Thoughts on buying a hybrid car for your family in Connecticut
Dads, now might be the best time to buy a hybrid car for your family.
This year, the Internal Revenue Service modified its guidelines in the Used Clean Vehicle Credit that it offers to anyone buying a used hybrid.
Right now, the government offers a $4,000 tax credit to anyone who buys one of the approved hybrid vehicles currently in service if it’s priced at $25,000 or lower. It was in the Inflation Reduction Act. Remember that one from 2022?
Turns out not many do: more than half of the country is aware of these credits, so even fewer have likely heard about this change, which took effect in January. I only learned about it in the course of buying a van for my family.
And this change significantly increases the affordability of a used hybrid car, because it allows the buyer to take advantage of the credit at the point of purchase. Previously, you had to file a form for the tax year you bought the vehicle and get it later.
So all you have to do is find a qualifying car and participating dealership.
You can choose to take $4,000 or 30-percent off the sale price now or on your taxes. The dealer gets the rebate back in three days after they process the paperwork.
The biggest hurdle I’ve encountered so far has been dealers. Many dealerships I talked to were unfamiliar with the changes or unsure how it worked.
Because there’s some fine print. You have to meet the income cap requirements in the year you buy it or the year before.
All that can be found on the IRS web site. What’s more is that if you choose to take the credit now, only have to attest that you expect that you qualify.
If you find out that you were wrong when you file your taxes, the IRS will expect you to return it, but there’s language in the guidelines that suggests they can’t take it back from you.
One of the available vehicles is the 2022 Chrysler Pacifica, which has a 30-mile electric range. When I was looking, I found three Pacificas that qualified within an hour radius from me. I know what you’re thinking: but a Chrysler Pacifica? I get it, but where else are you going to get a 2-year old minivan for your family for under $20,000?
And after driving one, I can say that it is a perfectly acceptable and utilitarian van. It won’t excite you, or anyone else, but you knew that when you decided you needed to buy a van in the first place.
So Dad, maybe you don’t need a minivan. Maybe you need a first car for your kid. Maybe you just want to save some money and do some small thing for the environment, like this Dad.
If that’s the case, I also found a Chevy Bolt, Honda Clarity and Toyota Prius Prime.
And that savings has the potential to double over the life of the car compared to that gas-guzzling SUV you’ve been cramming your family into. That obviously depends on how you drive, how much you drive or how diligent you are about charging it.
We have two girls under 4, and one beagle over 10 , and things were starting to feel tight on car rides.
We knew it was only a matter of time before we needed a van.
Parenting is a whirlwind of milestones. Like when you realize that you can’t do whatever you used to do after bedtime anymore because your kids don’t have a bedtime anymore.
I recently took my kid to the Peppa Pig movie, her first time in a theater. After an onslaught of advertisements and product placement, we got to an episode about the family’s new magic campervan. It had lofted beds that folded out, wings, and it floated. You could even buy a toy one for your child from the giant QR code on the screen.
She’s been talking about getting a van since.
Our family ended up not taking advantage of the credit or buying the Pacifica. We bought something else. The family loves it, even if the first question out of our toddler’s mouth was “does it fly or float?” It has made our lives so much easier. Everything fits, with room for more. And that’s why, Dad, you resign yourself to having a van. For space.
This summer, we plan to take our grandmother, who is 88 and mostly uses a wheelchair, to Canada with all of us. My grandmother used to drive a Dodge Caravan, and I loved that van. I associate it with long trips together to her small cottage in Canada. I made a lot of memories in that van.
And we expect to make even more memories in our own.