly lease payment and the Volt would only cost you $178.19 more per month, compared to your paid-off car!

That’s a pretty low impact on your income to be driving a state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly vehicle like the Volt.

But time’s a’wasting. The lease deals end soon. You have to take delivery of the Volt by October 31st (yes, Halloween). If you’re in the DFW area, don’t forget I’m not only a Volt fan, I sell them too!

**UPDATE**

I was just handed an updated “Incentive Summary.” The 2013 Volt currently has $5,000 “Customer Cash” plus an additional $1,000 “Bonus Cash.” The 2014 Volt does not get either of these incentives because the $5,000 off is already reflected in the sticker price. So, right off the bat, cut the sticker price of the 2013 Volt by $6,000.

On the financing side, the 2013 Volt has other incentives. You can get the $1,000 “Bonus Cash” with the financing offer, but not the $5,000 “Customer Cash.” An additional $2,000 may be had, if you finance for 72 months at 0% interest. If you finance for 48 months at 0% interest, the $2,000 is increased to $3,000.

Confused? Don’t be! Here’s a summary of the 2013 Volt deals:

• $6,000 off if you finance at standard rates, through the dealership or your own financial institution, or
• $4,000 off, if you finance through the dealership for 48 months, 0% interest, or
• $3,000 off, if you finance through the dealership for 72 months, 0% interest.

Happy haunting!

* “measured at the charger” accounts for all electricity used to charge and condition the Volt’s battery. Once the electricity is stored in the battery, my Volt averaged 4.17 miles per kWh, not the 3.31 miles per kWh used for these calculations. I like my calculations to be real-world based and conservative.