Need Help Convincing Spouse To Buy

[Notable_Noah]

The short of it is my spouse loves everything about the Tesla cars, BUT she absolutely can't stand Elon Musk, his business practices, personal beliefs, how he treats his employees, lack of charity work, and global actions. She doesn't want to even have a Tesla car be in our driveway. She hates the idea of supporting a company he runs. I'm trying to think of good points that make buying a Tesla so attractive that the fact Elon Musk can be a terrible human being irrelevant. Any and all advice is welcomed!

My best,
Noah

 

[Jimmologist]

Safety. Having an extremely safe vehicle to protect you, her (and family?) should override any personal biases.

 

[fuddy]

I hate elon too. Take her for a test drive.

 

[hcdavis3]

There are lots of Tesla lovers and musk haters. It’s arguably the safest car you could drive. If she loves you she should let you get a Tesla.

 

[hgmichna]

The cars are not built by Elon Musk. Perhaps you can show her the Tesla car team.

On the other hand, in my experience it is often very difficult to change preconceptions. Perhaps you can do some research into the psychological depths to find out what's really behind it.

 

[cwerdna]

Get something else then. I can understand not wanting to support or enrich Musk or his company.

I felt that way about GM when I was deciding between a Leaf and a Volt back in 2013. Part of it was that I didn't want reward a company (GM) for being so responsible for selling so many BRoD (battering ram of death) class full-sized SUVs and having so little focus on fuel economy and at the time, having no competitive non-plugin hybrids.

I instead wanted to reward a company (Nissan) for taking such risks back then. And, I had decent experiences already with two previous Nissans. My parents already had 3 GM vehicles before and none were very good in terms of reliability. They stopped buying GM and American.

There are other BEVs available but some n/a in your state. Use the radio buttons at Federal Tax Credits for Electric and Plug-in Hybrid Cars to filter. BTW, you can rule out any new Bolt right now. ALL are under recall and there's a stop sale. (I have '19 Bolt, formerly not under recall until things changed on 8/20/21. :/) And, obviously, I gave in got a Bolt about 2.5 years ago...

Happy wife == happy life?

 

[Nosken]

It might be a short list trying to find truly altruistic auto CEO's, rather than those just "window dressing" for effect.

 

[Hot Cha]

In my household, we focus more on Tesla’s mission statement. I am aligned ideologically to Tesla’s mission, but cannot support the other American auto manufacturers anymore. So, less about the man and more about what the company supports. I know, sometimes it’s difficult to separate the two.

 

[pwtjax]

If she’s going to limit all purchases to companies with CEO’s who aren’t asses she’s going to be living off the land.

 

[ODWms]

‘Perhaps you can do some research into the psychological depths to find out what's really behind it.”
——-

This^^^^

Obviously some other stuff going on here. I‘d bet there are a lot of things bought by people who claim these kinds of “reservations,“ from companies headed by people far worse than Musk. These kinds of policies can put a serious cramp in your purchasing patterns to say the least.

 

[duanra]

If I were her, I won't be happy finding out that my husband is looking for advices on a forum.

 

[tezlam3]

seems like time for a new spouse?

 

[holmgang]

car for you, birkin bag for her, everybody wins

 

[texastodd]

Buy used. Look at it this way, someone already paid Elon, you’re just buying from another person.

 

[jjrandorin]

The short of it is my spouse loves everything about the Tesla cars, BUT she absolutely can't stand Elon Musk, his business practices, personal beliefs, how he treats his employees, lack of charity work, and global actions. She doesn't want to even have a Tesla car be in our driveway. She hates the idea of supporting a company he runs. I'm trying to think of good points that make buying a Tesla so attractive that the fact Elon Musk can be a terrible human being irrelevant. Any and all advice is welcomed!

My best,
Noah

That "excuse" is masquerading for some other reservation, unless she also made that determination for the fridge you have in your kitchen, or the company that built the house you live in, and she never ever orders anything from any large online company like amazon, home depot, bestbuy, or any other large company,.

The short answer is "dont" (bother trying). That is a COMPLETE no win situation for you, OP. Even if you eventually buy the car, EVERY ...SINGLE...LITTLE ....THING that happens with the car will be a referendum on "I didnt want this thing anyway, why did you make us get it?".

Dont bother, no purchase is worth that kind of heartache that WILL happen, provided this is a real story and not a first post to "get conversation going".

 

[Notable_Noah]

Safety. Having an extremely safe vehicle to protect you, her (and family?) should override any personal biases.

I plan to reiterate this point to her a couple of times because I believe it's a huge selling factor that is whole objective. Thank you!

 

[Notable_Noah]

I hate elon too. Take her for a test drive.

Bahahaha I love your reply, the car DEFINITELY speaks for itself for being an amazing car as soon as you get a test drive. Sadly, she already got a test drive several years ago, so I can't use the magic of launching a Tesla car from 0 to 60 to help sway her.

 

[Notable_Noah]

The cars are not built by Elon Musk. Perhaps you can show her the Tesla car team.

On the other hand, in my experience it is often very difficult to change preconceptions. Perhaps you can do some research into the psychological depths to find out what's really behind it.

This is a very good point, and better said than what I tried to tell her. I have tried to tell her Tesla is an entire company, not just one man. But I will certainly look up the Tesla team and try to learn the root idea behind her reasoning!

 

[Notable_Noah]

Get something else then. I can understand not wanting to support or enrich Musk or his company.

I felt that way about GM when I was deciding between a Leaf and a Volt back in 2013. Part of it was that I didn't want reward a company (GM) for being so responsible for selling so many BRoD (battering ram of death) class full-sized SUVs and having so little focus on fuel economy and at the time, having no competitive non-plugin hybrids.

I instead wanted to reward a company (Nissan) for taking such risks back then. And, I had decent experiences already with two previous Nissans. My parents already had 3 GM vehicles before and none were very good in terms of reliability. They stopped buying GM and American.

There are other BEVs available but some n/a in your state. Use the radio buttons at Federal Tax Credits for Electric and Plug-in Hybrid Cars to filter. BTW, you can rule out any new Bolt right now. ALL are under recall and there's a stop sale. (I have '19 Bolt, formerly not under recall until things changed on 8/20/21. :/) And, obviously, I gave in got a Bolt about 2.5 years ago...

Happy wife == happy life?

The idea of buying a different EV is tough for me because it's been my dream since 2012. I have so much emotion behind all of the objective reasons why a Tesla is my dream car

BUT I am open to the idea, and did a rudimentary search of other like-priced EVs last night at work on my off time and found possible replacements, if not as objectively good as a Tesla. I do really appreciate the reminder the check out the federal tax incentives!

 

[Notable_Noah]

In my household, we focus more on Tesla’s mission statement. I am aligned ideologically to Tesla’s mission, but cannot support the other American auto manufacturers anymore. So, less about the man and more about what the company supports. I know, sometimes it’s difficult to separate the two.

This is a really good point I didn't ponder until now, and I agree with your view on this. I was reading a summary of Elon Musk's life last night, the good, the bad, and the ugly of it. I came to the conclusion he can be a terrible person, but he also makes Tesla win again and again in moving its overall mission forward. Thank you for reminding me of this!