2020 Chevy Bolt Pricing - Buying Guide

FinallygoingEV

My interest in the Bolt is driven by

1) Solid positive rating by Bolt owners over past 3 years
2) Fun to drive, fast acceleration and good handling
3) 240+ mile real range
4) Hatchback / cargo space
5) Good leg / headroom in front and back row
6) significant price gap between bolt and model 3

the Kia/Hyundai
1) is unproven
2) not readily available in my town but could get in my state
3) priced about the same as a model 3

Bottom line, if I was buying and EV for $35,000+ I’d buy a model 3...Tesla technology is just much better than all the others and rear wheel drive offers even better driving experience in my opinion. Plus the Tesla autopilot features and ongoing updates are intriguing.

If I can get a 2019 Bolt premier in my state for under $28,000 or a 2020 for $32,000 I’d probably buy the Bolt...I just can’t get to those prices yet in Texas. I’d prefer the 2020 if I knew I could hit the $32,000 price.

If I cant buy the bolt by mid December I will need to make a decision on the model 3 as the tax incentive ends for Tesla end this year.

I think a purchase is more likely mid December for a multitude of market factors...but I will see how things play out in November.

After 60 days of shopping and haggling, I finally bought my 2019 Bolt LT and drove it home yesterday.

Car purchased in Texas - October 26, 2019

I ended up buying this car over a 2020 for a few reasons

1) Car was manufactured in August 2019 - this was a major factor as I listed above my concern about the cars from May/June having sat in the sun too long. I didn't even realize there were 2019s built in August until a few days ago

2) Lowest Absolute Price - I'm not sure how long I will keep my Bolt so i wanted to make sure I could sell it without taking a big loss. I personally think used shoppers will be very focused on the absolute price, so spending $2,500 - $3,000 less than buying a Premier will help me with resale down the road. I also didn't see a lot of value in the Premier features (personal opinion)

3) 2017-2019 battery packs are rock solid. While I'd expect the 2020s to be better, who knows?

4) 2020 pricing is still a gamble

5) Final OTD price was very competitive, especially for Texas...details below

2019 Chevy Bolt LT
Build Date - 08/19
MSRP - $40,325
Price Paid - $25,512 plus TTL and $150 document fee

Additional Discounts
Costco Seasons of Savings (Executive) - $700
Texas State EV Credit - $2,500
Fed State EV Credit - $1,875
GM Earnings - (Use these if you have them, I had a lot of points for extra savings - they also reduce selling price so they save you on sales tax too)

Price after savings $20,437 + TTL (not including my GM Earnings savings)

finallygoingev said:

Thanks for keeping us updated and your final outcome. Congrats! Nice that you got an August 2019 one.

Wanted to ask, did you go in with the "Costco Invoice" price or did you just flat out ask them for 24k and haggled to the final $25,512 price?

I didn't want to bother a dealer yet with Costco pricing if I can do better just haggling. I can also upgrade to the Executive membership for the $700 vs. $300 cash back.

Thanks for sharing again!

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Everyone's experience may vary.

1) Costco pricing for me was not helpful. Every dealer gave me different Costco pricing. You get the rebate regardless of price paid (if the dealer is enrolled).

2) I thought that a Premier should be $28,000 so I went to dealers and tried to negotiate a price by offering an OTD price of $28,000 thinking i'd negotiate up...didn't work...they just shut me down right away and said I was crazy (but I wasn't)

3) I then went to the dealers who I found on CarGurus.com and Cars.com that had the lowest advertised prices. I had luck with one dealer who offered me a Premier for $30,400 with no dealer add ons, but that was not a good price for October (maybe for September) and the car had a June build date...so I passed. Some other dealer had a Premier for $29,200...I tried to buy this car and they had all sorts of dealer add ons like window tinting, nitrogen in the tires, and an added fee of $535 for the EVSE that is actually included with the car. I left the dealership very frustrated. They called me a week later but never gave me an OTD offer in writing. So I moved on.

4) On Friday I found this deal and it had its struggles too. But I got lucky and the stars were aligned for me. The Sales Manager who called me back really wanted to do a deal. And for whatever reason, I gave him a little latitude. After many texts and phone calls, we went from $2500 of bogus fees to $250. Was I happy to pay $250 in bogus fees...no. In principal I wanted to not deal with this dealership. But when I put my emotions asside and looked at the OTD price, it was awesome! So I put my principals on pause and made sure I was SUPER THOROUGH to prevent any last minute surprises with the deal. When I went to get my car it was an amazingly good experience. The dealerships was super professional, courteous and efficient. If only the whole buying process was like this...oh well. So my advice is to realize you may need to deal with some pain to get a good price. You may need to give the salesperson a small win in order to keep the deal alive. As long as the final OTD price is excellent, who cares how you add up the numbers to get there. Just make sure you pay attention to EVERY detail throughout the entire process (sales / finance / trade...whoever you deal with at dealership...everyone is incentivized to sell you something you don't need.)

sun said:

Congras!!! $25,512 + TTL is an steal!!! Does it come with any packages (Convenience I, etc.).

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It was loaded

• LT Model
• Nightfall Grey
• Comfort and Convenience Package
• Driver Confidence Package
• Driver Confidence II
• DC Fast Charging
• 120V EVSE Portable Charger (a second charger)

It had everything I wanted (except the second charger) and nothing I didn't like tire inflators or floor mats (it comes with standard carpeted mats)

So overall I was super happy I found this car.

Having driven now 350 miles, I am very impressed.

finallygoingev said:

Wanted to ask, for the Costco Executive member cash back, did you fill out the Dealer/Costco info prior to purchase or just made sure the dealer got the Costco info before hand? I wasn't sure if you needed to complete that prior to a dealer visit or can handle it after the fact.

Congrats again! I don't see deals that good advertised here yet, but about 2k more than your price without any of the extras.

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‘This was an atypical deal. I got very lucky. It was about $3000 less than other dealers.

Checking prices daily really paid off for me.

there should be better deals in November so be persistent and patient.

Regarding Costco

1) make sure you get pre-authorized for that dealer before buying the car via Costco auto website or via phone

2) negotiate best price

3) when you buy car hand sales person printout with your Costco authorization number so they enter it into system

4) after purchase go to Costco auto and register purchase

5) 4 weeks later you get phone survey

6) at week 8 you get Costco gift card for $700