Poll: Did you buy or lease?

[voltedge]

It's pretty obvious what new technology is included in the volt! What other car does GM have that can do so many things like this on pure electric? Electric A/C and heat is one thing, what about the advanced heating and cooling systems for the battery pack? Oh, don't forget the advanced touch screen and display systems, regenerative braking system and of course the drive unit that recharges and powers the car. Most GM dealer technicians have never ever had to repair something this advanced and it is also a learning curve for them too I bet. I leased my car and am glad to have done so for these reasons. I hope it doesn't have a single issue for as long as I own it, but you never know what tomorrow holds. Furthermore, I could care less what Toyota does, this is GM and I can bet the bank that the volt is way more advanced than their car. Just saying.......

[Jedi2155]

While my first impressions of a serial-hybrid like the Volt was pretty simple (you connect an engine to generator to recharge the batteries!!) so simple right?! When I actually peered deeper into the way it was implemented, it is far more complex than I originally imagined. The control algorithms for the Voltec system is actually REALLY advanced, and no one has really done anything like it before. Especially a serial+parallel design like the Volt. Going pure serial-hybrid will not get the you the efficiency the Volt has, and GM has done a great job in integrating all the technology and masking its limitations to the end user.

I don't think any car competitor can just say, I want a Voltec style drive train without putting in a billion of their own dollars into developing it.

[DCFusor]

I believe that GM, in perhaps one of the few current good uses of the "eye pee" system, has patents on this drivetrain. Imagine actually patenting something that isn't utterly obvious to all already, and which doesn't have years of prior art in the wild first! Quite rare these days if you look at the dumb patents people are litigating over.

[ViperRT10Matt]

I was very close to pulling the trigger on a lease, but ended up buying instead. Here is why:
1. $800 acquisition cost.
2. My home state of PA offers a $3500 rebate, but to purchasers only. This is somewhat offset by the Ally credit of $3050, but I still give up $450.
3. Money factor. Even with my A-level credit, 1.9% equated to about $300 for me over the course of the lease.
4. My home state of PA charges 6% sales tax on purchases, but 9% total on leases. ($490 difference on the leased amount).

Another disadvantage to the lease: If for whatever reason I want out before three years, much more difficult to get out of a lease than to just sell a car you own outright. Also, no mileage concerns.

The biggest benefit of a lease is that you are totally shielded against any depreciation outside of what the residual indicates. If two years from now Volts start spontaneously combusting, that's not a problem for a lease.

In the end though, $2000 was simply too much to pay for that insurance, and I could afford the extra monthly payment that came with buying, so that's what I did.

[guyflyguy]

Leased the 2011 because I was concerned about the long tern value of the car.
Paid cash for the 2012 because I now feel the Volt is a real winner!

[swissness]

Paid cash for it, I was tired of car payments.
Finally reached my goal of not owning anything to any financial institution. No debt, no problems.

[2BeLivingGreen]

I considered leasing but ended up buying. I am glad I bought the VOLT since it is so fun to drive and it costs so little in energy costs to drive that I would have surely driven a leased one well over the annual miles. Or I would have parked it so I did not go over miles. As it is I plan to keep it a long, long time since it has little ICE usage and a simple transmission and it should last a long time. I know it is saving me money and will continue year after year. Great car!

[lawjds]

I think buying is a big risk two years from now when all these cars come off of lease who is going to buy them? The value has got to fall big time in my mind!

[bro1999]

I think buying is a big risk two years from now when all these cars come off of lease who is going to buy them? The value has got to fall big time in my mind!

So roughly, a little over 30k Volts have be sold since the Volt was introduced in the US. Let's say half of those were leased. So 15k Volts will hit the used car market in the next 2-3 years. Assuming every single person that leased a Volt returns it, roughly 5k Volts a year will hit the used car market the next 3 years.

In 2011, 38.7 million used cars were purchased in the US, with 41+ million projected to be sold in 2013 and beyond. 5,000/41 million = 0.0012%. So Volts will make up no more than 0.0012% of the total number of used cars hitting the used car market the next few years. "all those Volts" equals 0.0012% of used cars, which is statistically insignificant. There will be a plethora of used car shoppers to scoop up those 5k Volts coming off leases. In fact, once the 7.5k federal tax credit is phased out, that could only help increase the resale value of used electric vehicles. As new EVs won't have that $7.5k carrot to dangle in front of buyers, used EV purchases will become more attractive. And demand will far outweigh supply.

[PowerTrip]

I leased because of the following reasons (in no particular order):

1. I want the latest-and-greatest next generation Volt when it arrives
2. Being new technology, I didn't want to be stuck with this technology when:
   1. the inevitable newer technology comes out, and/or
   2. this new technology has software glitches and bugs