My HCH cost about $1,000 more than a similarly loaded EX, and considering my car had some extras not available on any other civic and my hypermilling efforts had probably paid back any premium in a couple years.

 

I will more than break even as soon as I file my 2006 taxes and receive my rebates. My 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid w/ Navi had an MSRP of $2,890 more than the 2006 Honda Civic EX w/ Navi. I am scheduled to receive a $2,531 tax credit from the state of Colorado and a $2,100 federal tax credit. Ignoring any gas savings, the tax credits will make the hybrid a winner by $1,741.

 

I used to be a regional manager for a cell phone company. While not always that high, I did have some 1200 mile weeks. Indeed, I had some 400 mile *days*. I did 90k in the first 3 years of HCH ownership.

Thankfully, I'm now in law enforcement so my drive is a whopping 4.1 miles to the Clarence Mitchell Circuit Court every day!

I think my "break even" was about 2 years and 10 months.

 

I had not seen the $2531 credit before reading your post--thanks!!! I'm stoked I got the last 2006 at the dealership so that I qualify!

http://www.revenue.state.co.us/fyi/html/income09.html

On the subject of the break even, thanks to reading this post it looks like we soon will! Without that additional state credit, it would have taken us a while to break even with an HC EX because we don't drive that many miles per year. Who cares though--the monetary impact is only one of the reasons to drive a hybrid.

 

I am in Japan where gasoline is over $4 per gallon. I bought a used 99 Prius at $6,900 currently at 24km/L , regular to replace my Mazda RX8(plenty of change) at 11km/L, premium as my commute got very long when I changed jobs. My expected payback on the car is 23months. (w/o any major repairs). As the resale value will be very low, anything after 2 years is a bonus. Anyway the enjoyment I get is priceless.

 

I was ahead from the day we brought it home. We got the $2,600 federal tax credit, $500 check back from PA for the hybrid and considering I now spend $55.00 per month in gas as opposed to my last car at $325.00, saving $100.00 a year on my auto insurance, getting an oil change at 5,000 miles as opposed to 3,000 miles with the other car I’m well ahead of the game. When making calculations be sure to figure everything.

 

If Dell reimburses you the IRS standard for business miles driven, 44 1/2 cents per mile in 2006, then you're really way ahead

 

Without taking the time to configure another Camry to match options with my TCH, just base price of a 4 cylinder XLE compared to the TCH - there is a $1500 difference. I made up more than that with the $2600 Federal tax credit, and the jury is still out in my home state as far as extending tax credits for 2006.


Then there's fuel economy - I checked fueleconomy.gov to see how a 2007 4 cylinder Camry rates - the EPA combo avg is 27, with a user avg of 25.6. My TCH combo avg is 30.6 with only 1300 miles to date, just about 50/50 local driving / highway trips. So I'm only 5 MPG ahead there.


87 octane is around $2.25 in NYC, I drive about 8000 miles per year, assuming the price stays level and my FE avg stays about the same, I will spend about $588 a year for gas. I would spend $703 for the non hybrid Camry, a savings of only $115 per year, so yeah, it would take a long time to recoup the $1500 price difference in fuel savings alone.


Since my company pays for my gas, I'm not saving any money, they are. But one never knows when this little perk can be withdrawn.


My real bottom line though is this - the TCH replaces a Ford Windstar, which was getting 14 - 16 mpg - so by halving my gas consumption, I'm saving (someone) around $600 a year, and it will only take 2.5 years to make the $1500 premium back. Not exactly apples to apples, I know.

Then there's the cool factor - priceless



~rule

 

If you REALLY want to break even in a hurry, all you have to do is find a parking garage that offers a hybrid discount. I just signed on with a garage near the courthouse (where I work). They give a 50% discount for hybrids. So I pay $4.50/day instead of $9/day. That works out to almost a $1000/year difference.

 

Unfortunately, they do not reimburse at the Govt rate (not sure how they do that) but it is only $0.33/mile reimbursement but this car is running around $0.04/mile in gas cost while the previous car was about $0.12/mile so there is less from each paycheck going to gas and more going to my pocket.