I am stuck in a bit of a pickle. I'm really looking forward to the Model 3 but I'm not sure I'd be able to afford it at the moment unless I got a great financing deal. I'm currently upside down on my Prius and I don't expect to be breaking even for about 3 years. This was expected so I'm not worried, but it does mean that it may delay my plans for the Model 3.
If I put the deposit down on April 1st, then it's possible I will get the Model 3 within 2 years (if they are on time with production and not TOO many people order highly optioned models). If I get the car in 2 years, I'll still be a few thousand dollars upside down on the Prius and that will mean two car payments for awhile or higher monthly payments overall than we can afford (if I were to trade it in). So the prudent thing would be to wait 6 - 9 months to put down the deposit, so I won't get the Tesla until late 2018 or early 2019...but the Prius will be almost paid off so the payments on the Tesla would be doable.
Problem is, that if I wait too long, I miss out on the tax credit. Now my wife and I don't make enough for the full 7.5k credit from the Feds, so we can wait until the credit phases to the 50% mark and that would work out almost perfectly for us. But the timing has to be right...otherwise I would risk getting into the 25% mark which would be a couple thousand dollar loss.
So planning for the worst case scenario here, if we miss the tax credits entirely, what kind of lease payments could we reasonably expect from Tesla on a lower-end Model 3? Is Tesla like some conventional dealers where they're willing to offer higher-than-normal trade in values just so they can get your business?
If I put the deposit down on April 1st, then it's possible I will get the Model 3 within 2 years (if they are on time with production and not TOO many people order highly optioned models). If I get the car in 2 years, I'll still be a few thousand dollars upside down on the Prius and that will mean two car payments for awhile or higher monthly payments overall than we can afford (if I were to trade it in). So the prudent thing would be to wait 6 - 9 months to put down the deposit, so I won't get the Tesla until late 2018 or early 2019...but the Prius will be almost paid off so the payments on the Tesla would be doable.
Problem is, that if I wait too long, I miss out on the tax credit. Now my wife and I don't make enough for the full 7.5k credit from the Feds, so we can wait until the credit phases to the 50% mark and that would work out almost perfectly for us. But the timing has to be right...otherwise I would risk getting into the 25% mark which would be a couple thousand dollar loss.
So planning for the worst case scenario here, if we miss the tax credits entirely, what kind of lease payments could we reasonably expect from Tesla on a lower-end Model 3? Is Tesla like some conventional dealers where they're willing to offer higher-than-normal trade in values just so they can get your business?
