Post Purchase CheckList/topics

[Conan]

I just got back from the Mossy Toyota in San Diego. Picked up a pearl white 2013 on a lease with the $15400 incentive and was able to haggle a good 2k amount on top (did the whole walk out thing, worked like a charm as they called me 40 minutes later accepting my offer).
I didn't get much info or support (probably cause I haggled a good deal) so I am hoping to get some help from you guys. I have spent a few hours researching a lot about this vehicle but the learning curve is huge. I am sure some of these answers have already been given. I am a huge google search advocate (lmgtfy.com) and prefer to find answers on my own. However, I believe it would be helpful to have all this info in one posting or possibly a sticky.

1- How to apply for $2500 California tax credit? Are there links to documents to print out? Can I apply online?
2- How can I get the sticker that allows you to drive in the HOV lane? it is a little ugly and I am wondering if I can drive in the HOV lane or park in those dedicated spaced without the sticker? From online searches, people have been getting ticketed for not having them displayed even though they had them in the vehicles. Anyone have experience with ticketing/getting pulled over?
3- The sales guy provided information on getting leather interior. I am wondering if I can just find a wrecked Rav4 EV limited and grab the leather seats from it or possibly the whole inside trim except for the dash. I am guessing ill lose the heated seat capability. Whats your experience with the leather interior and which color did you chose?
4- I heard about getting the reverse beeping sound removed through the dealership. Mine dealer doesn't seem to know anything about it. Anyway to DIY?
5- Are there settings I have to configure, things I have to connect or attach etc?
6- I have the Toyota Entune App on my phone as well as Bing, Plugshare and WattStation. Anything else?
7- Deals on chargers? I know about the Toyota recommended/provided charger. Its $1500, are there others that are of the same quality or better? maybe a summarized price/feature list would help here. I will be charging primarily at work (bing). On weekends ill use the 110v outlet in my garage just to get extra mileage.
8- I saw some R4EV's with "Tesla Inside" stickers. Although I don't want one, it would be nice to know where to get them. I couldn't find them on ebay or a simple google search. Any other cool stickers? I saw one on the tesla forum "ELECTRIC" written in the Tesla font. Was kinda cool.
9- I am interested in accessories such as roof racks, running boards, etc. I know you cant get those from Toyota for the EV. Can you get the Rav4 gas accessories and just throw them on the EV or do I have to find aftermarket parts? What accessories have you purchased and how do you like them?
10- Anything else should be added to this list? I am literally just driving it back from the dealership with absolutely no info, education or help what so ever. So I am very likely to have missed something important I need to do.

 

[commasign]

Welcome!

California $2500 Rebate
http://energycenter.org/clean-vehicle-rebate-project

California Free Charger (only available on day of purchase, subject to availability)
http://evsolutions.avinc.com/products/cec/eligibility_criteria

California HOV Stickers (need to have your plate number before applying)
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/decal.htm
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg1000.pdf

 

[arnolddeleon]

1. Yes you apply online CA rebate with links already provided.
2. The law doesn't say an EV grants you access to the HOV lane, having the stickers displayed does. Having an EV allows you to get stickers. I suspect you won't get much sympathy from a cop or judge. I think they look nice on the Blizzard Pearl. Take your time in mounting them. I put blue tape on to guide me in applying the stickers.
3. Don't have info on leather interiors however the car does share many parts with its gas guzzling brethren
4. Can't DIY the reverse beep unless you have appropriate diag computer or you track down the buzzer and permanently disable it (don't know what else it is used for). Any competent dealer should be able to make the change.
5. Activate the telematics (I forget the name at the moment). The thing that lets you press the SOS button and get data uploaded to entune.
6. Chargepoint is useful (get an account, many of the public stations are on their network)
7. You mean EVSEs or charging stations, the charger is in the car. Search the forum for Tesla UMC, evseupgrade and Juicebox for other EVSE options.
8. I'm pretty sure sticker purchase information is the forum: Stick "site:www.myrav4ev.com tesla inside sticker" in a Bing search bar. Built in fourm search kinda sucks.
9. Many accessories from 2012 gas version fit. The 2013 gas version changed so watch out.
10. Using Bing or your favorite search engine to search the forum if you have specific questions otherwise browse the topics. This site is not as overwhelming as others because there are so few of us.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I'm sure you can find some of the tidbits you need in this post:

**********************

The only differences between a 2013 and 2012 model year is a higher window sticker price, and the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) has a "D" the replaces the "C" in the 8th digit from the right. You will find the VIN through the front window, looking from the outside on the driver's side, at the bottom.

I do not expect that there will be many 2012 model year cars still available.


$7500 federal tax credit is on a purchase ONLY !!! Toyota does not pass this credit to you on a lease - CAVEAT EMPTOR!!! CHANGE FOR JULY 2013... For at least this month, they offer you the $7500 fed tax credit on a lease.

$2500 California state rebate only applies to lease or purchase for California only. Your state or province may also have incentives.

************************************************************

PURCHASE:

Includes Toyota Care, Free maintenance for 2 years.

$2000 - $4000 typical dealers discounts (the dealers are getting 2% "holdback", and the salesperson gets $1000 from Toyota USA and the sales manager get $500... don't worry about hammering them on a good deal)

$7500 federal tax credit purchase ONLY !!! (NOTE: Toyota does not pass this credit to you on a lease - CAVEAT EMPTOR). You get this when you file IRS form 8936 with your federal taxes. No carryovers to the following tax year, so you need to owe the IRS at least $7500 this year.

BE VERY CAREFUL THAT THE DEALER IS NOT SELLING YOU A USED CAR!!! YOU WILL NOT QUALIFY FOR THIS CREDIT. THIS IS A KNOWN DEALER SCAM, AS THEY TAKE THE $7,500 FEDERAL TAX CREDIT FOR THEMSELVES.

$2500 California state credit for lease or purchase; Apply here. Obviously, out-of-state buyers don't get this, but instead you will get your state or local government incentives. BE VERY CAREFUL THAT THE DEALER IS NOT SELLING YOU A USED CAR!!! YOU WILL NOT QUALIFY FOR THIS CREDIT. THIS IS A KNOWN DEALER SCAM, AS THEY TAKE THE $7,500 FEDERAL TAX CREDIT FOR THEMSELVES.

Sales tax - on an "in-state" purchase, you pay the applicable tax for your county/city. For an in state lease, you pay a "use tax" on the monthly payment. For out-of-state, you pay nothing to California with a proper Bill of Laden from a shipping company. DO NOT TAKE DELIVERY IN CALIFORNIA unless you want to pay our taxes!!! You will pay applicable taxes in your out-of-state jurisdiction. There's a whole thread devoted to out-of-state purchases and leases.


NOTE TO ALL OUT OF STATE BUYERS:

I recommend having a local California current Rav4 EV owner test drive your car at the dealer before shipping to you out of state. My particular car had excessive motor noise from new, so it will be easy to identify the same situation before the car is shipped to you.

IF YOUR CAR IS DELIVERED WITHOUT FUNCTIONING INTERIOR LIGHTS:

A pin is located in the engine bay passenger side fuse box to activate the lights. Inside that fuse box, there is a white "fuse" without any number and that is the "pin". Under the fuse cover, there is a location labeled "short". Put the "pin" into the "short" slot and interior function like light, garage door opener, external door handle switch will be activated.

Typical purchase deals for NEW (not used) should look like this:

New 2012 Rav4 EV (not used)


$50,870 Retail MSRP (inc floor mats and destination, add $200 for white)


($2,000-$4,000) Dealer Discount

($9,300 - $10,000) Toyota Cash with 0.0% interest for 60 months

$80 doc fee

$36,870 - $39,570 net cost plus tax and license. This is what you will pay in the dealership without tax or shipping from California to your out of state location.

$5,000 sales tax and license plates in California. Your state may vary wildly.


Then:

($7,500) Fed Tax Credit (you will get this with your taxes with form 8936)
($2,500) CA State Rebate (you will get this when you mail in a form)


$26,870 - $29,570 Total Net Cost plus tax/license

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Make sure your dealership ticked the correct box for "motive power" on the registration. If they incorrectly entered "gas", you'll need to get it corrected. In California, the DMV requests that the dealership complete Sections G & H of form "Reg 256". For section G, the sample response given was:

"Due to a clerical error on the Report of Sale, the motive power was entered as "gas (G)", when the actual motive power for this vehicle is "100% electric (E)". Please correct. No fraud intended."

The dealer then signs and dates Section H.

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Have you dealer set the reverse beeper that will blast you out of the car in reverse to a single beep. I highly recommend writing this in the contract, particularly for an out of state sale. You will not like this distracting beeping in reverse. Also, I recommend setting the auto door locks to whatever setting you want prior to delivery.

****************************

Apply for your California HOV lane stickers (less than $20) after you have a license plate issued to your car:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/decal.htm

 

[Ampster]

Just to be clear, the California credit is actually a cash rebate.

 

[Wintsnowride]

9- I am interested in accessories such as roof racks, running boards, etc. I know you cant get those from Toyota for the EV. Can you get the Rav4 gas accessories and just throw them on the EV or do I have to find aftermarket parts? What accessories have you purchased and how do you like them?

I have the running boards installed on my EV "WITHOUT" making any modifications to the brackets (99% of the running boards or nerf bars/side steps have brackets that won't fit on the EV because of the battery cover at the bottom of the car)...they fit perfectly without touching the battery cover below your SUV.

It is actually a pretty nice one...almost similar to the dealer installed ones on the X5 and MDX.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/For-07-12-Toyot ... 48&vxp=mtr

Took me less than 30 minutes to install...not sure how to attach pictures here but I have them.

As for the roof rack, I have it installed too and yes they are the same OEM ones for the regular RAV4 2006-2012. There are 4 little black plastic covers at the corners of the vehicle roof/top with an triangular arrow indicator on each (push towards that direction and lift up the cover). Underneath the cover have two bolts at each location (4 corners). Just remove them and install the rack on the pre-drilled holes. I would recommend not to buy it from the dealership because they are super expensive. Try eBay or Amazon for half the price and OEM quality.

 

[springs]

Does the incentive and lease DQ you from the Federal Tax Credit?

 

[miimura]

Does the incentive and lease DQ you from the Federal Tax Credit?

Only the owner of the vehicle can get the federal tax credit of $7,500. When you lease, you are not the owner. The leasing company is the owner. The lease incentive implicitly includes the tax credit. Why Toyota ever has a lease incentive less than $7,500 is a mystery to me.

 

[TonyWilliams]

... Why Toyota ever has a lease incentive less than $7,500 is a mystery to me.

Since they originally kept the ENTIRE $7500 until July 2013, I think they do it because.... they like money?

 

[danhsu]

For the Volt, Ally Financial keep "$5000" of the federal incentive as they only repass $2500 ... not sure if the Volt is $7500 but you got the whole idea..

 

[TonyWilliams]

For the Volt, Ally Financial keep "$5000" of the federal incentive as they only repass $2500 ... not sure if the Volt is $7500 but you got the whole idea..

The oil burner Volt is not eligible for $7500.

 

[user 340]

For the Volt, Ally Financial keep "$5000" of the federal incentive as they only repass $2500 ... not sure if the Volt is $7500 but you got the whole idea..

The oil burner Volt is not eligible for $7500.

I did get the full $7500 Fed tax credit for the 2013 Volt I purchased in 2012. The Fed tax credit is based on the battery capacity, and the 16 kWh Volt battery (total capacity, not all used) qualifies it for the full $7500 Fed credit. I'm sure that the GM lobbyists did their homework on that one.

However, the Volt qualifies for only a $1500 CA state rebate instead of the $2500 ones we get for our RAV4 EVs.