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Awesome story, I'm glad it worked out for you. Thanks for sharing!My Tesla is my first car.
I moved to the US to go to grad school in 2006. Since I was living in NYC, I never needed a car there. I was always a strong opponent of using fossil fuels, and always thought anyone who could buy a non-gas car should buy one. Although I had never owned a car before, and had barely ever even driven one (except driving rental cars when I went on a few road trips after moving here, and getting my first drivers license at the age of 24), I always wanted that when I get a car, it should be a BMW. I desperately hoping that BMW would come out with a fully electric car by the time I graduated. I was following Tesla from the beginning, but did not even consider getting one until around 2012 when the time for the first deliveries came. At that time, I was hoping that Tesla might come up with some special student offer :tongue:. Of course I knew it was highly unlikely. When the delayed deliveries actually happened, and I read all those praises in five star reviews, it made me want to get the car more and more. I still didn't think it was possible though.
In early 2013, while still in school, I finally gathered the courage to send an email to Tesla from the website, asking them how I can own a car being a student, and having very little money. I was pretty sure there was no way, but by some heavenly miracle, if there was one, I did not want to miss it. If I could get one, I should - that was my rule. A few days later, I got a call from Tesla in California. I don't remember the name of the person I spoke with, but he said (apologetically) that they did not offer any discounts or special prices to anyone. He tried to convince me to make a reservation anyway :biggrin:. But there was no way I could go ahead at that time.
I got a job offer in March 2013, which is when I actually started really considering financial viability. After a month of deliberation, and lots and lots of discussions with family and friends, by June, I was just about convinced in my mind that it was doable. I graduated in July 2013, moved to California, and started working my first job in August. Since I did not have much prior driving experience, the plan was to drive rental cars for four months, and take the first two months to make my final decision. The four months would also allow me to save as much as I could. The aim was to make as big a down payment for the financing as possible. After another two months of intense deliberations and discussions, I finally made the decision to go ahead. If I could, I should - that was always the rule, and I could not break it.
I placed the order in October. That guaranteed a 2013 delivery to ensure I could get the tax rebates as early as possible. I saved money like crazy in the last four months of 2013. When I had moved to California from New York, I hadn't brought anything along, except my clothes. My Tesla was delivered right before Christmas. When I got my car, I was 29, had zero furniture in my apartment, and was sleeping on the floor on an air mattress :tongue:.
Life is not as crazy any more. I have enjoyed driving every single of the 7000+ miles this year, and do not regret my decision for a sec. And yes, my apartment is furnished now :smile:.
I didn't have a credit report and, to keep things simple, decided go with my current credit union instead of shopping around. So, I got a somewhat high rate of 3.97%. However, I have the option of updating it twice during the loan, so it could end up cheaper than if I went with another bank/credit union. I put $40k down, or nearly all of my savings with a buffer of around $10k. I am paying it off as fast as possible, just a bit less than I was saving up (because Michigan no-fault insurance is stupid high, $415/month in my case) and over double the minimum, so the higher rate had effectively no impact on affordability, it just adds a month or two.Wonderful story! I hope you are enjoying life with your Model S as much as I have enjoyed reading your story and looking at your delivery pics. You did not mention much about the financing terms that allowed you to purchase your Model S early and (hopefully) got you a few extra hours of sleep at night. Unless you are paying through the nose to finance your Model S, and by that I mean much higher interest rate that the sub-2% that many forum members have been able to achieve, I would urge you to NOT sell your TSLA stock, unless of course you need the "credit" to finance a home, or another big "basic" purchase.