Which car for my wife?

In reply to John Welsh :

Both our businesses are solo owners, so everything rolls down to us.  Never had an issue with buying the cars and having them under a regular personal auto policy...

Steve_Jones & Docwyte  - Thanks for the clarification on how the depreciation works there.   I didn't realize that.  All I could find info on was the 179 single year deduction.  I haven't been in business long enough to purchase a new vehicle yet, so it was going to be a bit before I bothered my accountant with it.

In reply to docwyte :

Have you had a claim in either case? 

It's been a long time since I've been a licensed claim rep. But there are tons of exclusions/gotcha in personal policies vs commercial policies.

Interesting thread title.  My first thought was how will we know what car to offer to swap for your wife unless you post a picture....  

Can't you make the lift junction box into a receptacle? That could power a charger or the lift?

In reply to OHSCrifle :

My electrician was very unhappy with the idea of splitting the 240 line to be used for two different things, even if only one was used at a time.  His comment to me was, "Remember when I asked you how much power you'd need and told you to get a garage sub panel?"

Anyways, I appreciate everyone's input, in talking with her again about this, she's no longer interested in getting something new.  I was really shocked that she wanted a new car but was a bit concerned about the short time table to find/purchase something.  No worries now!

docwyte said:

...but also as a way to lower the tax load on her business.  To do that it means something with a gross vehicle weight of over 6,000 lbs...

What a strange world we live in.

docwyte said:

In reply to OHSCrifle :

My electrician was very unhappy with the idea of splitting the 240 line to be used for two different things, even if only one was used at a time.  His comment to me was, "Remember when I asked you how much power you'd need and told you to get a garage sub panel?"..

I'm not an electrician but am an EE. Everything in a home is powered by a single incoming cable, split 240V from the main line. A sub-panel doesn't guarantee balancing loads, it only compartmentizes where in the "power tree" the loads are. Based on his statement, putting an 18A toaster oven on one side, and six small 3A appliances on the other, is a "balanced" system. This is true only when everything is on at the same time, which is pretty much never. I get it, there has to be some rules-of-thumb, but to hold customers to such a ill-defined standard is kinda meh.

In reply to kb58 :

I'm neither an EE nor an electrician, so I have no clue.  All I can say is his opinion on splitting the 240 and using the same circuit for two different things was basically "Don't do it".  He begrudgingly allowed that if only one thing was being used at time it would be ok, but still wasn't happy about it.

In reply to kb58 :

Yeah, I know.  I can tell you that it makes a HUGE difference though, so it is something that we do.  That does lock us into a type of car that isn't my first choice though, which is SUV's.  I'd much prefer to buy a wagon instead but it's very much financially advantageous to get the SUV instead, so we do.

docwyte said:

I'm neither an EE nor an electrician, so I have no clue.  All I can say is his opinion on splitting the 240 and using the same circuit for two different things was basically "Don't do it".  He begrudginly allowed that if only one thing was being used at time it would be ok, but still wasn't happy about it.

I'm just a software guy, but my understanding is that the electrical code wants 220v stuff that is hardwired to have its own breaker in the box.  Theoretically replacing the hardwired junction box with an outlet and putting a plug on the lift would get around that, but lift motors seem to be mostly 220 volt 20 amp whereas level 2 EV chargers are usually at least 30 amp (a dryer outlet) and go up from there.  So the wire running to the outlet would need to be rated for the higher current and you'd have to put a 30 amp plug on the lift to go into that 30 amp outlet.  While it seems to me that the latter should be fine, my electrician said the electrical code wouldn't let him do that either.