Tesla Motors Club
Hi all, (this is a long post, no apologies, just a warning!)
I've been lurking for a while but just wanted to share my current dilemma to get your thoughts.
I currently drive a Skoda Superb, 2.0 estate and love every bit of it. Fully loaded, adaptive cruise, auto tailgate, android auto. I drive around 20K miles per year.
The Skoda is a company car but there are no decent cars on the new list so when the contract ends in April I am planning to purchase it and take a car allowance instead. I will keep the Skoda for a while until I sort out my next car, which my heart tells me should be a Used Tesla Model S, ideally 2017 facelift unicorn car.
I am concerned the Model 3 is too small for my family. We have driving holidays once or twice a year to France and whilst I can now close the cover on my boot once everything is packed, we take a lot of stuff, so I think the Model 3 is going to be too small.
I also prefer the 'executive saloon' look of the Model S. Not too bothered about facelift or not but seems like 2016 or newer is best for 2nd hand models.
I'm obviously working up a spreadsheet as moving from a company car to my own car introduces a lot of extra costs, not least insurance (£1,000 p/annum - I'm assuming no NCD, though that might be possible), tax, MOT, servicing. I will be able to claim 4p per mile from my company and make a tax claim for the tax difference on the rest at 45p/25p per mile (about an extra £1000 per year).
By making the switch I will be about £650 per month better off than I am now - but then I need to pay for insurance and a loan for the purchase of the current car.
I am buying the Skoda because the balloon payment is £7,500, whereas as I haven't done the mileage, private sale should be around £12,500. By the way, Tesla have offered £9,000 part-ex. Webuyanycar offered £10,500! So £5K 'profit' sounds like a no brainer. Running the Skoda will cost me about £400 per month in loan, service & insurance, so £250 per month to save up.
Plan would be to save up for a few months, then sell the Skoda, increase the loan to £25K and buy a used Model S for around £35-£40K. My monthly outgoing would then increase to about £650, so I'd be in the same position I'm in now - wouldn't I?
I think the Model S would be great, performance would be great, autopilot is a must (for adaptive cruise), not too concerned about FSD at the moment, but AP2 car would be nice so I could consider it in the future.
But what am I thinking when I could quite easily go buy a second hand BMW 530 Touring for half the price? It would cost me a packet in servicing I suppose, and of course fuel.
Anyway, that's my dilemma and plan - where am I going wrong? Convince me the Model S (or a new Model 3) would be the right way to go!
Thanks in advance
Tom
I've been lurking for a while but just wanted to share my current dilemma to get your thoughts.
I currently drive a Skoda Superb, 2.0 estate and love every bit of it. Fully loaded, adaptive cruise, auto tailgate, android auto. I drive around 20K miles per year.
The Skoda is a company car but there are no decent cars on the new list so when the contract ends in April I am planning to purchase it and take a car allowance instead. I will keep the Skoda for a while until I sort out my next car, which my heart tells me should be a Used Tesla Model S, ideally 2017 facelift unicorn car.
I am concerned the Model 3 is too small for my family. We have driving holidays once or twice a year to France and whilst I can now close the cover on my boot once everything is packed, we take a lot of stuff, so I think the Model 3 is going to be too small.
I also prefer the 'executive saloon' look of the Model S. Not too bothered about facelift or not but seems like 2016 or newer is best for 2nd hand models.
I'm obviously working up a spreadsheet as moving from a company car to my own car introduces a lot of extra costs, not least insurance (£1,000 p/annum - I'm assuming no NCD, though that might be possible), tax, MOT, servicing. I will be able to claim 4p per mile from my company and make a tax claim for the tax difference on the rest at 45p/25p per mile (about an extra £1000 per year).
By making the switch I will be about £650 per month better off than I am now - but then I need to pay for insurance and a loan for the purchase of the current car.
I am buying the Skoda because the balloon payment is £7,500, whereas as I haven't done the mileage, private sale should be around £12,500. By the way, Tesla have offered £9,000 part-ex. Webuyanycar offered £10,500! So £5K 'profit' sounds like a no brainer. Running the Skoda will cost me about £400 per month in loan, service & insurance, so £250 per month to save up.
Plan would be to save up for a few months, then sell the Skoda, increase the loan to £25K and buy a used Model S for around £35-£40K. My monthly outgoing would then increase to about £650, so I'd be in the same position I'm in now - wouldn't I?
I think the Model S would be great, performance would be great, autopilot is a must (for adaptive cruise), not too concerned about FSD at the moment, but AP2 car would be nice so I could consider it in the future.
But what am I thinking when I could quite easily go buy a second hand BMW 530 Touring for half the price? It would cost me a packet in servicing I suppose, and of course fuel.
Anyway, that's my dilemma and plan - where am I going wrong? Convince me the Model S (or a new Model 3) would be the right way to go!
Thanks in advance
Tom