Used Clarity Prices

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Timothy

Timothy

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We like our Clarity so much we would consider buying a second one in another year when many (well relatively many, since so little were made) begin coming off lease. My hope is that with EV enthusiasts often wanting the best and newest tech, these will be a good deal. Out of curiosity I took a look at used Claritys listed on Autotrader. The first options I am seeing (I searched nation-wide) are one with 12k miles for $30k and one with 10k miles for $34k. The other offers are in that range. That is more than we paid (OTD) after the Federal tax credit for our brand new Clarity. How can this be? If we could get that sort of price for ours (we're not selling) we could make money on the sale even after driving the car for a year. My hopes of buying a second Clarity off-lease have been crushed. My wife and I will have to keep sharing.
 
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Well, the way I see it, someone is asking for a 30K+ price, no one has yet paid them. Also remember the Federal Tax CREDIT might not be applicable to all. So these posts might be from dealers who want to first lease the new car (claim tax credit) and then again use the MSRP as a means to confuse potential buyers into believing its just a super low mileage car on a deal.
 
KBB has decent pricing. You really want to look at "Private Party Value" (under price my car) to see a good price to pay. Retail or dealer pricing is probably high. Expect that a dealer paid less than trade in value for it to see how much room you might have to deal with them.

Looking at my 2018 Clarity Touring with 30,000 miles in "good" shape and Private Party is $26,500. I paid MSRP for it of $37,500, but after tax credit I am only in $30,000. That is actually really good depreciation looking against post tax credit value. Some people paid less than the Private Party price after discounts and tax credits. Same as with the Volt, if you shop for a deal on a new one you can actually drive a Clarity for almost no cost for a few years. I have no idea how strong the used market is on a Clarity though, it might be hard to sell it might not. I don't plan on trying for at least 6 years.
 
Timothy said:
We like our Clarity so much we would consider buying a second one in another year when many (well relatively many, since so little were made) begin coming off lease. My hope is that with EV enthusiasts often wanting the best and newest tech, these will be a good deal. Out of curiosity I took a look at used Claritys listed on Autotrader. The first options I am seeing (I searched nation-wide) are one with 12k miles for $30k and one with 10k miles for $34k. The other offers are in that range. That is more than we (OTD) after the Federal tax credit for our brand new Clarity. How can this be? If we could get that sort of price for ours (we're not selling) we could make money on the sale even after driving the car for a year. My hopes of buying a second Clarity off-lease have been crushed. My wife and I will have to keep sharing.
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It's too bad you can't click on SOLD prices like you can on eBay. They're often very different than the asking prices. Clearly, these sellers want you to compare their asking prices to the MSRP, not to the post-Fed tax credit prices they paid. Let's see, $34K is about $3.5K off MSRP for a Touring--would you sell your Clarity Touring right now for $26K? Even if sellers didn't find a way to take the $7.5K Fed tax credit, buyers don't care--they're not looking to make up for the sellers' tax problems.

It will be very interesting to see what the $14K Clarity PHEVs coming off lease in a year or so will be selling for. The price and features of the 2020 Clarity (if there is a 2020 Clarity) will have a big effect on used 2018 Clarity prices.
 
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No one is buying even a used touring for over 25k with any condition, trust me, it is from common sense. Cars depreciates big the moment you drive them otd. My touring finnally will cost me a bit over 27k after all credits, buyers apparently will compare the asking price with this, not the msrp 37400, they are not knowing nothing.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
You'll find the same thing with many EV's. A nationwide search of the Chevy Bolt finds only a few priced much below MSRP minus Tax Credit. One of those has significant hail damage.
And, as noted above, not everyone qualifies for the entire Fed Tax Credit. this is even more true in the used car market.
Round numbers for AGI required in 2018
Single - $65K
Married/Joint - $90K

The median household income in the US for 2017 was ~$61K. Well over half (and possibly approaching 3/4 factoring in household size) of the population would not qualify for the full Tax Credit.
 
JulianClarity said:
No one is buying even a used touring for over 25k with any condition, trust me, it is from common sense. Cars depreciates big the moment you drive them otd. My touring finnally will cost me a bit over 27k after all credits, buyers apparently will compare the asking price with this, not the msrp 37400, they are not knowing nothing.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
Click to expand...
People did this regularly with the Volt, buy with tax credits and discounts, drive for a year or two and sell what they paid or close to it. Not everyone is eligible or even aware of the tax credits. This will depend a lot on local markets too.

Edit: argh, the save your text feature is really annoying on the phone, it always remembers your previous typed text and is hard to get rid of it. I thought I had deleted old text. I think I succeeded now...
 
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Depending on what state you’re in, people will always attempt to charge a premium when reselling a car that provides access to HOV lanes. At least, that has been my experience in southern CA. Doesn’t mean they’ll get that price, but given how our traffic is, the attempt to charge a premium wouldn’t surprise me at all.
 
I think gas prices will have a big influence also. If they ever hit $4 again, like many years back, used EVs will be in high demand.
 
With dealer discount ($2000 but it was the dealer's first Clarity and the discounts are much higher today), tax credit, and state rebate, our Clarity cost about $27000 out of pocket when new (not including sales tax). Someone today can easily but a brand new one in my state for effectively $25,000 - $26000 so why would anyone pay me more than $22,000 for my 1+ year old Clarity? Heck, if someone paid me $23,000, they'd be a sucker. After all, would you buy a used car when a brand new one costs just $2,000 more?
 
If you hold it for 3 years tax credits will be cut significantly, then used prices will adjust accordingly.
 
Viking79 said:
People did this regularly with the Volt, buy with tax credits and discounts, drive for a year or two and sell what they paid or close to it. Not everyone is eligible or even aware of the tax credits. This will depend a lot on local markets too.

Edit: argh, the save your text feature is really annoying on the phone, it always remembers your previous typed text and is hard to get rid of it. I thought I had deleted old text. I think I succeeded now...
Click to expand...

How about now? Sent from my iPhone 8plus? :D
Thank you, Idid not bother looking to solve this problem if you did not complained. That reminded me of the old days when the first few gens of iPhones came out, I was almost mad when I saw sent from my iPhone in emails from some others to me.
 
DucRider said:
You'll find the same thing with many EV's. A nationwide search of the Chevy Bolt finds only a few priced much below MSRP minus Tax Credit. One of those has significant hail damage.
And, as noted above, not everyone qualifies for the entire Fed Tax Credit. this is even more true in the used car market.
Round numbers for AGI required in 2018
Single - $65K
Married/Joint - $90K

The median household income in the US for 2017 was ~$61K. Well over half (and possibly approaching 3/4 factoring in household size) of the population would not qualify for the full Tax Credit.
Click to expand...
Oh, I did not notice about this, now I understand. Maybe I can buy and sell a few cars to make some money? :)
 
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