Chevy Bolt | Fat Wallet Refugee

I’m almost to the finish line.

I got some helpful input from my relatives on which cars they had good opinions of. After reviewing my options I have finally settled on the 2020 Chevy Bolt EV.

The Bolt gets 259 miles of range with a 66kWh battery. It has all the technology I am looking for with Android Auto, a nice console screen, a backup camera, and safety features.

I found a nice dealership in Virginia that will be able to deliver the vehicle to me for $300. There are processing fees of $699 plus the cost of the vehicle itself, which is $16,000. The EV Tax credit will help a bit next year.

I have $11.5k in the bank and I have a one-year, 0% Balance Transfer offer on my US Bank Altitude GO card. I can probably get another 4-5k from that card without pushing the minimum payments too high.

My limit is 9k for that card and the BT fee would be about $199 for a $4,000 transfer. I am also getting 3k from my father as an early graduation gift.

So that should be about $18.5k available to cover the cost of the purchase plus registration fees. I will also need to get the car added to the household insurance policy. I was added to the policy earlier this year as a requirement to take the NC driving test.

I had dithered some time on getting a Kia Niro PHEV which has excellent mileage. The main problem I ran into with the Niro’s was that most were priced at 20k+ and often had 60-100k miles on them. I didn’t want to get something that was nearing the end of its life (or midlife).

I will be losing the larger trunk space that the Niro (19.4 ft³) has to offer if I go with the Bolt (16.9 ft³), but I think that is an acceptable trade-off if I can get a vehicle with 20-30k miles on it instead.

Another car I was looking at was the Nissan LEAF. The dealership only had the SV model (40kWh) available and I really wanted a Plus model which has a larger 62kWh battery. The trunk in the LEAF is much bigger (23.6 ft), this is despite having the wheel wells constricting the space.

So for now I am just getting my funds together to make the purchase. If a LEAF Plus shows up before I make the call, then I may switch to that vehicle instead. Otherwise, I expect to be driving sometime in May.

Thanks for reading, I appreciate your taking the time to be here. If you have any questions or comments for me, be sure to leave them below, and have a great day!

My Search for a Quality Used Car

Now that I have gotten my license the next step is to get a car. I have been looking at many different brands and different models and I think I have done a good job narrowing down my options.

There are three cars left on my list, but I am not sure which one will be the final choice. I was initially looking for something I could use for a courier or delivery side gig, but I heard most of these companies do background checks.

So, if I don’t need something with a lot of cargo space, then the next sticking point is I want something with good fuel economy. I do want the car to have either a Mild-Hybrid or a pure electric powertrain. Gas and power are fairly inexpensive here compared with other states.

Well, here are my options:

Kia Niro (Hybrid)

Chevy Bolt (EV)

Nissan

My price range is limited to $16,000 and I am looking for something from around 2018 or newer. I mostly want to make sure the car has modern technology in it as far as the instrument panel and cameras. Anything that helps me drive safer will be of benefit.

I’ve got until May at the earliest to make a decision.

See the continuation of this article: https://fatwalletrefugee.com/2024/03/12/something-colourful/