Become a Rebate Now Dealership
The Rebate Now program provides a prequalification for Income qualified applicants within San Diego and San Joaquin Valley. Only participating dealerships can use this prequalification as a point-of-sale rebate. Becoming a Rebate Now dealership allows you to offer the CVRP rebate as a down payment!
Why Become a Rebate Now Dealership?
- Attract more EV customers with the point-of-sale model.
- Free listing on the CVRP website.
- Exclusive dealer portal to submit documents & verify rebate
Rebate Now Process
Car Shopper Prequalifies
A customer must apply for a Rebate Now before they purchase or lease an EV. CVRP will process the rebate in normal processing time (typically 30-45 days.) After the application is approved, the customer visits a participating dealership, the dealership verifies the rebate is valid and applies Rebate Now to the down payment of the vehicle.
Verify Rebate
At the dealership a sales manager logs into the dealer portal to validate and confirm the rebate amount. To login, the customer must provide their application and driver’s license number. In certain circumstances, a customer might use another form of identification. We recommend the customer prints out a copy of the approval email, which has this information.
If the customer does not readily have their preapproval application number with them, they may retrieve it from the confirmation email message sent by CVRP or by calling our hotline.
Apply Rebate
Once the rebate amount has been verified through the dealer portal, the rebate can be used as a down payment. Apply the rebate in line item 6F. On the contract, the rebate must be written as an itemized amount. It cannot be combined on any lines with other rebates. At this point, the dealership will claim the rebate. Sample Itemizations
In certain circumstances the customer may choose to claim the rebate themselves. If this is the case, do not claim the rebate and do not include the rebate amount as a down payment.
NOTE: For all CVRP Rebate Now applications, please make sure to write the applicant’s name exactly as it appears on the preapproved rebate status form on the contract as well as on the registration and lease/purchase agreement.
Submit Documentation
After the dealerships claims the rebate, they have 14 calendar days to submit supporting documents to receive the rebate. Documents should be scanned and the dealership representative should confirm that all information is legible prior to submitting. The required documents are:
- Copy of purchase or lease agreement
- Copy of proof of registration (REG 397, Application for Registration of New Vehicle)
To ensure that the financial lines of a long purchase/lease agreement are not accidentally cut off, CVRP recommends overlapping the scans so the bottom of each scanned page is duplicated at the top of the next scanned page. For more details read Upload Supporting Documents.
Verify Funds
CVRP staff will review supporting documents within 10 business days. Assuming the documents are complete, legible and meet program requirements, CVRP will initiate electronic payment to the dealership via ACH transfer within 7 business days. Funds will arrive in the dealership’s enrolled bank account within 1-3 days of payment initiation. Some delays may occur if there are any issues with the documents submitted. If issues arise, CVRP staff will contact the dealership-provided primary and secondary dealership contacts via email.
Rebate Now FAQ
What are these lease term requirements?
CVRP requires rebate recipients to retain ownership of the vehicle in California for a minimum of 30 consecutive months immediately following the vehicle purchase or lease date. Therefore, original lease terms of at least 30 months are required for program eligibility.
How does the dealership receive payment?
Dealerships enrolled in CVRP Rebate Now will receive payment through an Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfer. ACH payment information will be provided to the program administrator through the program enrollment form. After the application and supporting documents are submitted, the CVRP program administrator will pay the rebate amount to the dealership by ACH. ACH payments are initiated within 10 business days of claim approval and are generally received by the dealership one to three business days later.
How do we handle unwinds, rollbacks, first payment defaults and rollbacks?
In the event of an unwind, rollback or return of a rebated vehicle, the dealership must notify the program administrator by emailing dealership@energycenter.org with details of the change in status of the purchase or lease within three business days.
What if my customer decides to receive their rebate directly instead of applying it at the time of purchase?
If there are problems with submitted documents, it may result in delayed payment. One scenario is as follows: Dealership submits documents. CVRP reviews documents seven days later and documents are blurry and illegible. CVRP emails the dealership representatives asking for clearer copies of the documents. The dealership resubmits documents seven days later. CVRP reviews the resubmitted documents five days later and documents are for the wrong vehicle. CVRP emails the dealership representative again asking for corrected documents. The dealership resubmits documents within four days. CVRP reviews the resubmitted documents five days later and the documents are correct and complete. The rebate claim is approved and CVRP initiates payment seven days after rebate claim approval. It takes three days for payment to appear in the dealership’s bank account. Total days for processing this rebate: 38 days.
What is the shortest time frame in which the dealership will receive rebate funds?
Dealership submits complete and legible documents. CVRP reviews documents 3 to 7 days later. Rebate claim is approved and CVRP initiates payment 1 to 7 days later. It takes 1 to 3 days for payment to appear in the dealership’s bank account.
What if a customer loses their customer CVRP application number?
If a customer forgets their rebate number, please have the customer contact the administrator at 866-984-2532.
What if dealerships forget a customer CVRP application number?
If the dealership forgets or loses the customer CVRP application number, they must contact the administrator immediately, at 866-984-2532.