Advantages to buying new car at end of year or beginning of year?

[Bo]

Likely to purchase a new car that should be ready late in December but I can likely push the purchase until January.

Are there particular advantages of one over the other primarily in regards taxes but also anything else that may not be obvious? And yes, it's a BEV and I am in California

FWIW (and it may pertain): I am sole proprietor of my own business and this would be used for both business and personal use. However the business use will be absolutely minimal (500 miles/yr at most) as I work from home.

Any input appreciated!

[jdc]

non that i see, especially in todays market.

what are you looking at... is it out yet?

[Michael]

It looks like a tiny difference in terms of taxes. I put information in to the CA DMV tax calculator for 2 hypothetical purchases, one on Dec 15, 2021 and one on Jan 15, 2022 for a 2021 $50,000 electric vehicle sold in Redwood City, CA and found the overall taxes were $5547 for the 2021 sale and $5567 for the 2022 sale.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/wasapp/FeeCalcula...cleForm.do

Having said that, I seem to remember that in some states dealers have to pay some sort of tax on cars in stock on Dec 31 each year. If that's the case in CA then a dealer would be motivated to sell a car before the end of the year. The other possibility is that a given dealer might be motivated to sell a car before the end of the year to meet a manufacturer quota or reward level for selling a certain number of cars. Of course, in these times it looks like dealers can pretty much sell everything they can get their hands on so any motivation to sell by the end of the year wouldn't be as likely to have a financial benefit to you.

[Ombligo]

It may be worth holding off a bit longer to see what shakes out with the Build back better bill in congress. The bill as written now raises the EV credit to $12,500.

Here's how the proposed changes shake out and keep in mind, they may change yet. The base amount remains $4,000, as it is today, with another $3,500 available if the EV's battery pack includes at least 40 kilowatt-hours of capacity. In the case of plug-in hybrids, the gas tank cannot exceed 2.5 gallons. Now comes the $5,000 boost. There another $4,500 in the tax credit if an automaker makes the EV in the US with a union workforce. Another $500 comes into play for automakers using a US-made battery, for a maximum of $12,500 available.

Currently, the only car that would qualify for the full amount is the Chevy Bolt. teslas misses out as those are assembled in Mexico (my bad, I was thinking Mustang)

[Carnos Jax]

Ombligo wrote:
teslas misses out as those are assembled in Mexico

Huh?

[Will Collier]

Generally sales are lower in December and you can get a better deal. This year I expect all bets are off though.

[Speedy]

You cannot carry any unused $7500 fed tax credit forward to another year, it must be used in the year of purchase. So, if your income this year doesn’t allow the use of the full credit but you think your income will the next year, wait.

[MartyStickle]

Our Tesla model Y that we're picking up Wednesday was manufactured in Fremont CA. I'm unaware of any Teslas that are made in Mexico. The Build Back Better plan will not apply fully to Teslas because of the non-union nature of Tesla.

[qdog2]

The Ford Mustang Mach E is made in Mexico. No Tesla is made in Mexico. Teslas are currently made in the USA and China. The Germany factory is on schedule to open in early 2022.

[Carnos Jax]

What’s more, all Teslas sold in the United States are manufactured in the United States, and I think (but I’m not sure) they use mostly domestically produced components (in contrast to most other makes and models of cars sold in the U.S.).