$4,000 Rebate Terms Changed Retroactively.

Location: California: Solano County

PG&E has a $4,000 rebate available for preowned vehicles. Previous relevant terms are that the eligible vehicle needs to be on the California HOV eligibility list and that an individual is limited to 3 rebates and must submit within 180 days.

I assisted another family member in mid-July to look for another vehicle as his daughter will be driving soon and I noticed the home page for the Program requirements which still included the previous vehicle and applicant eligibility criteria had an updated banner stating Beginning 7/30 applications must be submitted in 90 days. Followed by a separate sentence that customers are limited to one rebate per individual.

I contacted the administrator of the program to clarify on 7/27 and was told as long as I purchased before 7/30 eligibility would be maintained for filing more than one rebate per individual. When trying to apply within 90 days of purchase, the application portal did not allow a new application noting that they had reached the vehicle cap for rebates.

On checking the full terms and condition page again. It stated that all applications on or after 7/30 were subject to the updated terms and limitations.

This meant that instead of 180 days to submit, not even 90 days for new applications, we would have had to apply the very next day to have been eligible for the rebate. To make matters more comical. On review, the terms stated the vehicle purchased was now also ineligible. They had changed the eligibility from being a model from the HOV list to requiring an 8kWh battery pack. The vehicle has a 7.6kWh battery pack.

What legal justification would I have to take them to small claims court?

Sorry for reposting. My last post was auto-removed. Maybe because I linked the full Terms and Conditions?