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Australian Model 3 Waiting Room
- Thread starter rgc1990
- Start date
Firstly, never lease an EV. They last way longer than you're led to believe, so you're better off owning it, and you can avoid being extorted on lease fees and the higher interest rate, and your finance company won't let you use a car on a novated lease for uber.
Secondly, why upgrade? I'm in my 50th month of SR+ ownership, at 265,373km, and I'm doing the Ship of Theseus routine instead. So far I've replaced:
- Charge port (very early replacement) (warranty)
- A tail light module (it wasn't draining) (warranty)
- Minor upgrade - enabled rear seat warmers for $550 (for better winter range with uber riders aboard)
- Front Upper Control Arms (just out of warranty, but Tesla comped it anyway, known issue on older Model 3s)
- Rear double seatbelt clip (twice, 2 years apart) (methhead uber riders both times, being a-holes, yanking at the seatbelt when it's already done up & damaged the sensor toggles inside)
- Air conditioning intake issue (leaf litter clogged up the condenser, causing a massive increase in battery usage & cabin humidity, Tesla Service charged $135 to hose it out & everything came good immediately)
- One bent rim (though the tyre shop was probably lying to sell me new ones) (replaced courtesy of another Uber driver in Melbourne who parted out his 4 stock rims when he put new fully sick rims on his own Model 3)
- Minor upgrade - added the pedestrian warning speaker for $290
- Driver's door button & window switches (the driver's door release button wore out & I ripped off my window switch clear off thinking I was reaching for the emergency release while awaiting parts - fortunately they're always replaced simultaneously anyway)
- Steering wheel (too much hand sanitizer during the plandemic era) (replaced from a wreck)
- Drivers seat (driver is, umm, too heavy) (replaced from a different wreck)
- Lower Control Arm Bushings (I was getting a hint of nausea when decelerating on heavy regen after ~250k. It was almost imperceptible but something just didn't feel right unless I feathered the throttle way more than usual. I finally got Tesla Service to diagnose it at 263k & they fixed it at 264k when parts arrived. Heavy regen feels perfectly normal now.
I just don't see an obvious reason to upgrade, even after 265k. Battery is healthy, motor is healthy, frame is fine, suspension needed minor work twice. Sure, I'd get more base range & the octovalve & LFP to 100% & ventilated seats. But I'd lose the 5.6s 0-100, the full upfront FSD, the indicator stalks, the ultrasonics, and the early adopter chrome trim. And I'd be throwing away perfectly good money replacing something that still works & will probably continue working for a very long time, thank you very much! And my uber riders won't pay a cent extra for a ride in a newer car.
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I think slightly higher depreciation rates are to be expected in such a tech heavy vehicle using tech that is still maturing (ie Battery prices falling significantly).
I know my next vehicle will also be a Tesla so prices falling might affect resale value but it also helps on the other end. I also know that I'll keep this vehicle likely twice as long as I've kept any vehicle in the past, as it will still be extremely relevant then unlike any legacy option (which also suffer from signficant depreciation, it's not unique to Tesla, especially in the current financial climate).
I'm also factoring in the savings I'm making in fuel and FBT etc. I know I'm still well ahead so price drops don't phase me in the slightest.
I know my next vehicle will also be a Tesla so prices falling might affect resale value but it also helps on the other end. I also know that I'll keep this vehicle likely twice as long as I've kept any vehicle in the past, as it will still be extremely relevant then unlike any legacy option (which also suffer from signficant depreciation, it's not unique to Tesla, especially in the current financial climate).
I'm also factoring in the savings I'm making in fuel and FBT etc. I know I'm still well ahead so price drops don't phase me in the slightest.
Finance for me was still in the process of being done. I'd sent them the invoice, but hadn't got the final contracts yet. Contacted the NVL company this morning and they said to send them the new invoice once it appears in documents in the Tesla app (supposedly some time over the next 24h) and they'll re-do it.
That would have been true before the Government made leased EVs exempt from FBT. Harder argument to make now though. I've gone 3 years on the lease, but once that's up I'll likely refinance whatever's left (assuming that's still tax effective) and then run it until it breaks. Which by the sounds of your experience is pretty much never.
4th June. So yes, I had enough time to ask them to sort it out.
Sure but I guess I never considered insurance fraud as part of the value proposition
good to know it’s held up well, but honestly I just get bored and like a change. The new performance was interesting but not something I’m considering anymore
They can dry their tears with their thousands of dollars of tax savings I guess?
It should go back to the finance or lease company, since if you just get it as cash that's effectively untaxed money. Then they have to figure out how to reduce the cost of the package to suit so you get it back.
However, it seems like in the past people have just been quietly getting the refund. Just don't be surprised if one day the ATO wakes up to this and brings the hammer down.
Update, they tried to rebook my car in with motor one. I told them no, I want a full credit. Then they referred me to tint a car in Holden Hill to check it. I have also uploaded all the videos to a one drive cloud storage and sent to motor one HO. Right now they are trying to negotiate something with tint a car. I was very lucky I have no idea how the cameras took videos for the whole time car was at motor one, but I am glad it happened
My insurer, like most, provides an insured value range for any vehicle they insure if you don’t want to accept their “agreed” value. I chose to insure at the high end of the range they provided, and paid the premium accordingly.
I don’t appreciate being accused of insurance fraud.
Sturty
Member
Serious question.
When you bought yours as an early-ish Tesla adopter, did you really thing the value would hold up? I’m surprised that the price drop has happened as soon as it has, but I’m buying an EV knowing full well in 3-5 years it’ll be the electric equivilant of the old bunky you see on the road - when I got my P’s it was the old corollas and maybe the early excels, now it’s the Getz and Barinas, next stop: early Tesla’s.
I don’t care what you’ve insured it for, I meant that it’s completely irrelevant for what it’s actually worth.
I’d be lucky to get 50k for my 2022 m3lr with 25,000kms, trade in value is 40k.
Pretty crap considering it was 80k new
Over 50% in 2 years is definitely worse than I expected. Not sure what excels and corollas have to do with anything
the learning curve with new(-ish) technology products is often steep. You can hold off buying and keep waiting for the price to fall further, or you can accept that’s what’s going to happen, and enjoy the car instead.I keep cars for a long time (to date, the shortest time is 16 years), so to me resale value is completely irrelevant.
Sturty
Member
I think the other user is just upset they didn’t have the same idea
Obsoletion, obviously, but you keep your sour grapes.
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I agree and find it curious that people still consider resale value as a key metric when buying cars, or anything.
I keep cars for a long time (to date, the shortest time is 16 years), so to me resale value is completely irrelevant.
Psychologically they are planning for the day they get rid of the item rather than enjoying it while they own it.
If the car gets insured for more than it’s worth when it’s sold (because the owner looked after it and kept it longer), then that’s on the insurers who will make their money over that period anyway.
I suspect the ideology of “cars losing their value on resale” is a clever car sales technique (buy a Toyota) which has been drummed into us.
For me anyway, the experience of owning a car is just that, the experience now, I can’t control the future and im not worried about its value in the future. Life’s too short.
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