Largest concern about buying a model 3

[MXWing]

Also, added shares at 235. Wish me luck!

Wonder who was stupid enough to short when I bought.

People need to get into their heads that Tesla cars are sexy AF and worth a lot of hassle to have the privilege of driving.

Still not a fan boy - will call out bull *sugar* as I see it.

@mattjs33 go rent a Model 3 performance man!

 

[Watts_Up]

My largest concern about buying a model 3 ....

My largest concern would be:

Should I get the Model 3 now (and still get $3,750 tax incentive) or wait for the (more practical) Model Y?

 

[aerodyne]

My largest concern would be:

Should I get the Model 3 now (and still get $3,750 tax incentive) or wait for the (more practical) Model Y?

Depends on what your pratical needs are. Let's say you camp or recreate every weekend. For less than the tax incentive, you can buy a trailer hitch and bike rack and car carrier, even a small utility trailer for the M3 now.

My personal preference would be get a used MS, very happy with mine, wish I could clone it...

 

[ClydeO]

It is the "U" in FUD. Cure is daily drive, and visit to TMC.

Agreed. Better every day. Especially since wife 'loves' it. ;-)

 

[mswlogo]

My largest concern would be:

Should I get the Model 3 now (and still get $3,750 tax incentive) or wait for the (more practical) Model Y?

I think I can tell you one thing for sure. Don't base your decision of what to buy when based on the Tax credit.

Also don't rule out a used Model 3 (know your market prices and build dates of upgrades) and then trade to a Model Y when it's available.
If you buy a used Model 3 you won't take a double depreciation hit, at least not nearly as much.

 

[Watts_Up]

I think I can tell you one thing for sure. Don't base your decision of what to buy when based on the Tax credit.

Also don't rule out a used Model 3 (know your market prices and build dates of upgrades) and then trade to a Model Y when it's available.
If you buy a used Model 3 you won't take a double depreciation hit, at least not nearly as much.

Or I buy a out 200 shares of Tesla for the same price,
use my bike until I get $1M, and then retire in Hawaii.

 

[MoHazee4]

The poor customer service is something I wish I knew about ahead of time.

The "not standing by your advertised price" is something I wish I knew about ahead of time.

Other users posting about Tesla not standing by their warranty is something I wish I knew about ahead of time.

To be fair -- our Service Center is flipping awesome!

 

[gnuarm]

To be fair -- our Service Center is flipping awesome!

I bet you haven't been there in a while. It's a lot worse now that the company is hurting for money. As sales increase word of mouth will be a much bigger factor in getting new customers than the free advertising Tesla has gotten in the past. News is mostly going to be negative. They need to bank on positive word of mouth going forward and they know it. Not just because other sources will be negative, but because many, many people won't touch a new company selling a totally new product until they talk to owners who are happy with their cars.

Actually, the biggest concern I have currently is if the company will still be solvent in a couple of years. They need a few more billion to pull off both the Shanghai factory and the model Y introduction.

 

[TheLocNar]

I am hoping to keep my 3 for 10 years or more. I hope Tesla doesn’t go under before then. Or ever. But the way things are going, it really is possible if we are honest about it.

 

[gnuarm]

I am hoping to keep my 3 for 10 years or more. I hope Tesla doesn’t go under before then. Or ever. But the way things are going, it really is possible if we are honest about it.

I'm really down on them at the moment because they are crapping on me via the poor service. I don't expect that will change for at least a year or so.

 

[Koch Killer]

You mean you’re concerned that Tesla will overnight cease to exist and your warranty and car will be worthless?
Probably should stop reading the news.
On that basis you’d never buy from Apple, Amazon, GM, any bricks and mortar store etc.
If it’s that much of a concern I wouldn’t buy any EV and instead go for one of those fancy Toyota self charging cars

Also, what do you need a warranty for? The battery pack will last 500k miles. The car will last 1 million

 

[RomeoT]

I have been lurking these forums for a couple of months so I know some people are going to respond that Tesla is all unicorns and rainbows but for the rest of us I have a question. My largest concern about buying a model 3 (besides that it will be, by far, the most expensive auto I have ever purchased) is a potential collapse of Tesla. I don’t want to buy this car with a shiny 4 year warranty then have tesla go out of business 3 months later, this car has to be able to get me to work for the next 6+ years. And while I know Tesla is always riding the edge it seems like more of its exes are abandoning ship, US demand isn’t great, they are trying to pull ever demand lever every created, they lost a ton in q1, wall street is worried, etc. Does anyone else share this concern?The biggest concern should be once you damage your car in an accident, I’ll take months to wait for the parts and get it fixed.

 

[RomeoT]

The biggest concern should be once you damage your car in an accident, I’ll take months to wait for the parts and get it fixed.

 

[neroden]

I bet you haven't been there in a while. It's a lot worse now that the company is hurting for money.

Wrong! Wrong in two ways, in fact.

The service centers are definitely getting better. Communications are actually getting better. They were, unfortunately, god-awful terrible from day one and were getting worse until mid-2018, so they're starting at a very very low standard. It's going to take a while to dig out of that hole.

One reason it's a lot better is that the company has, for the first time ever, got plenty of money. They were being penny-wise and pound-foolish before. Now they're fixing some of that.

The parts delays appear to have largely been eliminated, so that's essentially fixed. (Recently.) The geographic distribution of service centers is being fixed, which is something I've been hammering on for six years. The communications... well, they still need a LOT of work, but the horror story rate is definitely dropping and I haven't heard anything like some of the worst stuff I dealt with in the past.

As sales increase word of mouth will be a much bigger factor in getting new customers than the free advertising Tesla has gotten in the past. News is mostly going to be negative. They need to bank on positive word of mouth going forward and they know it. Not just because other sources will be negative, but because many, many people won't touch a new company selling a totally new product until they talk to owners who are happy with their cars.

Actually, the biggest concern I have currently is if the company will still be solvent in a couple of years. They need a few more billion to pull off both the Shanghai factory and the model Y introduction.

The company will be solvent in a couple of years. You shouldn't worry about it. The Shanghai factory and the Model Y and the Semi are funded at this point. The concern you SHOULD have about Tesla's finances is, will Tesla actually be able to manufacture and deliver enough cars? They've lurched from one production bottleneck to another -- from battery packs to paint shop to general assembly to stamping to paint shop to general assembly to trucking logistics to battery cells. What will be next, raw cobalt supplies? Tires? If they keep having serial production problems, they will remain solvent, but they may not be doing very well.

-----

As a *customer*, your concern should be that if anything goes wrong, you will spend frustrating hours on the phone trying to get to the right person to actually deal with the problem. It's not quite as bad as dealing with American medical billing (I've never encountered anything worse than that), but it is really really bad. I've found once you manage to talk to the actual service tech who is going to work on your car, you're good. But that can take WEEKS.

 

[gnuarm]

Wrong! Wrong in two ways, in fact.

The service centers are definitely getting better. Communications are actually getting better. They were, unfortunately, god-awful terrible from day one and were getting worse until mid-2018, so they're starting at a very very low standard. It's going to take a while to dig out of that hole.

Admittedly my two experiences constitute anecdotal evidence, but many here have similar experiences. I can only go by what I hear others saying as well as my own. I see no evidence service has improved.

One reason it's a lot better is that the company has, for the first time ever, got plenty of money. They were being penny-wise and pound-foolish before. Now they're fixing some of that.

Again, I see no evidence of this. I think the most clear is while others have had the vibration on acceleration fixed, service is now telling customers "we are working on a "permanent" solution". In other words, don't call us, we'll call you. That is a cost saving at the expense of the customer. Musk himself has acknowledged they may be out of money this year if they don't bring in new capital. Before I bought my car they had 4 billion in the bank. Now they are down to 2 billion cash and not making money.

The parts delays appear to have largely been eliminated, so that's essentially fixed. (Recently.) The geographic distribution of service centers is being fixed, which is something I've been hammering on for six years. The communications... well, they still need a LOT of work, but the horror story rate is definitely dropping and I haven't heard anything like some of the worst stuff I dealt with in the past.

At this point I think you are smoking dope. I've seen no sign they are fixing "The geographic distribution". When service centers are hundreds of miles apart it will take a *lot* of new service centers to fix that problem.

The company will be solvent in a couple of years. You shouldn't worry about it. The Shanghai factory and the Model Y and the Semi are funded at this point. The concern you SHOULD have about Tesla's finances is, will Tesla actually be able to manufacture and deliver enough cars? They've lurched from one production bottleneck to another -- from battery packs to paint shop to general assembly to stamping to paint shop to general assembly to trucking logistics to battery cells. What will be next, raw cobalt supplies? Tires? If they keep having serial production problems, they will remain solvent, but they may not be doing very well.

The solvency of the company is exactly what is at question. Building new factories is great, but they have to be profitable. Worse, the issue is not how fast can they build cars, the issue is can they build all the cars they build!

As a *customer*, your concern should be that if anything goes wrong, you will spend frustrating hours on the phone trying to get to the right person to actually deal with the problem. It's not quite as bad as dealing with American medical billing (I've never encountered anything worse than that), but it is really really bad. I've found once you manage to talk to the actual service tech who is going to work on your car, you're good. But that can take WEEKS.

The service manage is the guy telling me they aren't fixing any of my problems. I also am not inclined to take the car in for warranty repair when I will have to pay them to look at the car the exorbitant rate of $200 per hour!

The only problem with communications is I don't like them telling me they won't fix my car's problems.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

The biggest concern should be once you damage your car in an accident, I’ll take months to wait for the parts and get it fixed.

Yeah so how often do you get in accidents? I had two people run their cars into mine in the last two years. I had no issues getting parts or waiting a long time for repairs. Unless you’re accident prone, I wouldn’t be worried about this issue.

 

[gnuarm]

Yeah so how often do you get in accidents? I had two people run their cars into mine in the last two years. I had no issues getting parts or waiting a long time for repairs. Unless you’re accident prone, I wouldn’t be worried about this issue.

There are lots of reports of cars being off the road for months. How much damage did you have?

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

There are lots of reports of cars being off the road for months. How much damage did you have?

I had a side door replaced and a bumper cover replaced. How many accidents have you been in where your car was undrivable? I think the odds are low enough for this to be a very minor concern. Have you seen many reports lately that this is still much of a problem?