2016 SEL - good deal?

I'm considering getting a new 2016 SEL, but wondering how good of a deal it is with the 2017s practically knocking down the door.

Sale price (includes all incentives/rebates I'm eligible for): $19,500

Any chance to go lower?

I'm in the same boat. I stopped in on a whim this weekend to see if they had the 2017's and the 2016 deals were really good. The extra range would be nice but for extra 8-10K off the top it might be worth going with the car they have now. I don't think it will go much lower (personal opinion) purely because they won't be getting more. So the cost is low enough for someone (maybe you maybe not). Once they sell then the 2017's come in and most of those incentives just vanish.

I'm going to speculate here based on previous Volkswagen history. VW has so many 2016 still on the lot waiting to be sold but they will introduce the new larger battery model as a 2018 model which will probably come out sometime after July 2017.

In other words, believe it when you see them on your number on the Volkswagen dealers Lots. There are 2017 year models being tested in Europe with the larger batteries and for sale right now in Germany Holland and Finland. But that probably will not happen in Northern America. Volkswagen will use Europeans as beta testers comma but has never used the North American Market as beta testers too expensive to maintain Spears for parts here.

I have been watching the inventory in the SF Bay area over the past month; the number is 10 right now for my immediate area and will probably be in the single digits this week. I saw a YouTube video over the weekend of a VW marketing person talking in front of a new 2017 e-Golf in LA. I suspect the 2017 e-Golf will be on sale by June, so I bet now is a good time to get a 2016. It's up to you if you can live with the 83 mile EPA range. I don't see a big difference in the cars other than the battery size. If you really want to have the additionally safety features such as automatic emergency braking, cross traffic alert, etc., then you will need to get the top of the line 2017 SEL, which will probably cost more than you'd like to pay. Good luck!

My quick online search shows 192 e-Golf cars within 150 miles of San Francisco. There are four dealers that have more than 20 cars each. That is probably 2 months supply. We don't know if there are any more 2016's inbound or held by VW America "at port".

Normally, I would say that VW should just skip the 2017 model year and go straight to calling them 2018's. However, the CARB rules probably play into this because the credits they earn are tied to the model year designated on the cars. VW may want or need to earn the credits on the new 125 mile cars for the 2017 model year and want to get those credits before other competitive cars like the Tesla Model 3 come into the market in significant volume.

Duckbucket88 said:

sale price (includes all incentives/rebates I'm eligible for): $19,500

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It's hard to comment because we don't know which rebates your eligible for, but we've seen a couple 2016 SELs advertised at $28.5k. That's about what Hayward was doing in July. I'd consider those exceptional deals well below invoice and doubt you can go any lower.

miimura said:

the CARB rules probably play into this because the credits they earn are tied to the model year designated on the cars.

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Interesting. I didn't know model year factored in.

I think your price is still bit high. I just leased a 2016 e-golf SE for 30 months 10k/year. the MSRP of the car was ~$32k. 7.5k fed 2.5k state. leaves the car at $22k. There was a $4k to finance the car through VW. $18k. I came out of pocket $900 (with the 2.5k factored in) for drive offs. I just got my first bill and logged in to to see my payoff amount - it's less than $16k. Hope this helps a bit.

OP was talking about a 2016 SEL with MSRP in the $36k-37k range, so it's still an apples or orange comparison, with rebate numbers further complicating things.

The strength of the deal really boils down the sale price's percentage off MSRP. At this point a buyer should be trying to hit 25%, seeing as this model has been available over 18 months. I tip my hat to anyone doing better, because at that point the dealer is surely selling at a significant loss.

johnnylingo said:

OP was talking about a 2016 SEL with MSRP in the $36k-37k range, so it's still an apples or orange comparison, with rebate numbers further complicating things.

The strength of the deal really boils down the sale price's percentage off MSRP. At this point a buyer should be trying to hit 25%, seeing as this model has been available over 18 months. I tip my hat to anyone doing better, because at that point the dealer is surely selling at a significant loss.

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You've no idea what kind of incentives, kick backs, etc, VW of America is offering back to dealerships to move these things off of their dealership lots. If selling one more car at month end entitles the dealership to a huge % cost reduction for all cars sold in inventory that month, then it's not a loss, in the grand scheme of things.

JoulesThief said:

If selling one more car at month end entitles the dealership to a huge % cost reduction for all cars sold in inventory that month, then it's not a loss, in the grand scheme of things.

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Fair point. I'd add to that CARB credits, which I have a feeling is why VW overloaded the dealers with e-Golfs last summer.

In general terms though, it's nearly unheard of to do better than 25% off original MSRP. EVs are perhaps a different story due to rebates and technology, but I don't think the dealers have quite comprehended that yet.

Dealer has offered me $1000 below invoice on a 2016 SE w/DCFC. Invoice is $30,351. Less 6k current incentive, and $7500 tax credit = $15,851.

Not including tax incentive, this is a 26% off MSRP. Good deal?

I see people suggesting a 20-25% below MSRP is what these should be selling for, but does that include the VW incentives or should I be able to do 20-25% off BEFORE incentives ?

Once upon a time, VW was in the news daily with bad news.

It was so bad, that few people trusted the VW brand, except perhaps those brand loyal to VW, that were still going down to VW dealerships in North America. A few of us negotiated about 10 to 11k off of MSRP on year end 2015 e-Golf SEL's that were loaded, with a MSRP of $36,300.

If this sounds like a fairy tale, it's because it was a fairy tale for almost all, except the few that had the skills to negotiate such deals, and knew that the timing was a once in a lifetime event. Back then, it could be done, now... it remains to be seen who can pull it off.

Then, at least for me, in California, I qualified for a $7500 federal income tax credit, and a $2500 State of California rebate also. Roughly, I saw about $21000 off of MSRP, when all was said and done. Nowadays, yes, it does sound like a fairy tale.

What's the 6k incentive?

found a new 2015 sel with 96 miles for $22,900 before $7500 incentive (including shipping it to me in ohio), that is a pretty significant discount off msrp ~$36,500.. local dealer said they will be offering 2017 model by the end of the summer. hard to pass up as the second car in the household.

newbiegolfer said:

found a new 2015 sel with 96 miles for $22,900 before $7500 incentive (including shipping it to me in ohio), that is a pretty significant discount off msrp ~$36,500.. local dealer said they will be offering 2017 model by the end of the summer. hard to pass up as the second car in the household.

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Wow! That's a nice find. I was hoping to do the same with a 2016 Kia Soul EV (unlike the e-Golf the 2017s Souls have been around awhile) but the dealers in the Bay Area had just sold out of them. As of a couple weeks ago there were still a few in the Sacramento area. I believe there's something like $10-14K incentives before the $7,500 federal one. But maybe I should have gone for it because transporting from Sac isn't that bad.