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PHEV Ioniq outside of CARB states

19K views 29 replies 13 participants last post by  farkedup 
#1 ·
According to this map, I see there are a few PHEV owners out there outside the CARB states where the PHEV Ioniq is stocked. How did you folks get your vehicles? Were you able to order a PHEV Ioniq through a local dealer, or did you travel to a dealer in a state that carries them? This source suggests local dealers will help you get a PHEV, but the local Hyundai dealers I have contacted so far have all told me they can not get a PHEV Ioniq. Thanks everyone!
 
#3 ·
I started looking for a phev Ioniq at the two local Hyundai dealerships here in Toledo, OH. The first dealership had a couple hev Ioniqs on the lot so I test drove one of those. They didn't know how or if they could get a phev Ioniq. After some investigation, they thought maybe they could get one but it wasn't clear how, or when, or how much it would cost. Apparently they do not get to choose what vehicles get delivered to them from the factory. And they were not sure how/if we could order one specifically. It was confusing, probably because they didn't know how the process might work, they were more interested in selling me a hev off of the lot, and they were continually vague about the costs. Eventually they suggested that it would probably cost $30,000 if they were able to get a phev for me. I think this would be before taxes and fees which was about $5000 more than MSRP. But they were always so evasive with pricing that it is hard to tell.

I went to the second local Hyundai dealership but it is owned by the same family so I didn't expect much. The salesman there tried to convince me that the car I really wanted was an Elantra. I already knew what I wanted so I didn't waste any more time there.

I started searching for the phev Ioniq on Cars.com. This was just as the phev version was being released in the US and there were not a lot to choose from. I wanted a base model white phev Ioniq and found a few in NY, NJ, and MA. One dealership in NJ would not deliver the car to me so I would have to find a way to come get it. I didn't like the idea of driving a car with a brand new engine across the country at highway speeds, paying for a plane ticket, or arranging to have it towed, etc. The car in NY sold before I could make an offer.

I negotiated with the dealership in MA over the phone for the total cost (car, fees, registration, taxes, and delivery to OH). We agreed on $28,300 total out the door. I think the delivery probably cost about $500 but it wasn't broken out so I don't know. (I had called a couple trucking companies when I was investigating my options and their costs ranged from $500 - $1000). This salesman then tried to charge me $300 more than our agreed price. Thankfully I had an email with our agreed price and terms. After that it took about a month and a half to actually get the car. It was a long wait for me. Partly because I was buying the car from 12 hours away sight unseen and after they tried to cheat me out of more money I could not trust them anymore to deliver the car as promised. And this was compounded by the dealership's terrible customer service. Trying to get them to respond to emails or phone calls was terrible. But the wait was short compared to what some on this forum have experienced.

I wish the phev Ioniq was more widely available. But in the end the car arrived, it drives great, there were no problems, it's the perfect car for me, and I would do it again. Good luck finding one for yourself.

p.s. - After the whole thing was done I wondered if it would have been easier/closer to find a phev Ioniq in Ontario Canada and then just drive an hour or two home. But apparently this is not allowed? I didn't really look into it in much detail.
 
#4 ·
The whole frustrating experience has convinced me that Tesla has the right idea to sell their cars direct online without dealerships. Cut out the money hungry middle man. Get the exact car you want, where ever you are. However, I was able to test drive the hev Ioniq at my local dealership and I wouldn't want to buy a car without driving it first. So I dont know how to get past that hurdle.
 
#5 ·
Has anyone been able to purchase a PHEV Ioniq ordered from a dealer in a non zero-emission state?

From everything I've read in publications, I should be able to order one through my local (Florida) dealer. My local dealer has said they could order it, but didn't have immediate access to pricing. Two weeks later the best the've been able to tell me is they think it might take up to 6 months to deliver after ordering - but still no pricing.

Edmunds lists the PHEV average sales price nationally at about $1K under MSRP, and it takes me about 20 seconds to get MSRP for the options I want on Hyundai's web site, so I doubt any rocket science is involved in a dealership figuring out what price they can sell a car for. It's what they do every day. My suspicion is they are far more interested in steering me to the HEV models they have stacking up interest payments on the lot.

Anyone had any luck placing an order at a non-stocking dealership? Any tips or recommendations?
 
#6 ·
Buying from Canada theoretically saves money despite import duties. There is some frustrating paperwork to fill out at the border. But the big kicker is Canadian Hyundai/Kia dealers are not allowed to sell to non-residents.
 
#7 ·
It was not easy to find a PHEV in CT, one of the CARB states, in Sept/Oct 2018. We first went through the CostCo car buying service (which, at the time, didn't include the Ioniq). None were in stock, they could maybe get one from another dealer. Contacted two other dealers. They all told me the same thing - none available without special order, and essentially no discounts. So we ordered one from the closest dealer, made the required deposit, and as described elsewhere, it showed up 12-16 weeks after we ordered it.

I believe most of the Ioniq PHEV and BEV US Delivery is allocated to the West Coast. It is very rare to sight any version of the Ioniq in the wild here.
 
#10 ·
Most dealers near me that had the plugin on the lot were telling me that they were in high demand and saying they weren't discounting - This was not true because I had been tracking what cars were available for months before my purchase.


I've only seen three Ioniq's in the wild, one at my work in RI, one at a restaurant near home, and silver/grey one driving home from Norwich Ct (Rt 395)
 
#8 ·
Thanks to everyone for their thoughts so far, and my apologies to those outside the US who have wasted their time reading this thread - I should have specified USA in the title: I'm sorry about that.


The exact car I'm looking for is sitting in lots in MD, MA, and CA, but nothing closer to me (in MN) than that.


Jonboy, thank you doubly for your very detailed retelling of your story. Would you be willing to share the name of the dealer you worked with? You and I seem to have a lot in common, though I'm going to look at a Niro this week, as they are now available in PHEV form on lots here.
 
#12 ·
The dealership I worked with was Herb Connelly Hyundai in Framingham, MA. It worked out in the end but it was a stressful buying experience. Take your time and do your research so you will be prepared when it's time to work with a dealership. Good luck.
 
#9 ·
One thing to consider is warranty/repairs. In Canada (not sure if it's the same in the US) dealerships that do not have a charge station and trained mechanics are not allowed to sell or service (oil changes are probably OK) the PHEV or EV. If a Niro PHEV is available locally that might be a consideration.
 
#11 ·
When we ordered in Sept/Oct 2018, we specified PHEV Electric Blue exterior, White interior, in the Ultimate package. The combination of Blue and Ultimate was not in-stock. There may have been other PHEV colors, or trim levels, but none of the dealers we contacted had what we ordered. Ours arrived end of January 2019. But, no white interior, they advised it was not available for the Ultimate Package in the USA.

The last time I looked at the members map, there were very few PHEVs in the northeast, but maybe many buyers don't join this forum.

In any event, I think it's terrific that dealers have PHEVs in-stock now. We plan to drive it for a while, and we need a good number of owners so Hyundai doesn't give up on it!
 
#13 ·
Found ours on cars.com before it was unloaded from the truck. Our local dealer in Pittsburgh had purchased it at auction from Hyundai corporate after it was demoed at the NY auto show. No discount since 3 other people called the next morning on our way in to test drive it.
 
#14 ·
As a little follow-up...

Here in Florida, my local dealer who I've done business with in the past said they could order the Ioniq PHEV, but did not have immediate pricing. After a couple of weeks, they came back with the message that ordering would take 6+ months, and they weren't comfortable with doing that.

While waiting on their quote, I e-mailed some other area dealers. The next closest said they didn't carry it because they couldn't service it. The third said simply that no, they could not get the Ioniq PHEV. Another didn't reply (possibly an allergy to my request for an out the door price quote by email, rather than coming in to talk).

Next step - we hit Hyundai's inventory search, putting in zip codes from the closest CARB legislation states to find where Ioniq PHEVs were in stock, and e-mailed them for price quotes where we found the trim and colors we wanted. We also decided to look at a Kia Niro.

Our closest Kia dealer didn't have the Niro PHEV in stock, but there are a handful in Florida. When I talked pricing, the first price quoted was more than $10K over MSRP. Yes, 10K. When I pointed that out, they said there were none in Florida, so they'd have to ship it here which is expensive, and it had a cold weather package installed. After my assurances that there were dealers stocking the PHEV in Florida, and they might be confusing it with the plug-in electic model, they quoted a little more than $1K over MSRP. I wished them a good day and left.

Meanwhile after very few e-mails with little negotiating effort, I had two dealers up North offering Ionic PHEV Limiteds at the very bottom of KBB's price range for out-the-door price. One of the dealers didn't have direct answers to my questions about Florida tax and registration and remotely closing the deal, the other did, with the sales agent assuring me that he regularly deals with interstate sales - but they wanted us to be on site in person to accept the vehicle.

With a stack of airline miles at hand, getting up there would be easy. We'd priced truck shipping the car down to Florida, and considered driving it back. As it turns out, due to good fortune of where Amtrak runs its Auto-train, we could drive about an hour from the dealership, and bring the car and one of us to Central Florida by train for only $344 - compared to $700-$1200 to truck ship the car and another airline ticket to fly home.

On the service front, I e-mailed Hyundai and asked if there would be any problem getting service in non-PHEV stocking states. After a day with no reply, I called - the rep laughed at the idea that service would not be available - pointing out that it must be for people to be able to travel cross country in their cars. He said that any authorized Hyundai service center can service the Ioniq PHEV. On the weekend, I got an e-mail reply saying that since service centers are franchised, I'd need to check with each service center to be sure of what they could do... Well that's crystal clear.

While considering driving a hundred miles to look at PHEV Niros, we got further convinced that we really preferred the Ioniq to the Niro. Our second closest Hyundai dealer followed up by e-mail, trying to steer us to the Hybrids they had in stock, so I asked directly about the service. The rep clarified that since the PHEV is basically the same as the HEV, servicing most of the car would be fine, but for the charge circuits, they had no one that was trained - meaning that service might take a little longer, since they would need to rely on Hyundai's tech line to guide them.

I followed up at our closest dealership, and the sales manager (who had worked with us directly on previous purchases) said that he'd previously sold Plug-In Sonatas (which had only a 2 week when first released) and some of their service techs took the classes for them and of course on the Ioniq HEVs they stock now, so he didn't foresee any problems being able to provide us service on the Ioniq PHEV.

As it turns out, with the holiday weekend coming, we may not be able to take advantage of the train, leaving a drive as the best option, which is looking like it will happen this coming week. It'll cost even less, it just means road trip miles on day one.
 
#15 ·
I admire your perseverance. It's amazing what we (those of us in non-CARB states) have to go thru to get a phev Ioniq. You would think in this age of technology that it would be simpler. You could make a movie out of your adventure. Hopefully it has a happy ending.
 
#21 ·
I finally ended up hiring a "buyer's agent" (car-pal.com) to help me with the remote purchase and shipping, and I was glad I did. I'd never done either of those before, and they did not prove straightforward, at least in my case. Without her help, I could not find a dealer offering a reasonable price who would take care of shipping and was willing to sell to me without me there to talk into rustproofing. But happily, in the end, I did get the PHEV Ioniq I wanted, from a dealer in Stamford, CT. Shipping the car was $1000 but only took 2 days, and I did not have to travel to CT.

For anyone mulling something similar:
*If you like black leather: https://www.stamfordhyundai.com/new...necticut-315feda10a0e0ae8469a8087f7aa54eb.htm Wow...I don't know why the fire sale, but the manager special price is chopping a boat-load off the price of this PHEV Ioniq Limited
*Right now there is a $1250 rebate on Ioniqs: https://www.hyundaiusa.com/offers.aspx?vehicle=ioniq-hybrid&year=2019
*You may also be eligible for a $500 rebate through this affinity program: https://amica.bonusdrive.com/Home/ (I have Amica insurance: you have to be affiliated with a participating company for this rebate.)
*I found higher prices and no interest in negotiating when dealing with CA dealers. I think they recall running out of Ioniqs last year, and there is built-in demand there due to the HOV lane issue. Plus it costs more to run a business there. Much lower prices and eagerness to sell on the east coast, and in Colorado.
 
#22 ·
Hi Cold Blast, I live in the Twin Cities and I'm quite interested in a new Ioniq plug-in hybrid. Thanks for sharing all of your experiences. Did you test-drive the plug-in model before purchasing? I realize they still are not sold in the Midwest. Maybe you drove the standard hybrid? Also, how is the car performing so far? Have you decided where will you have it serviced?
 
#23 ·
Sorry for not replying until now, I have to figure out how to get the forum to email me when there is something I need to see.

I don't know if this is still relevant, but here it is anyway. I test drove a higher trim line at a local dealer (Buerkle Hyundai had bought a floor model at the Chicago Auto Show). The standard hybrid does drive very similarly, though, and most dealers (even those who sell the PHEV/EV) don't know much about the stuff specific to charging, EV-only mode, and the like. I do most service myself and haven't yet had to figure out dealer service, but I note the electric drivetrain is exactly the same one used in the Kia Niro, and they are sold and serviced locally. If my Hyundai leader balked, my plan had been to head over to the Kia dealership.

Hope you are already in a great PHEV option, though!
 
#26 ·
If they can service the HEV they should be able to service the PHEV. The only difference is a bigger battery and slightly more powerful electric motor.
 
#25 ·
Sorry, nothing to report! I just changed my oil, rotated my ties, and did the other preventive stuff myself at 7.5k, so I have not had to inquire with a dealership about servicing my Ioniq PHEV. Anyone else have to cross this bridge? (p.s. Hey, the forum emailed me and let me know you replied...it worked!)
 
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