Is it stupid to buy new car but delay FSD purchase?

[NedH]

The EV tax credit if it ever passes, gives a good chunk of change to new owners but the purchase price is limited to $55,000. The Model 3 that I want is listed at around $52,000 without FSD so that the $12,000 FSD would put it over the limit and thus the car would be ineligible for the credit.

Is there anything wrong with buying the car now without FSD, qualifying for the credit, and purchasing the FSD later? Insurance issues?

 

[Bouba]

The EV tax credit if it ever passes, gives a good chunk of change to new owners but the purchase price is limited to $55,000. The Model 3 that I want is listed at around $52,000 without FSD so that the $12,000 FSD would put it over the limit and thus the car would be ineligible for the credit.

Is there anything wrong with buying the car now without FSD, qualifying for the credit, and purchasing the FSD later? Insurance issues?

I don’t know about the USA but that is exactly what I did in France for exactly the same reason

 

[drtimhill]

The EV tax credit if it ever passes, gives a good chunk of change to new owners but the purchase price is limited to $55,000. The Model 3 that I want is listed at around $52,000 without FSD so that the $12,000 FSD would put it over the limit and thus the car would be ineligible for the credit.

Is there anything wrong with buying the car now without FSD, qualifying for the credit, and purchasing the FSD later? Insurance issues?

As you note, the only issues would be fighting with your insurance company over the FSD cost should the car ever be totaled. That and the price increases that Tesla seem to like making to FSD.

 

[Lephturn]

That's what I did to stay in range of the rebate here in Ontario when I bought my M3SR+ in September. Good thing too because the price has increased so much that there is no Tesla that qualifies for the rebates at all now.

In terms of FSD, I plan to pay for that only when I can actually use it. Probably on my Cybertruck when they eventually build it.

 

[Shelburne]

The EV tax credit if it ever passes, gives a good chunk of change to new owners but the purchase price is limited to $55,000. The Model 3 that I want is listed at around $52,000 without FSD so that the $12,000 FSD would put it over the limit and thus the car would be ineligible for the credit.

Is there anything wrong with buying the car now without FSD, qualifying for the credit, and purchasing the FSD later? Insurance issues?

Not stupid at all. Personally, I don't like FSD. I like to drive! But if FSD is your thing, you can always get it alter. And if the government qualifies Teslas for a rebate that can pay for (most?) of the cost of FSD. Also, if you get it without FSD and drive it for a while, you might decide that FSD isn't worth the cost...like I did.

 

[GeoG]

The EV tax credit if it ever passes, gives a good chunk of change to new owners but the purchase price is limited to $55,000. The Model 3 that I want is listed at around $52,000 without FSD so that the $12,000 FSD would put it over the limit and thus the car would be ineligible for the credit.

Is there anything wrong with buying the car now without FSD, qualifying for the credit, and purchasing the FSD later? Insurance issues?

Why dont you try the subscription model and see if you like it? I had the subscription, I was on the beta as well. Never liked it. Maybe when it gets better I might get back to subscribing.

 

[afadeev]

The EV tax credit if it ever passes, gives a good chunk of change to new owners but the purchase price is limited to $55,000. The Model 3 that I want is listed at around $52,000 without FSD so that the $12,000 FSD would put it over the limit and thus the car would be ineligible for the credit.

Is there anything wrong with buying the car now without FSD, qualifying for the credit, and purchasing the FSD later? Insurance issues?

Only wrong if you hate being financially responsible.
I would not pay more then $1K for FSD vaporware. As FSD price tag goes up, that feature's value proposition becomes less and less attractive to me.
Not surprisingly, the same logic works with others, and FSD adoption has been dropping inline with price increases:

Tesla survey shows take rate for Full Self-Driving package is surprisingly low

A large survey of Tesla owners gives us probably the best idea of the take rate for the Full Self-Driving...

electrek.co

On the other hand, Elon does need a new house...

a

 

[Bouba]

Only wrong if you hate being financially responsible.
I would not pay more then $1K for FSD vaporware. As FSD price tag goes up, that feature's value proposition becomes less and less attractive to me.
Not surprisingly, the same logic works with others, and FSD adoption has been dropping inline with price increases:
View attachment 761079

Tesla survey shows take rate for Full Self-Driving package is surprisingly low

A large survey of Tesla owners gives us probably the best idea of the take rate for the Full Self-Driving...

electrek.co

On the other hand, Elon does need a new house...

a

Has the drop in sales mirrored the improvements in Autopilot ?

 

[terranx]

Has the drop in sales mirrored the improvements in Autopilot ?

Probably not, since you can’t even get extended autopilot by itself anymore. If you could, FSD sales would likely be near 0. Basic autopilot is basically equivalent to the cruise + autosteer you can get in any car these days.

Hell for me personally, if I could buy dumb summon by itself, I wouldn’t even care about eap or fsd at any price.

 

[Leeclanual]

I’d get it without FSD and ensure you are under the proposed cap… you can always add it later when fully up and running. My guess is most buyers roll the FSD price into the loan.

 

[Sporty]

I would recommend trying it before buying it. IMO you’re effectively buying a promise. It doesn’t “self driving” right now. If you’re in the beta you get a lot of UI improvements but it drivers well poorly. I imagine the ui eventually makes it to non-fsd cars simply out of consolidating code.

The promise is old. I’ve owned my car for 4 years and it’s self driving ability has not improved. (I would say it regressed even). I’m about ready to trade my car for a more current version, so I effectively paid for a promise that I won’t see. On my next one I’m going to skip fsd and if it people are reporting “omg it’s here” I’ll rent it and try it first.

 

[Twiglett]

I plan on switching from a 3 to a Y soon. I was waiting for a Cybertruck, but can't be bothered to wait until some indeterminate time.
My Model 3 has FSD and I'm on the beta program but I won't be bothering getting it on the Y.
I'm sure Elon can justify 12k, but its just not worth that much money, for me the value has to proven before i'll spend that kind of money again.
I've already spent 8k to not get real FSD, Tesla need to produce a polished FSD to make it worth it.

 

[rajbsn]

I put my $10k last year on tesla stock instead of FSD and sold it when it got 2x. I bought my FSD . I think it's still doable and needs patience.

 

[Spuzzz]

Probably not, since you can’t even get extended autopilot by itself anymore. If you could, FSD sales would likely be near 0. Basic autopilot is basically equivalent to the cruise + autosteer you can get in any car these days.

Hell for me personally, if I could buy dumb summon by itself, I wouldn’t even care about eap or fsd at any price.

Don’t care about dumb summon, but I really like the lane change feature on the freeways

 

[afadeev]

Has the drop in sales mirrored the improvements in Autopilot ?

What improvements in Autopilot?

I've had the same crap-shoot AP functionality in TM3P for the last 3 years.