California $5k Credit : Any way to know for sure?

So $5k is a lot of money to gamble with. It seems to be that there is no way to know BEFORE you make your purchase whether or not you will get the $5k credit. They say you can check there website the day of your purchase, but I expect the whole kitty to be gone that first day. Anyone else bothered by this? The $5k is literally a dealbreaker for me. The federal tax credit isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so I might as well wait till next year unless the California credit is there.

Have you been to the website? Seems like they had a lot of money set aside for this, and the fact that the cars are going to come at a rather slow rate would seem like insurance. They have four million set aside, seems like at 5k a pop it will take a little while.

No, I'm not bothered by it that much....money left for 820 cars as it stands right now. Plus they were talking about adding some more to the pot. Plus I'm down for an early vehicle delivery. Plus I know that you can put in your request for money 14 days in advance of having a registration document, which not a lot of people will realize.

The trick is going to be how quickly you get your car. What order wave are you?

Check here for a chart showing available funds. I seem to recall 6% used a couple of weeks ago. We should have a thread that tracks this, may be on a weekly basis ? Here's the first entry:

http://energycenter.org/index.php/incentive-programs/clean-vehicle-rebate-project/cvrp-program-status


Edit: make table above more readable.

Just read that California boosted the till to a little over 8 million. Not sure how many cars that works out to.

I have a question, do you apply when you order the car or do you have to wait for actual delivery and take possession of it for reserving your rebate?

How do I know what order wave I'm in? The only email I've gotten tells me I'm going to be able to order in August. But as far as I know that goes for everybody in California, as well.

I heard a rumor that San Diego is getting their cars first. I'm in Los Angeles. The $4.1 million is 820 cars. I imagine that will take care of the San Diego orders and no more.

They are rolling out 1 wave per month starting in august. If you got an email saying you can order in august then you are in wave 1. Great for you. As far as who is getting cars first let me give some info based on what I know. I run the dealer in San Diego that has the most leaf reservations. Today I met with the leaf team who is helping me get my dealership ready for the car. I was the 1st one they have been to (ever). San Diego is an etec market. Nissan knows in order for the car to work the infrastructure has to be in place (etec). So if you were Nissan where would you launch you car to insure the greatest success? If your la dealer is going to charge over msrp, you should talk to me.

When your LEAF actually arrives, file for the rebate, get confirmation the $$ are reserved for you, then go pay for the car and take possession.

If no Rebate $$ are available for you, decide to either buy or walk away.

Mossy, I will keep you in mind. Thanks. Of course, San Diego is 134 miles away - out of leaf range!

WWBD said:

Mossy, I will keep you in mind. Thanks. Of course, San Diego is 134 miles away - out of leaf range!

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Not with the infrastructure that will be in place prior to the arrival of the car.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/photos/2010/aug/03/205733/ (map of proposed charging stations in greater SD area)

The San Diego "charger" system will not all be in place by the time we get our LEAFs. The EVProject is due to start gathering data mid 2011, I believe, so most of the charge-stations will probably be in service by mid-year, if all goes well.

In any case, a 134 mile trip at freeway speeds might need two recharges, one well before getting to the San Diego "area" where these "many" chargers are located.

I think they will find the L2 charge stations not "very" useful (because they are so slow with the LEAF, and too-often "blocked" or "in use"), and perhaps too few L3 stations to really count on using. But, we shall see.

I am considering flat bedding to people who are beyond the mileage range. The beauty is you never even need to visit the dealer to place the order. You must know that you are in a very small minority of people who can order in august. It is really important that you place your order as quickly as possible for a december delivery for they are going to send out more order invitations than they have cars because they do not have any idea of what the fallout rate is going to be. The august orders that come in over the exceeded december delivery amount will be pushed back a month or more.

garygid said:

When your LEAF actually arrives, file for the rebate, get confirmation the $$ are reserved for you, then go pay for the car and take possession.

If no Rebate $$ are available for you, decide to either buy or walk away.

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I don't believe you can actually file until you have the car "in hand."

Yes, you can reserve funds before purchase, and then you have about 14 days to get all the paperwork sent in.

garygid said:

Yes, you can reserve funds before purchase, and then you have about 14 days to get all the paperwork sent in.

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Ok, darn near in hand <grin>...

Certainly getting more exciting!

Be sure to read and check all the rebate details carefully at their web site.
They might possibly have changed some of their "reservation" details.