OWNERS! - do you get awkward questions about price tag?

[sp4rk]

The novice can't tell them apart anyway.

Not sure I can without sneaking a peek at a VIN and referring to my cheat sheet ...
Only tell tale sign is "Signature" Red ... and with mine I may even fool a few of my "peers".

 

[scriptacus]

Agreed here. This was my scenario. My previous car before the S that I just got rid of was a Range Rover Evoque Dynamic. I think the final cost including taxes was around $57,000. I had put $5k down and had a loan for around $52k 2.75% for 60 months - payment was $937/month. I do 90% highway driving, and the Evoque was rated 28mpg. I drive roughly 3000 miles/month. The ACTUAL mileage I got from the Evoque was about 20mpg (side note: that really ticked me off). At $4/gallon for premium fuel, I was spending $600+/month on gas. Now my cost per month was $937+$600=$1537.

Now lets look at the total monthly cost for the Model S. For me, where I park daily has free charging. I will most likely charge there, not at home (when the mobile app is out, I'll probably set it up to slightly charge/warm up the vehicle right before I leave every morning). So essentially, "fuel is free". Total cost for my pretty much loaded P85 is $103k (no EV sales tax in NJ). Lets assume I put no more money down besides the $5k reservation, so I finance $98000. If I go for a 72 month loan (I know, not exactly apples to apples), but I think it's relatively easy to get a 72 month loan at 2.49%. That monthly cost is now $1466, cheaper than what I was paying for the Evoque. I could also probably do an 84 month loan at 3.49%, That's now around $1316/month. Not bad for a car that costs almost double what the Evoque was costing me. (side note: I'd love to see if I could get that lower, anybody know any banks offering good 84 month loans?)
This doesn't even take into account that I won't be needing to pay for oil changes or brakes either and the myriad of parts on an ICE car that could break that I no longer need to worry about. Even if I do the same 60 month loan, while total monthly price would be slightly more, I'll still save a TON over the life of the vehicle (and I plan on having it at least 10 years).

My point is simple - for me, ESPECIALLY TCO over time, even though the Model S is almost double in price what the Range Rover was, the total cost of ownership is actually A LOT cheaper. THAT is how I can afford a $100k car. I mean come on, price of the Evoque +$7200/year every year I owned that car? Over 10 years that's $57k+$72k=$129k. LOL. Ridiculous. (besides, the Range Rover would NEVER last that long anyway, so I'd have to buy a new car there too before end of 10 years haha.) And all this still doesn't even factor in the $7500 fed rebate or the home charger rebate either, so really the savings are even more than I've pointed out above.

To be fair, don't you need to count loan interest in your TCO? The $98k/84mo @ 3.49% adds over $23k... The $52k/60mo @ 2.75% only adds just over $7k. That puts the MS only about $9k cheaper over 10 years, instead of $26k. In this case (long term loan) the higher up front cost for a more expensive vehicle isn't necessarily as cheap as it might seem.

That said, there are a lot more factors to consider ($600/yr maintenance, battery replacement, rising gas costs, etc...) that make it difficult to calculate the true TCO. In the end I think it makes to most sense to just buy what you can afford, and whatever makes you happy. For me that's pretty clearly the MS.

 

[ModelS1079]

Answers I like and will borrow upon:

This answer addresses our desire to share the value of owning our Model S without being pimped to show our wallet:

I think it's important to be honest and very matter of fact about the price range of the Model S as it can be purchased from Tesla, as well as discussing Tesla's plans for future lower cost cars, but not your specific car. It assumes the best (people are asking because they might want to know if it is something they could possibly afford). I've never had anybody push it past that and ask how much *my* specific car cost .

- - - Updated - - -

"It's more than I wanted to pay, but worth more than I paid. Did you want to reserve one?".

That is Art. Brilliant.

- - - Updated - - -

I always say "about the same as a BMW 5 series." If you include the M5 as a comparison for the perf, it's generally true. BMW's are a dime a dozen around here, so it doesn't raise too many eyebrows. It avoids talking about actual money, and if they know how much a 5 series costs then they follow luxury cars. If they only have a vague idea that's fine too.

This works well. Is accurate and let's the friend, relative and potential Tesla owner start to think about the fact that maybe they could actually buy one. If they can...

Reading this thread reminded me, though: isn't this just the greatest car to own? Lucky I am. What a blast.

 

[shady]

Another option:
Stranger: Nice car!
Me: Thanks
Stranger: How much did you pay for it?
Me: Ah, you want to know if you can afford one don't you?, it's not surprising. How much do you make a year?

 

[LonePalmBJ]

I'm a newly minted Model S reservation holder (new as in yesterday) but my current ride is a Fisker Karma. I get the question all of the time, and it's very awkward. Unlike the Model S, the price range for the Fisker is much narrower, starting at 103K and topping out around 120K with all of the boxes checked. I haven't yet found a graceful way to answer, so my reply is typically "don't ask" if I can get away with it, or "about a hundred" if I can't and then let it drop. I don't bother trying to talk about tax incentives or gasoline savings. The fact is, you don't buy a Karma, or a P-85 S for that matter, to save money. The people who ask "how much", especially as their first question, usually aren't interested in any of my real drivers: Cool technology, supporting a new company trying to do something hard, environmental responsiveness, design, the cool factor, scarcity, reducing dependence on foreign oil, etc...

I think I'm switching to the Ferris Bueller response though.


Brent

//First post. Be Gentle.

 

[Lloyd]

I just tell them that this model starts at $52K after credits, and give them the website. That seems to keep most happy and should increase the traffic to the Tesla site!

 

[hans]

... "it's a bargain at twice the price! I love it."

 

[Krugerrand]

How you feel about being asked and how you answer is based upon your personal perception of money, how you think the world perceives you, how you think the world perceives money, if you or your family struggled financially, if they didn't, current or past hard times, easy times and things of that nature.

Point being, there's no right or wrong answer, but if you're uncomfortable then you might want to consider why that is and perhaps change your thought process since clearly it's a question people are going to ask.

 

[carrerascott]

"It's cost me many, many hours of hard work."

 

[mlascano]

I'm a newly minted Model S reservation holder (new as in yesterday) but my current ride is a Fisker Karma. I get the question all of the time, and it's very awkward. Unlike the Model S, the price range for the Fisker is much narrower, starting at 103K and topping out around 120K with all of the boxes checked. I haven't yet found a graceful way to answer, so my reply is typically "don't ask" if I can get away with it, or "about a hundred" if I can't and then let it drop. I don't bother trying to talk about tax incentives or gasoline savings. The fact is, you don't buy a Karma, or a P-85 S for that matter, to save money. The people who ask "how much", especially as their first question, usually aren't interested in any of my real drivers: Cool technology, supporting a new company trying to do something hard, environmental responsiveness, design, the cool factor, scarcity, reducing dependence on foreign oil, etc...

I think I'm switching to the Ferris Bueller response though.


Brent

//First post. Be Gentle.

Welcome to TMC, LonePalmBJ.

When it comes to the price question, I am with those who give a straight answer: I tell them 50 to ~100K, point them to the website, and if I sense they are interested in the technology I even expand on the 10K jumps from one battery pack level to another plus the perf option, and go into the whole TCO discussion. "Comparable to the BMW 5 series" also comes across nicely if I don't have time to expand, plus I give them the website.

 

[hans]

"It's cost me many, many hours of hard work."

I like that one. I'm gonna use that.

 

[kinddog]

I'm a newly minted Model S reservation holder (new as in yesterday) but my current ride is a Fisker Karma. I get the question all of the time, and it's very awkward. Unlike the Model S, the price range for the Fisker is much narrower, starting at 103K and topping out around 120K with all of the boxes checked. I haven't yet found a graceful way to answer, so my reply is typically "don't ask" if I can get away with it, or "about a hundred" if I can't and then let it drop. I don't bother trying to talk about tax incentives or gasoline savings. The fact is, you don't buy a Karma, or a P-85 S for that matter, to save money. The people who ask "how much", especially as their first question, usually aren't interested in any of my real drivers: Cool technology, supporting a new company trying to do something hard, environmental responsiveness, design, the cool factor, scarcity, reducing dependence on foreign oil, etc...

I think I'm switching to the Ferris Bueller response though.


Brent

//First post. Be Gentle.

great first post! thanks for sharing.

good to have Fisker folks here. with the Karma being even more exotic looking, and higher in price, i can definitely imagine it must have been worse.

 

[HFh]

My students in my class asked me that and I said, "I'd tell you but I want you to like me."

I did get someone asking me that at a stop light after I told him everything about the car. His response was unprintable.

 

[Larry Chanin]

As a founder of a Tesla club I sometime get questions from prospective members essentially asking me to talk them into pulling the trigger. Sometimes the person will ask what I paid, and even ask how I went about paying for it. If asked I will answer them directly, regardless if it is considered rude.

Despite being one of Tesla's biggest fans I really don't play car salesman and I don't try to minimize the fact that this is an expensive car. I never try to make value judgments for others. I just let them know my personal perspective.

I tell them that I consider the extra money I spent over competing ICE vehicles as a contribution to a worthy cause, coupled with the indulgence of a guilty pleasure.

Larry

 

[Orthonos]

For those who are calling it a rude question, I disagree even if I do find it slightly awkward. If someone is pressing for the cost of yours I would consider it rude/gauche, but pretty much everyone I speak with are interested in the general answer - usually because they are now intrigued and are thinking "Hmmm, very cool, maybe..." I usually answer "It starts at 67 thousand (Canada); it's set to compete with BMW 5 and 7 series" which gives them a reference and ballpark. They are generally happy with this.

 

[lightly]

I haven't even gotten mine yet and people ask me all the time when am I getting my Tesla and how much will it cost? Including my employees which is awkward.

I've used many of the explanations previously stated like "Well without the cost of gas & maintenance it can be affordable..." or "starts at $50K but Gen III will be in the 30's" and "buying it with Nana's inheritance....."

But when I get the car in two weeks I can't wait to wave my hand and say "These aren't the droids your looking for"
Well it worked for Obi-Wan...:wink:

 

[yobigd20]

To be fair, don't you need to count loan interest in your TCO? The $98k/84mo @ 3.49% adds over $23k...

Well I'm glad you're not my financial advisor. Your math is WAY off. That would only be $12.5k in interest, not $23k.

I understand what you're saying though. But soon Lithium Ion batteries will be a fraction of what they cost now (especially after the fed's commitment to lowering these battery costs announced this week), and seeing that gas will probably cost triple in 10 years closer to $11-$15/gallon (fyi gas is already over $11/gallon in Europe if you weren't aware of that, it's only a matter of time because it reaches that level here), the TCO of an EV is not just tipping but rather landsliding over to being sooo much cheaper than ICE over the years.

 

[brianman]

"It's cost me many, many hours of hard work."

Ooh, I like this one. "Roughly 11k man-hours. But I make better than minimum wage, so somewhat less."

 

[scriptacus]

Well I'm glad you're not my financial advisor. Your math is WAY off. That would only be $12.5k in interest, not $23k.

I understand what you're saying though. But soon Lithium Ion batteries will be a fraction of what they cost now (especially after the fed's commitment to lowering these battery costs announced this week), and seeing that gas will probably cost triple in 10 years closer to $11-$15/gallon (fyi gas is already over $11/gallon in Europe if you weren't aware of that, it's only a matter of time because it reaches that level here), the TCO of an EV is not just tipping but rather landsliding over to being sooo much cheaper than ICE over the years.

My bad, the random loan interest calculator I googled appears to just be way off. (Simple Loan Interest Calculator). There's still a $9k difference in interest between the two loans though.

I hope you're right about battery prices, because the current costs eat up a pretty significant portion of the gas savings. I also imagine EVs will be subject to some form of highway use tax in the coming years since current gas taxes fund much of the highway infrastructure.

 

[hans]

"I got a great deal on it. I got them to throw in free gas...for life!"