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Cost to Tesla Model 3 for 100k miles?

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I sold my Tesla Model 3 at around 98k miles, so rounded up 100k miles. It was sold to CarMax for $23500 assuming I am correct because I don't have the paper in front of me but I'm certain it was $23,500. I think the car was like $56k when purchased this was the 2018 Model 3 long range, so the mid tier version. I will say it was purchased at $60k after taxes / fees because I don't remember to well.

So 60,000-23500 = $36,500 to drive for about 4 years & 100k miles

100k miles / $36,500 = 36.5 cents per mile driven
$9,125 per year to own

How do people justify owning a car when there are other forms of transportation like Ubers, buses, trains. Maybe I could uber everywhere but I live in Orange County and it be very expensive. I don't uber much but I remember an Uber from Hollywood area to LAX was $80. Based on my rough calculation I could have driven 222.22 miles on $80 of Tesla Model 3 value (based on t hat $36,500 value I got) But that trip was only about 20 miles for that trip. So it seems like Uber is like 11x more expensive than to drive a car, so that's must be why most people will only Uber if they are traveling or not commuting much. Also my past roommate was taking $25 one way Ubers to his work because that work was about a 13 mile commute. So his Uber could be $50 round trip, just to go to work, and I think he only made like $150-200 day as an architect who moved from Costa Rica. He ended up buying a used Ford sedan of some kind, I think around $10k. But when he moved from Costa Rica to the USA he rented a room in my home for a few months until he could find his own place. But I help him out and try pick him up from work because my work was kinda close by, but not to work because he had to get up earlier than me. But from that example, I could tell that Ubering $25-$50 day was gonna get expensive for only 15-30 miles. So maybe Uber is like $2 per mile or more, can we agree that Uber will cost more on a per mile basis than a Tesla that doesn't get totaled and can be sold to CarMax in the future?

It seems like the normal person will realize buying a car is still cheaper than trying to Uber everywhere. Maybe they won't get how but they know it won't cost $50 to do a 15 mile round trip commute. I'm curious if buying a Ferrari or Lamborghini would cost about as much as an Uber on a per mile basis from buying to selling it and factoring all its repairs / gas.

So would 36 cents per mile be an accurate cost of owning a Tesla from buying to selling it? Is that cheap enough? Or are there cheaper alternatives? I'm sure we can say we can walk for free everywhere but that be very hard. Buses in Orange County take forever and are super inconvenient. We have trains here but they don't run 24 hours and there is no last mile solution for trains unless you Uber, which defeats the purpose of trying to save money on a per mile basis so it still be cheaper to drive a car that can go anywhere. The only countries I was able to rely almost on no for of Uber or Taxi was London and Paris, I was able to get around on trains and Lime Scooters. And I never really took trips outside the cities because it be tough for me to figure out how to get around everywhere without a car.

Also I want to figure out what about the cost of driving a Honda Civic that gets 40 miles a gallon? Also I think it be hard to find a high performance gas car that gets 40-60 miles per gallon and you usually have to accept 10-20 mpg if you want a performance car. But Tesla feels like a performance car that runs on cheaper energy. But I am wondering what it's like to drive a 40 mile gallon car if my past cars were like the Lexus GS430, BMW M3, and Tesla Model 3.

I think airplanes are the best value per mile. I once took a round trip airplane for $400 from John Wayne to Heathrow / London and that's about 10k miles total, or 3-4 cents a mile. And I flew on a decent airline like Delta or American Airline.
 
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<snip>

So would 36 cents per mile be an accurate cost of owning a Tesla from buying to selling it? Is that cheap enough?
No. You are forgetting fuel (electricity) costs, normal wear-and-tear items (i.e., tires), DMV registrations, and insurance (surely you didn't drive it without proper, legal insurance coverage) at the very least. There's probably some other costs from owning / driving / maintaining a vehicle but those are the ones I can think of at the moment.
 
A very strange post indeed. I'll only address some of his comments about Uber. In the long run, using an Uber may (or may not) be cheaper than owning a Tesla. It depends on how often you use an Uber and how far you go in one. In many rural parts of the country, like where I live, Uber isn't even a viable option. And, I bought my Tesla mainly to reduce my carbon footprint. When you use an Uber, you are more likely to get an ICE powered vehicle.
 
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There are cheaper cars than a Tesla model 3 to compare to uber and the like. Ok. 15 sec 0-60 may not be what we're use to though.

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2018 with almost 100K miles and still trade in for 23K. That is fantastic value retention. Crazy if you ask me. I am actually curious what kind of buyer pays $25K+ for a 100K miles model 3. The battery is out of warranty. If that battery fails, the repair bill is almost the price of the car. A brand new 2023 M3LR can be had for $40K and below after Federal tax credit and state incentives. It just does not make any sense to me.
 
That is the dealer taking the trade in. Carmax will list it at least $25K for sale. If no one is buying, there is no way Carmax will offer 23.5K. Someone must be actually buying it to keep the price from falling further. Do such customer actually exist? I would get a brand new 2023 and pay the extra $15K for sure. If one cannot afford to go beyond $25K. A past warranty model 3 is also not logical. Even if the battery did not fail. A suspension repair, AC repair, screen replacement, etc. could easily cost 2-3K each run to the Tesla service center.
 
There are plenty of people that fall into the "Always buy used vehicle, no matter what" philosophy, whether its actually correct for a specific vehicle or not.

There are also people for whom "30k right now" is quite a bit different than 35-36k after incentives a year from now", from a financial perspective. Whether they "should" be buying the car or not is a different discussion that i am not really interested in getting into, and could vary depending on each persons individual circumstances.

If Carmax is paying 25k, its likely someone is going to pay 28-29k, finance it (with the dealer getting an add on for taking on a percentage point on financing), and likely purchase an in house extended warranty for X,XXX because "its outside the manufacturer warranty but we can offer you....."

The more money you have, the easier it is to avoid a lot of stuff that is somewhat predatory on purchases like cars.
 
What? You're going cheap? But I thought your parents bought your cars?

My arcade friend who is 21 years old and makes most of his income reselling arcade prizes, he drives an around 2020 Honda Civic. He says he gets 40 miles a gallon and he claims his gas cost is about the same cost to drive as a Tesla. He says he justifies the high prices of gas because he gets 40 miles a gallon and that his car's cheaper initial cost outweighs the cheaper energy.

I just never driven a car like a Chevy Sonic, Kia Soul, Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Kicks. I'm just wondering if I were to drive a new one, would it be a huge down grade to drive cars like these that are considered bargains? Because most of these cars have cooler / memorable commercials like Kia Soul's hamsters. Or Chevy Sonic with Rob Dyrdek flipping the car.

I've been in someone's Ford Focus in like 2015 and I think it was a new car at the time. While it was new, it felt kind of small and very basic. Like it was put together with Legos but this is a Lego driving on a road. Or similar to the feeling of Ikea furniture.
 
There are cheaper cars than a Tesla model 3 to compare to uber and the like. Ok. 15 sec 0-60 may not be what we're use to though.

How does 0 to 60 feel like in 15 seconds? Maybe the slowest car I can think of regularly driving was an old 2001 Lexus LX470.

That Chevy Spark looks similar to the Chevy Sonic. But the Chevy Sonic had advertising campaigns like Rob Dyrdek kick flipping the car. So would someone be disappointed if they bought a stock Chevy Sonic just because they saw that commercial? A lot of these bargain cars tend to have cool commercials that are more interesting than the ones from luxury brands.
 
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Even if his math is accurate (but I'm not so sure in CA with $5 gas), he's saying it would cost the *same* to drive a Model 3 as it costs him to drive a 2020 Civic... and he's choosing the *CIVIC*?!?!?!
I think I posted something close to these numbers before in another thread...

A 40MPG ICE with gas at $5.17 (today's CA average) is equal in cost / mi ($0.13) to a Tesla which has an efficiency of 292Wh / mi and charge cost of $0.42 / kWh. Assuming that you could get gas much cheaper, say like $4.59 (lowest I found in Orange County with gasbuddy.com), then the Tesla would have to get 248Wh / mi at the same $0.42 for electricity to get the same $0.11 / mi.

ref: AAA Gas Prices
ref: Best Gas Prices & Local Gas Stations in Orange County, CA
 
I think I posted something close to these numbers before in another thread...

A 40MPG ICE with gas at $5.17 (today's CA average) is equal in cost / mi ($0.13) to a Tesla which has an efficiency of 292Wh / mi and charge cost of $0.42 / kWh. Assuming that you could get gas much cheaper, say like $4.59 (lowest I found in Orange County with gasbuddy.com), then the Tesla would have to get 248Wh / mi at the same $0.42 for electricity to get the same $0.11 / mi.

ref: AAA Gas Prices
ref: Best Gas Prices & Local Gas Stations in Orange County, CA

If you’re paying $0.42/kWh on the regular to charge your car, even in California, you’re doing it wrong.
 
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