How did you buy your Tesla?

[Jonas_man]

Hi guys,

i have seen many of you buying teslas and for some it wasn't the first tesla.

how did you manage to get extra 100k to buy this car?
i'm an ios developer and im struggling to make 100k to buy one. Any tips from other owners?

joão

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How did you buy* not but. Sorry admin

 

[yobigd20]

I justified it through savings in gas which will eventually pay for the car. I might have a $1222/month car payment but that beats my previous $970/month range rover + $600-$700/month in gas. So I am saving $350-$450 a month. I don't pay for the electricity either but even if I did it's negligible. That's not including 'green' ezpass toll savings either which is another discount I get monthly. At my current high mileage rate, it may take me about 10-11 years (of which I'm already 2.5yrs into it) to hit that breaking even point where the car fully paid for itself through savings.

 

[MrJones390]

Got a used one for half price.

 

[yobigd20]

Got a used one for half price.

that being said, if I were to do it again I'd probably look for a good CPO deal too.

 

[AB4EJ]

Leasing may be an option

Leasing may be an option; the Tesla web site shows pricing for that.

 

[HankLloydRight]

that being said, if I were to do it again I'd probably look for a good CPO deal too.

Me too... considering the pricing of P85+ these days.

 

[taurusking]

Yes...Had I thought CPO would have been this great of a deal ...I would have waited for CPO...oh wait CPO don't have extended warranty but for the miles I am driving every year I don't plan on buying extended warranty either.

May be CPO Model X....in the near future

 

[davewill]

Bought something else. There are going to be a number of longer range offerings from other vendors...plus the 3 from Tesla. Interesting times...

 

[Btrflyl8e]

Priorities. I don't need a fancy bigger house, still in the first house we ever bought (we did at least do a remodel and put in a pool). So no mortgage, no credit card debt, decent salaries and savings. We rarely eat out, mainly because we try to eat clean but the side benefit is $ savings. My main weakness when it comes to spending is cars. Ohhhh how I love cars! The good news is...I found "The One", so it was easy to part with the money for it. I intended to buy it outright, but they were moving much faster than I anticipated. Luckily, car loans were cheap, so borrowing a portion wasn't too bad.

If you want something bad enough, you find ways!

 

[CHG-ON]

I financed the entire thing through home refi (50% of cost of the car), which dropped my mortgage rate significantly (lots of savings there), so the car portion was only 93/mth. Not bad for 65K of the cost of the car. Pocket change. I have tons of equity, so I felt OK about it. I have never used my house like an ATM, as many Americans did before the crash. But based on my age, future plans and financial situation, it worked for me. Then I got 1.99% on 50% of the car through my credit union for 7 years, which I will pay off early. I have a good amount of cash and investments and a stellar credit rating, so it was easy for me to get good and easy deals. I never like using cash if credit is cheap enough, as it is these days. I'll keep the cash for when I really need it.

As the other poster said, it is priorities. I have my house and don't plan on buying anything fancier than what I have. I expect that I will downsize in the next couple of years because it is just too big for me. I have no kids and am 57, so I am not planning on that expense! I was also paying 650USD/mth in gas due to my long commute. So factoring that into it, my net cost for the car payment was only about 700/mth. Not too bad these days. In addition, I got an unexpected boost when I changed over to a time-of-use electric plan for the house and actually saw my electric bill DROP 100USD/mth compared to before I got the car.

So now I have a totally F-ing cool car for only 600/mth. Such a deal!!!

Net-net: it depends upon your life situation, future life and financial plans, and making a decision that works well for you where you can sleep at night. When I was younger, I had too much debt and it would keep me up at night. Now, the only thing keeping me up is the excitement of driving my girl the next day.

 

[Larry Chanin]

Hi guys,

i have seen many of you buying teslas and for some it wasn't the first tesla.

how did you manage to get extra 100k to buy this car?
i'm an ios developer and im struggling to make 100k to buy one. Any tips from other owners?

joão

Hi João,

Welcome to the forums.

I worked and saved for 34 years.

2-1/2 years ago I paid cash for a Performanc Signature and now I'm spending the kid's inheritance in my "Golden Years". :biggrin:

Larry

 

[lucy]

Priorities. I don't need a fancy bigger house, still in the first house we ever bought (we did at least do a remodel and put in a pool). So no mortgage, no credit card debt, decent salaries and savings. We rarely eat out, mainly because we try to eat clean but the side benefit is $ savings. My main weakness when it comes to spending is cars. Ohhhh how I love cars! The good news is...I found "The One", so it was easy to part with the money for it. I intended to buy it outright, but they were moving much faster than I anticipated. Luckily, car loans were cheap, so borrowing a portion wasn't too bad.

If you want something bad enough, you find ways!

Btrfly8e = me, pretty much... Well except for healthy eating.
in addition, wear scrubs at work & sew/thrift most of my other wardrobe, so I've got that going for me.
I haven't had a car payment for 10+ years, so this is going to be rough for a while, will try to pay my MX off ASAP, I'm down pretty far in the reservation list, so trying to get as much $ saved for the down payment as possible before my # comes up. Once I have my new baby, can sell my 2008 Audi RS4 convertible to knock it down some more (bought it used).

 

[perkiset]

Business lease. Smooth, easy, quick.

And in 3 years I'll want the newest version: We currently all drive the iPhone of cars, one wouldn't want to be caught with an old one when all the hot new stuff is out

 

[Max*]

that being said, if I were to do it again I'd probably look for a good CPO deal too.

Add me to that list.

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Priorities.

This about sums it up for me too.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

I collected unicorn farts, unfortunately I only had 4/11 but I borrowed 7
Love my s & have no plans to upgrade

 

[jbcarioca]

I originally ordered an 85D in February this year. Shortly after I was offered an inventory P85D. I dithered for some time before finally noticing that another P85Dnequipped almost identically to the one I ordered was available for $11,500 discount because it was built Dec 20, 2014 and had 1,911 miles. I plan to keep the car a long time so I did it.

in order to have the resale value guarantee I applied for a loan, but paid cash instead because I did not like the pricing, and have serious aversion to debt anyway.

Despite a slightly rocky delivery experience the car has exceeded my expectations in every way. When I buy another I will probably try to buy it the same way.

 

[gdrum]

I was debating going broke on buying a new one. Decided to wait it out as I am a small car dealer. Sure enough someone traded one in at a dealership in chicago and I went up to that auction and bought that mildly used with only 4k miles for a hefty savings. After owning hundreds of cars a year, this thing blows any of those cars out of the water.

 

[Panoz]

I ordered one this past week. I'm still waking up in the fetal position having panic attacks about the expenditure of $ on a car that costs more than my first house...

 

[Jonas_man]

Very good answers. I live in Finland and here the used market isn't an option. The cars are expensive as new.

i will just hope to be rich and buy the car. Im starting some companies in hope to succed and give me just the 100k for the model S

keep posting , maybe we will all get some new ideas.

 

[neroden]

Inherited a substantial nest egg, then did very well on investments. Not an answer of general applicability, I know.