By: Las Vegas Now Staff
More than 100 local government vehicles will be auctioned Saturday at 4320 Stephanie Street. What most people don’t know is that you can get alternative fuel vehicles at the auction too. But with these cheap to drive vehicles, buyers from out of the state are snapping them right out of our hands.
Good clean cars go for hundreds, even thousands below what you’d pay at a car lot. That’s not the only secret. Nestled in there are some gems. But you have to know what to look for.
“It’s cheap to drive, 63 cents to drive; that’s a good reason,” laughed Derek Andre. He drives in from Salt Lake just to buy our government cars. He only paid $2,300 for a compressed natural gas Chevy Cavelier — he will turn around and sell it in Utah for a $1,000 profit.
“They are just more accessible here than out of state. I don’t know why, but Las Vegas has more natural gas vehicles,” said Andre.
Utah gives a $2,000 tax rebate for anyone who brings one into the state — Las Vegans can’t compete with that. Out of state buyers outbid everyone for these cars.
Even though the cars are sold in Las Vegas, when reporter Ky Plaskon wanted to buy one, he had to go onto eBay. Even then, he had to go all the way to Ohio to get a decent price and had to have it shipped all the way from there.
The next step is finding a special gas station. There’s no pain at this pump. The gas is only a $1.60 a gallon. The gas is even a dollar cheaper in Utah, and there are a lot more places to fill up in Utah.
There is one draw back that’s true no matter where you live — even Utah.
“You have to stay in the area of the stations; you are kind of married to it,” said Andre.
But that’s the price of trying to live a little cleaner and a lot cheaper.
Email your comments to Reporter Ky Plaskon.
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