$1800 tax credit for 2010 X5

[kbp33]

Can anyone confirm this if 2010 X5 qualify for this? IRS website only mentions 2009 models.

Thanks in advance.

[Penguin]

The BMW website is showing $900 for the 2010 model. It makes no sense, but I sent an e-mail to BMW NA and they implicitly confirmed it. I am still hoping that it is simply a web mistake.

The only reason I can think of as to why it has been halved, is if the Government somehow reclassified the X5 into another class or something.

If you search, there are at least a couple of message threads discussing it in some depth.

[kbp33]

Originally Posted by Penguin

The BMW website is showing $900 for the 2010 model. It makes no sense, but I sent an e-mail to BMW NA and they implicitly confirmed it. I am still hoping that it is simply a web mistake.

The only reason I can think of as to why it has been halved, is if the Government somehow reclassified the X5 into another class or something.

If you search, there are at least a couple of message threads discussing it in some depth.

Would it matter what BMW USA says about this? It's the IRS that is offering the rebate no?

Thanks again for any responses on this.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by kbp33

Would it matter what BMW USA says about this? It's the IRS that is offering the rebate no?

Well, yes.

Because at this point of the process, BMW NA is most likely to have the best information since (a) they had to make the request and submit the documentation to the government, and (b) the government is not that quick about making things public, such as release tax credit data. So right now, BMW NA most likely has the latest information.

When the tax credit first came out, did people hear about it first from the government, or from the BMW NA press release?

[texasdoc]

I'm not so sure the credit has changed. I researched it a few days ago, and to summarize a complicated formula, the credit is determined by just how economical the vehicle is. Unless the 2010 has a different fuel economy rating than the 2009, which appears not to be the case, the tax credit should be the same. My vote is for an error on the BMW website and clueless reps at BMWNA who don't know the answer to the question and who won't invest the time or energy to obtain the answer. I had that experience in late August when asking them about the BMW Eco credit--the reps didn't know anything about it and would not attempt to find out anything.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by texasdoc

Unless the 2010 has a different fuel economy rating than the 2009, which appears not to be the case, the tax credit should be the same.

I also think a BMW website error is the most likely, but since the MPG ratings haven't changed going from 2008 to 2009 (according the BMW website), the only other classification is if the comparison vehicle/class has been altered by the government, i.e., reclassifying the comparison. From what I have read, the credit is not determined by the absolute value of the MPG, but rather how much it improves over a comparable 2002 vehicle. e.g., if BMW had gotten away with comparing it to a V8 X5 when they made the 2008 request, perhaps the IRS has come back in 2009 and said, nope, the actual comparison is the I6 X5, we made a mistake with your 2008 request.

I'm not saying this is what happened, but IF (Big IF) the tax credit has truly been reduced, that might be the most likely explanation.

One of these days the IRS website will be updated and we'll know for sure.

[anatolych]

I am with Penguin about the method for calculating the credit. But if BMW acts similarly to other large corporations, they have a product manager for the model who reviews the web contents, and I can't imaging them letting this error out and still not correcting it. There is an off chance that they are on a production roll out schedule lasting weeks and the next release of the website contents will be corrected, but... If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd say that unscrupulous competition from Germany (the inferior A... and M... brands who were getting only $900 credits for their diesels) found a way to convince the government to tweak methodology and bring all the peers to the same level. Any thought?

[spacey]

I am not sure I agree about the PM, or anyone else, checking the site to any great extent on a regular basis. Or at the very least their QA people don't have a very good test plan or are missing some test cases. My order tracking hasn't worked almost at all since I placed the order on the 19th... one moment it shows all the options, the next it doesn't. Shows wrong interior color and status as OnOrder hasn't budged. And when I call and talk to my sales guy, whom I found very straightforward and trustworthy otherwise, things look exactly as they should on his end (different system) and there has been some progress on the status.

spacey

[Penguin]

I would agree that the BMWUSA web site is out-of-date and does have errors.

For example, the build your own X5 diesel shows a $900 tax credit fot 2010 models currently being sold, shipped, and delivered.

Yet, look at this spot on the BMWUSA site:

BMW North America

It says you get an $1,800 tax credit with the X5 diesel, and references no model year.

So either the $900 in the build your own is a mistake in the update, or the part of the website in the link above is out-of-date.


The BMWUSA website obviously has an error either way.

I wonder how long it will take before they fix it, one way or the other?

[texasdoc]

It's interesting that they have conflicting information on the website, and just plain sad that if you call them for clarification the representatives won't know the answer and won't try to find it.