What will it take to make you seriously consider an EV?

Competition is coming!!

Although this could be a fantastic deal once Lucid gets bought out.

 

I will take it for tree fiddy

 

That was probably the opening bid at a wholesale dealer auction.

 

I drove by the DC Tesla showroom an hour ago and it was literally completely empty - there's a ton of Teslas on the streets around here so I guess the market is saturated.

Take that for data.

 

inventory is trending back up...especially the 3. maybe folks are buying Y instead.
https://tesladata.mattjung.net/new-model-3-data/
https://tesladata.mattjung.net/total-new-inventory/

 

People are getting really bored with Teslax -- even with the fart app.

 

So some questions before I might potentially pull the trigger...

My scenario. Will trade in a 2015 Colorado and put down a lot of cash.

When I go to place the order on their site, the options are "cash" or "lease" or "loan" but loan is through Tesla. I don't want to do any of those three things. So I'm a little unsure on how to proceed.

Also just some general questions:

Seems like Tesla is lowest of all lowballers when it comes to trade-in values. Has that been others' experience here? I was told I would get a trade-in value "range" and once the vehicle is set for delivery (after I get a VIN) I would then get a firm offer. If the offer sucks ass, then I should shop my truck around.

I was also told that I should wait to look into financing until I get that VIN because auto loan offers only last for 30 days, so getting a loan secured earlier than the issuance of a VIN would be a waste. Is that what others have done as well?

Lastly, for those who have financed a vehicle recently, where did you get the best rate? Shell FCU seems to have the best rates I've seen.

 

DCU.

 

Lightstream. Penfed. I've used both.
Lightstream is super easy...they send you a check and don't even ask you for the title...

For your existing car, get a quote from carmax/vroom/etc..

 

Yes wait for vin assigned to your order. Until then it doesn’t t matter what you pick for payment method. Keep it cash.

Once vin is assigned tell Tesla you want to finance by 3rd party. And then enter information of third party lender. Tesla will then give you a sales agreement with that lender name in the contract as well as the vin. You need to take that sales agreement to your lender and they will give you loan.


DCU gives you interest discount for EV and direct deposit. They also have some of the best rates for 65 month terms. They also overnight fedex the check to you or to Tesla.

Very easy. I got both my cars financed from there but when I did I got 65 month term at 1.24%. Rates have gone up significantly since then.

DCU also does not require any down payment but be careful.

At 1.25 % it made sense for me to not put any money down and finance the entire amount even though I could have paid a big chunk in down payment. 1.25 % was free money to me. I can put that cash elsewhere and make money.

At 5% I recommend making as much as you can in down payment.

 

There is a Lucid delivery center 10 mins from my house.

They leave a Lucid on the entire night trying to entice folks to test drive and place order.

They also have a bunch of Lucids in the parking lot.

They are having a hard time selling their cars. Really overpriced.

 

Haha told ya Teslas profit margins are huge.

They are using that to lower the price and steal market share from other EVs and make their life miserable.

Also as I said earlier, innovation in production is what is driving these cost savings for Tesla.

 

5% interest for a car is absurd. I hope the auto market suffers because of it.

 

It will in the near term. But in the grand scheme of things we are just used to low interest rates. 5% car rates were the norm for a long time...the other big change has been that folks are financing cars for 72 months/60 months (vs 36 or 48), so as you fix a rate for a longer period of time, you rate will go up.

 

Even still, my current cars were both financed for 60 months. One at 0% interest and the other at .9% interest.


Will be hard for me to buy a car, let alone a 50-60k + EV if the interest is 5%+ out of principle alone. I'd rather drive junky old cars.

My wife's car is 6 years old. I wouldn't mind getting her a new car. No way I do it with the current interest rates. It has 70k miles and could last me 10 more years of needed, easily.

 

High interest rates are great if you are coming with cash. Through the 90s interest rates averaged 9% on new cars.

The low interest rates allowed people to do the insane 72-84 month loans and car prices to explode.

 

If you want people to turn towards EV, and if EVs average 50-80k, something has to give with the interest rates, imo.

 

Alright so I just now realized that I was lied to by the Tesla advisor. Apparently the $7.5k tax credit is based on when your car is delivered and not when you place the order. So I could place the order today but if it doesn't arrive until after whatever March date the IRS issues its guidance, I (likely) won't get a $7.5k tax credit. People seem to assume it will drop to half that or $0.

@Zboy am I understanding that right?

 

I believe this is true. That's why alot of people were annoyed by the long shipping dates for Teslas.

 

The delivery date is definitely the date that matters, not order date. See IRS FAQ Q5. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/topic-...bility-rules-for-the-new-clean-vehicle-credit

Q5. If I order a new clean vehicle in one year and don't receive it until a subsequent year, when do I claim the credit? (added December 29, 2022)
A5. The new clean vehicle credit is claimed in the tax year that the vehicle is placed in service, meaning the tax year that includes the date the taxpayer takes delivery of the vehicle.