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Mildly worried about the deposit

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walla2

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Jul 15, 2012
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So I have a standard roadster reservation,b the newest email about insolvency in 10 months has me more worried than any other Tesla reservation I have had in the past. Realistically, the roadster won't be on the road until 2021 or 2022 and cutting costs to R&D for niche products may mean later or never.

Thoughts from any of you would be appreciated.
 
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So I have a standard roadster reservation,b the newest email about insolvency in 10 months has me more worried than any other Tesla reservation I have had in the past. Realistically, the roadster won't be on the road until 2021 or 2022 and cutting costs to R&D for niche products may mean later or never.

Thoughts from any of you would be appreciated.
I just used mine to help pay for a Model X P100DL. I’m upgrading from my Model S P85DL. As a fellow Model S owner said, “A bird in hand...” The salesman was able to deduct the $20K for Ludicrous mode and the $50K reservation. It shows up on the website as $70K financed, but shows the correct amount due. I believe it says “financed” since there’s no other way to show a subtraction other than my initial $2.5K deposit.
 
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Are you worried about losing your deposit, or just never getting the car? The latter is a definite possibility, the former is only a possibility if the new CFO is either exceptionally terrible at his job or a criminal. (Due to how "running out of money" actually happens from a finance perspective. i.e. the balance sheet hits 0, which means there is still cash on hand for any remaining liabilities, like deposits.)
 
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I think the odds of actually losing the money are low (but not zero). However I agree that the timeline to get the car will be long. But this is the same thing the MX people went thru and then to a lesser degree the M3 folks. Ultimately the Roadster will come out. I’m in (hard) and I’m going to ride the periodic emotional wave until the car gets here. My only hope is I get it before my current car lease runs out in Sept 2021. I like my chances. And I think this really will be a “good things come to those who wait” situation!
 
So I have a standard roadster reservation,b the newest email about insolvency in 10 months has me more worried than any other Tesla reservation I have had in the past. Realistically, the roadster won't be on the road until 2021 or 2022 and cutting costs to R&D for niche products may mean later or never.

Thoughts from any of you would be appreciated.

My view. If you are "worried", then you have a decision to make.

If the cost and hassle in your personal life of the anxiety on this point is exceeding the benefit you expect to obtain from having a reservation in on a Tesla Roadster 2020, then you should submit your cancellation and get the deposit back.

If, on the other hand, the benefit you get from the deposit exceeds your view of the expected cost of leaving the deposit (you can't use that money for other purposes, there is nonzero risk you could lose your deposit by Tesla Inc have some adverse financial reality, etc.), then you should leave the deposit in place.

So it depends entirely on the situation you face, in your life, and from where you sit. And how your head thinks about this is a very important part of that decision.

Cheers,
A2be
 
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My suggestion would be to chill and do whatever you must to get off the emotional rollercoaster. Buying a new car should be fun, not a source of great anxiety. I went through this whole thing myself once before with the original Roadster, where I put down the $50,000 deposit, and I waited, and I followed every scrap of news, and there were delays, and rumors, and more delays, and transmissions were breaking, and the CEO (Eberhard) was fired, and some guy we'd never heard of named "Musk" took over, and after a year and a half I was so exhausted by the whole affair that I got my deposit back. And then I was done with Tesla for a while.

A few years later, after all the drama was over, and I had recovered from all that, I realized that I did actually still want one. I found one on eBay and had it shipped to me, and it's been great.

That whole experience is why I haven't put down a deposit on the new Roadster. I'm just gonna keep my distance and not get too deeply wrapped up in it this time around. When there's more info, when it's looking closer and more real, then I'll get serious about it.

Until then. . . Have you thought about getting another car to tide you over? Something fun? Something that you can have right now and know exactly what you're getting. There's nothing else like the Roadster, but there certainly are other vehicles of various types that may be worth looking at. I've pondered various ideas from a used Corvette or a Cadillac XLR-V to a new (and recently updated!) Model S. But, well, I do have the old Roadster here already, and it still has a bit of life left in it. :cool:
 
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...

Until then. . . Have you thought about getting another car to tide you over? Something fun? Something that you can have right now and know exactly what you're getting. There's nothing else like the Roadster, but there certainly are other vehicles of various types that may be worth looking at. I've pondered various ideas from a used Corvette or a Cadillac XLR-V to a new (and recently updated!) Model S. But, well, I do have the old Roadster here already, and it still has a bit of life left in it. :cool:

I didn't realize the wait was going to be so hard... I got a Model 3 Performance to hold me over.
 
Personally, I'm not so worried about my deposit. Although of course you'll never know, my gamble is that if Tesla is forced to sell the shop, it may go for a (relatively!) cheap price, but the buyer will take on the liabilities.

I *am* worried about what this means for the Roadster development budget. With Tesla not having their financial ducks in a row, they're unlikely to give much priority to a program that's more "strategic marketing" than that it makes direct financial sense.
 
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<---------------- Not worried

If anything I think the 2020 Roadsters will be out quicker to bring a very profitable product to market.

I'm curious. At just 200.000-250.000 and low volumes (sports cars == impractical) why do you believe the Roadster will be very profitable? My feeling is there's not much money in it for Tesla (other than marketing value, which they're actually already enjoying today - long before introduction).
 
I'm curious. At just 200.000-250.000 and low volumes (sports cars == impractical) why do you believe the Roadster will be very profitable? My feeling is there's not much money in it for Tesla (other than marketing value, which they're actually already enjoying today - long before introduction).

Well just how much do you think it will cost to build one?
 
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