Dealers need guidance on pre-owned EV sales price cap
Other dealers said they haven’t had many — or in some cases, any — instances of a customer or used EV qualifying.
Volkswagen dealer John Luciano said he has had only one used-EV transaction that fell under $25,000, from a customer who traded in a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro for a 2017 Tesla Model 3, but it’s unclear whether the tax credit will be applied.
“In selling it, we just flat told the customer, you need to get with your [certified public accountant],” said Luciano, owner of Street Volkswagen in Amarillo, Texas. “If he says you can get it, then take it off your taxes, but we don’t do it. We don’t file for it.”
Mike DeSilva, owner of Liberty Auto Group, a three-store group in New Jersey that sells Genesis, Hyundai, Kia and Subaru vehicles, said that while he assumes the used-EV tax credit’s sales price cap does not include fees, it’s proved to be “even more confusing than the new-car credits.”
“We don’t deal in a lot of used EVs to begin with; the ones that we do are all over $25,000,” he said. “And then there’s just a bunch of other requirements that go along with it.”
Those include caps on a buyer’s modified adjusted gross income and a requirement that it is the first time a vehicle is being sold as used to a qualified buyer since the law’s enactment on Aug. 16, 2022 — a restriction that could further constrain an already limited pool of eligible used EVs, such as older Leafs and Chevrolet Bolts.
“If it comes out later that a car was sold pre-owned prior — that it didn’t show up on a Carfax report — if that shows up later, is that something we’re liable for at this point?” DeSilva said. “What are we responsible to certify? That’s a concern.”
