How Can I sway the better half?

[sub]

ok, I will try and keep this short. My hope has been that our next family car will be a Tesla. I had an 8kwh system installed on our house 3 months ago (cash, not leased) so that when we do get our Tesla it's free driving. I love not having a power bill also, PG&E already owes me a nice check. Anyways, My wife and I have test driven the Model S and she was enthused at the time and committed to buying a Tesla. On our way home from the test drive I told her we have to invest in TSLA, and we did. Between the Solar and pouring a bunch of money in TSLA, we are a bit cash poor right now

My wife recently got a new job with a hefty raise but she is traveling more, probably 1000-1500 miles a month (reimbursed by employer). Our current vehicles are a 13 year old 3 series wagon and a 20 year old Landcruiser that I use for towing and snow duty as well as short trips around town as my DD. Both vehicles have 150k+ miles.

My wife is paranoid about driving the 3 series since it has so many miles and has had a lot of little issues that I've been trying to get repaired ($2500-$3000 in repairs in the last 3-4 months with another $500-$1000 to go). I do not want to buy another gas vehicle, new or used.

I can't get my wife to understand that if we were to finance a gas car + gas that we come out only slightly better than financing a big portion of a Model S.

Anyone else have this dilemma? I don't want to pull money out of TSLA either, Frustrating. Even financing 100% of the vehicle would not stress us financially on a monthly basis. However, we haven't financed anything in years. We believe in all cash, but on this one purchase and considering our situation I'm willing to consider it.

Opinions and Ideas appreciated. Thanks.

 

[texex91]

It would make a great deal of sense with all of the miles she drives. As long as she understands the charging limitations (based upon how far her trips are) based upon model chosen.

Don't need to go into the obvious:
- Safest Car in America
- Car of the Year Motor Trend & Automobile
- Highest rating by Consumer Reports
- CA tax credits, carpool lane benefits, etc.
- Electric, which you all obviously embrace with your house

If you can find another car that has these attributes buy it.

Get her back in the car for another drive--always tends to help the situation.

If all else fails, pull out the romantic weekend card :biggrin:

 

[Discoducky]

http://www.teslarumors.com/Teslanomics.html

Model S is cheaper for my family after 4 to 5 years of driving compared to a Touring Honda Odyssey. I figured this out about 3.2 years ago when we had our Honda Civic Hybrid 07.

Oh and the PenFed loan is great as well so you don't have pull anything out of TSLA.

 

[LASpark]

No more breathing toxic fumes at dirty gas stations.

 

[sub]

I'm in Norcal, charging shouldn't be an issue. Her trips are to the Napa/Santa Rosa area, Roseville, and Sacramento Airport. There is already a supercharger at Folsom which is in a great spot for us. The Map of future superchargers is showing a couple up in the Napa area but it's hard to tell exactly where they will be, shouldn't be an issue however and she is aware that the charging will take a little more effort on her trips.

I would also be using the car on the weekends to travel to Cycling events.

Here is her big issue: What is we for some reason have a financial melt down and we have this car financed? She tends to look at things and only see the worst possible outcome lol. My simple solution, uh, sell the car? We do not live pay check to pay check, and make well into 6 figures combined.

I may just have to get her down for another test drive, it may help us with the decision one way or the other. We would get the S85. I like the P85 of course but I can't justify it and let's be honest, compared to my current cars it's no comparison. I think my Landcruiser goes 0-60 in about 2 weeks and gulps a gallon of gas every 9 miles.

 

[Lump]

Sell some TSLA & put 50% down, finance the rest over 5 years at historically low rates, when you factor your gas saving your total out of pocket per month might be low enough to make her comfortable to sleep at night.

 

[Discoducky]

Here is her big issue: What is we for some reason have a financial melt down and we have this car financed? She tends to look at things and only see the worst possible outcome lol. My simple solution, uh, sell the car? We do not live pay check to pay check, and make well into 6 figures combined.

Resale market of the S is quite good and will most likely be quite good for quite some time. I'm quite good at using the word 'quite'.

Seriously, the demand is huge for used Model S's since there are not any to be found so if you have to sell it you won't take a bath.

 

[Newscutter]

The demand for the MS is high enough you'll be able to easily liquidate IF NECESSARY and it'll retain a large amount of it's original value. You should consider that possibility when ordering then, to make sure you're optioning a car to a desirable level of equipment (kind of a catch-22). The biggest hit you'll take will the tax credit. Count on getting at least $10K use out of the car to offset that possibility. That said, the infrastructure of service centers and superchargers make this a no-brainer.

Again, worse case scenario you dump the car, run a cheap ancient Honda for a few years. 'Tis better to have Tesla'd and lost than to have never Tesla'd at all.
I can't speak to the finance side of things as I'm a strictly car-cash type of person, but I can't see how your running costs wouldn't offset your risk even in the near term.
Do the math, it should speak for itself.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

Lot’s of good points already as I understand it.

I can't get my wife to understand that if we were to finance a gas car + gas that we come out only slightly better than financing a big portion of a Model S.

If you have calculations to back this, then why wouldn’t she be able to see that you’re right?

Here is her big issue: What is we for some reason have a financial melt down and we have this car financed? She tends to look at things and only see the worst possible outcome lol. My simple solution, uh, sell the car? We do not live pay check to pay check, and make well into 6 figures combined.

It seems no matter what happens (albeit unlikely) you will be okay financially. Shouldn’t she also be able to see that?

Also:

Depending on whether her view of Man Made Global Warming is aligned with the scientific consensus (97% of the scientists in the field agree, 3% are undecided), that could be a way to appeal to any altruistic values. I’m guessing there are some… Children seems to be helpful when pursuing this approach…

Fossil fuels also lead to many other highly negative externalities. For example: Polluted air, a lot of spills from oil pipelines, the catastrophe in the Mexican Gulf and the near infinite human rights abuses by the very, very undemocratic ‘regimes’ in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab emirates et. al.

Cars propelled by fossil fuels can also catch on fire.

 

[sub]

I've laid out the numbers to her in general, not down to the dollar, taking the worst case scenario (under estimating our miles driven). I'm not sure what our current gas bill is per month right now, but I have an idea it's in the $300-$500 a month range.

Her response when I talk about the numbers is "I see that the numbers make sense, but I can't get over the fact that it's a 90k car!".

To be clear, this isn't a marital issue, we have a very strong marriage and discuss every financial decision together.

 

[texex91]

I've laid out the numbers to her in general, not down to the dollar, taking the worst case scenario (under estimating our miles driven). I'm not sure what our current gas bill is per month right now, but I have an idea it's in the $300-$500 a month range.

Her response when I talk about the numbers is "I see that the numbers make sense, but I can't get over the fact that it's a 90k car!".

To be clear, this isn't a marital issue, we have a very strong marriage and discuss every financial decision together.

Maybe you need to wait for X for Gen 3 if she is that concerned.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

Could part of it be that perhaps she’s concerned about what other people (including her new (?) co-workers) might think, when seeing her driving a “90k car!”?

Perhaps you could have it debadged, and 'pretend' it’s a 60 KwH instead of an 85…

 

[Lump]

If all else fails, constantly talk all things Tesla, bug her & nag her everyday until she gets sick of you whining & gives in.

 

[ModelS8794]

I've laid out the numbers to her in general, not down to the dollar, taking the worst case scenario (under estimating our miles driven). I'm not sure what our current gas bill is per month right now, but I have an idea it's in the $300-$500 a month range.

Her response when I talk about the numbers is "I see that the numbers make sense, but I can't get over the fact that it's a 90k car!".

Maybe invert, as Charlie Munger says. Instead of presenting the tesla financial math, present to her the current reality of your auto finances. Annual gas + recent repair bills for the base case of 'do nothing', and then compare it to her choice of a new car and the annual gas + financing cost of that one.

Alternative tack might be: If her employer reimburses on mileage rather than on fuel receipts, demonstrate the net monthly cost of the tesla vs. her preferred choice, and maybe set up the down payment/financing math such that the amount you propose to finance is covered by the employer's reimbursement payment. If they are paying the IRS rate of ~56 cents per mile and she books 1500 miles a month, that means the first $850 a month of the car is covered by the employer's payment. That's equivalent to about $48,000 financed for 5 years at 2.4%. Contribute the cost of gas and the math becomes more attractive still:

Your boss gives us $850 a month regardless of which car you drive, and we spend $300 a month out of pocket for gas if we buy that new Acura/Honda/etc. So instead lets spend $0 on gas and only $200 a month on the car out of pocket (instead of $300 on gas). If we do that, $850 is paid by your boss, $200 by us, and we can drive the Tesla with $60k financed and the rest covered by the TSLA stock we'll sell."

 

[Enadler]

2 words

TEST DRIVE

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

…or you could say that you managed to find and buy a used one. Perhaps even one of the discontinued 40 KwH ones… Wouldn’t that make it a '50k car'?

 

[Ardie]

Sub,

You could try the "bait and switch" method.

Start showing interest in the BMW i3. Its electric (or electric+onboard gas engine generator), and made by a company you know and trust. It will be generous to state that it seats 4 comfortably, and you'll have to point out the miniscule cargo area as barely adequate. You'll have to wait about 9 months before they are available in the USA, and there will probably be a dealer rake-over-the-coals markup added on to the MSRP. Performance is decidedly leisurely compared to a standard Model S, and almost laughable when compared to the P85+ Super-Duper Model S version. Did I forget to mention that it won't be able to sneak in and drink from the Tesla Supercharger network?

90 Grand or no, the Model S will save money over, say, a BMW 5-series after you add up the gasoline costs over 4 or 5 years. (Maintenance will be more or less a wash due to BMW's 4-year no-maintenance warranty.)

Is she wavering? Play the safety card. "I'm not gambling with *my* family's life. I'm getting you the best and safest car I possibly can. You deserve nothing less."

At this point, she ought to say: "Where's that Tesla reservation web page again?"

Of course, there is some risk. She might say: "Hmm. An electric BMW about half the price of a Model S. Let's look into it." You could retaliate by noting that its so much cheaper, you can get one apiece.

Either way, you'll be going electric.

-- Ardie

 

[evme]

Have you tried the:

This car is the safest car on the road. I don't want this car for myself, it's for the kids! Think of the kids!


(assuming you have kids)

lol

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

So, she has ‘concerns’ about the Model S… But as I understand it, she wants to get something else instead of her old 3-series wagon pretty soon. So what other car does she have in mind? Perhaps someone here might find that intel useful…

 

[tpoltron]

I not sure how your electricity rebate is structured but here in Palo Alto the amount you get back is half of the lowest they will charge you. They are motivating utility users to zero our annual bill electricity bill but not to overproduce. So you may have additional financial incentive to use more electricity charging a car than for buying gas.

My wife is the primary driver (and funder) of our Model S and LOVES it. Neither of us want to drive a gas car again. Since my commute is short and our solar power working so well I went and leased an electric Fiat 500e for my daily needs. We take the Tesla up to Tahoe etc no problems.