State of Tennessee $2,500 Rebate Discussion

[CWO4Mann]

I thought it best to start a new thread specific to discussing how Tennessee's Department of Revenue is dealing with the state rebate. According to the State of TN's Dept of Revenue website, the EV Purchase Rebate is official. Now, for the details: I, starting from zero knowledge, called the Dept of Revenue's main number, 615-253-0600 to enquire about how the program works. I figured that like anything with a government involved, there would be a form to fill out. After several people, I spoke to a person who advised me to call 888-998-2546 "as they will know something about this". The Dept of Revenue person confessed that she had heard about the program but did not have any other information and neither did she know of any "form" to fill out -- which seems strange since anytime a government body is going to hand out money they always have at least one form to fill out and sign.

888-998-2546 turned out to be the Blink Help Line. I spoke with a very helpful and gracious lady, Dianna, who established a conference call with the Nissan Leaf folks. Stephen, Dianna and I discussed the situation. Nissan's answer was that they did not have much information about local tax issues, which I expected, since they can't be in the business of giving out state specific advice. Dianna at Blink went through various web sites, including this one, and advised that as far as she could ascertain, the $2,500 was an actual deduction from the MSRP of the Leaf and would be subtracted at the sale of the vehicle.

I told them that the Pro Forma invoice tendered by Nissan of Cool Springs had no mention of the $2,500 subtraction from the MSRP. One of our regulars here on this forum advised that "the dealer was being a dealer", and I certainly agree. They can't be expected to stay in business and offer up cuts from their sales without customer negotiation and demand.

After a very agreeable conversation with Dianna and Stephen I advised that my next step would be back to Nissan of Cool Springs for further negotiating. My expectation is that they will subtract the $2,500 rebate directly from the MSRP in accordance with both the State of TN program and Nissan's HQ guidance to them. I will post again after the next step.

I am curious as to how others in Tennessee have encountered this rebate situation and your response would be helpful to the novice Leaf buyer.

Regards,

Dave

 

[TNleaf]

CWO4Mann,

When I went in to purchase my LEAF, I brought this up when discussing the price/numbers with the finance guy. The $2,500 came off of the MSRP, AT the dealer. There was no paper-work for me to fill out, it was made clear to me by the finance guy that it was up to the dealer to fill out this paperwork to get reimbursed by the state.

If you have any specific questions, send me a PM and I'll get back to you.

 

[CWO4Mann]

CWO4Mann,

When I went in to purchase my LEAF, I brought this up when discussing the price/numbers with the finance guy. The $2,500 came off of the MSRP, AT the dealer. There was no paper-work for me to fill out, it was made clear to me by the finance guy that it was up to the dealer to fill out this paperwork to get reimbursed by the state.

If you have any specific questions, send me a PM and I'll get back to you.

Thank you for the info .. I've contacted the local dealer and am now waiting to hear back from him. Should be interesting to see how they try to squirm out of it; Possibility exists I am sure that they could fail to include the $2,500 rebate on the invoice and then claim it afdter the purchase and that would be pure profit into the dealer's hands. Stranger things have happened in the world of auto dealers.

Dave

 

[redLEAF]

More curious than anything else ... sounds like these were outright purchases and NOT leases?

Reason I ask is that IL EPA rebate will only cover actual purchases and not leases (ours is up to $4K or 10% of MSRP whichever is less but we need to fill out a form, etc, and wait 4 to 6 months for a check)

 

[kennyboy]

Got my Leaf in Johnson City, TN this past Tuesday.

Had a devil of a time during the negotiation process finding out ANYTHING about the TN $2,500 rebate. I couldn't even find out if it was still available.

Nissan website said it was dealer's business to take it off the price and then claim it for themselves.

It referenced the TN Dept. of Revenue as a source of info.

The dealer seemed to be saying that it did NOT come off the price and that it was something that I would do and claim on a form. I called the Dept. of Revenue and they said it was something the DEALER does. Very confusing.

To make a long story short, after all was said and done, the dealer actually produced the form that we filled out, which I signed, assigning the $2,500 rebate to the dealer.

Mine didn't come off the price of the vehicle, but will instead be used to pay for the purchase and installation of my 240v home charging station.

Your dealer should have the form.

 

[davewill]

... Mine didn't come off the price of the vehicle, but will instead be used to pay for the purchase and installation of my 240v home charging station. ...

Your dealer is installing your EVSE? Or did they hand you the money, and you simply intend to use it for that?

 

[kennyboy]

Your dealer is installing your EVSE? Or did they hand you the money, and you simply intend to use it for that?

The form assigns the rebate to them, so they will receive it.

They could either take it off the price or, as in my case, use it to pay for the home charger install.

I saw where Nissan dropped the price of the charger and install to $1800 something, but my garage is as far away as humanly possible from my breaker box, so there WILL be some work involved in my install. I was content to sign over the rebate and let the dealer handle the install.

They might make a little extra money if the install comes in cheap enough or they might break even. I guess they would rather do this than just take it off the price since it might snag them a little extra profit.

The actual install will be done by whatever that company is that does all the installs.

Nothing is scheduled yet.

 

[frodrick]

More curious than anything else ... sounds like these were outright purchases and NOT leases?

Reason I ask is that IL EPA rebate will only cover actual purchases and not leases (ours is up to $4K or 10% of MSRP whichever is less but we need to fill out a form, etc, and wait 4 to 6 months for a check)

Our lease had $10,000 (state + federal) applied as a cap cost reduction. There didn't appear to be any paperwork to fill out specific to the $2,500 TN rebate.

 

[kmp647]

Got my Leaf in Johnson City, TN this past Tuesday.

Had a devil of a time during the negotiation process finding out ANYTHING about the TN $2,500 rebate. I couldn't even find out if it was still available.

Nissan website said it was dealer's business to take it off the price and then claim it for themselves.

It referenced the TN Dept. of Revenue as a source of info.

The dealer seemed to be saying that it did NOT come off the price and that it was something that I would do and claim on a form. I called the Dept. of Revenue and they said it was something the DEALER does. Very confusing.

To make a long story short, after all was said and done, the dealer actually produced the form that we filled out, which I signed, assigning the $2,500 rebate to the dealer.

Mine didn't come off the price of the vehicle, but will instead be used to pay for the purchase and installation of my 240v home charging station.

Your dealer should have the form.

Kenny , I hope that the buyers order or agreement states that the dealer is responsible for $2500 of the install of evse

is it stated on your purchase agreement , do you have it in writing?

 

[kennyboy]

Kenny , I hope that the buyers order or agreement states that the dealer is responsible for $2500 of the install of evse

is it stated on your purchase agreement , do you have it in writing?

Yes, I had them write it on the Buyer's Order.

They said it, and then I asked them to write it down.

They wrote, "Includes home charging station."

Then I asked them to add "and installation".

 

[redLEAF]

Kenny , I hope that the buyers order or agreement states that the dealer is responsible for $2500 of the install of evse

is it stated on your purchase agreement , do you have it in writing?

Yes, I had them write it on the Buyer's Order.

They said it, and then I asked them to write it down.

They wrote, "Includes home charging station."

Then I asked them to add "and installation".

Good catch -- it's interesting the approach that TN took on this, my home charger 'install' was a lot less than $2,500 but if yours appears to be a bit more difficult (as well as AV branded charger + their 'contract' electrician) that it's probably a decent deal. I really like/prefer the reduction in cap cost of $10K ($7,500 Fed + $2,500 State) as you take advantage of both right away w/o forms or waiting for tax return or checks, etc. but getting a 'free' charger install is also a great benefit. Kudos to TN for being this creative with the EV intro