sympathy for your plight, with a name like WALLSTREETGUY, may not be strong lol
would love to see your math where the tesla makes financial sense for you. Are you comparing it to $80,000 cars? If so I agree, the Tesla math is starting to approach making sense. But there are a lot of other more affordable ways to buy a car that is fuel efficient and reliable...like a $30,000 used Lexus or something along those lines.
Arguing that that last $700 isn't there because you can't afford it, yet you bought a Tesla (2 of them in fact having already traded one in based on your signature) instead of buying a cheaper vehicle isn't a very good argument. Especially when you were gung ho to spend $5,000 on a paint protection kit.
Group Buy: Full Body + Interior Paint Protection Wrap Group Buy (Xpel) - $4800 (X), $4,500 (S)
No offense.
First off, not asking for sympathy, just pointing out people who own Tesla's don't necessarily have money growing on trees.
Well seeing as you quoted the group buy thread, that alone should point out how every "penny" saved helps. To the "regular" tesla owners you probably walk into the shop pay the quoted price? $6k or so. For me, I wanted this and need to budget for it accordingly, and the extra $1k in savings from arranging a "group buy" made sense.
As for the Math, I compared it to a Lexus RX 350 (my previous car).
I had $600 a month car payments on that. I have $1200 a month car payments on my Tesla. (Although its 4 yr vs 8 yr)
I factored in gas savings. $1.30 average price of gas for premium (at the time of purchase, a lot more today). 3,000km of driving per month (Actually doing 4000-5000km per month). I was getting around 8km/L. So 375L * 1.3 = So around $480 a month in gas savings (actuals are significantly higher). It costs about $600 in maintenance a year (~$130 oil change, $400 or so annual service + tax), and thats assuming only twice a year, but based on driving would be even more. Divide that by 12, you're at another $50 a month.
Never need to change brakes on the car, on my Lexus I changed them every 2 years at about $1300 + tax for brakes and rotors. So about 1500/24 = ~$ 62
We're now down to ~$600 Gas + Maintenance savings per month. $1200 - $600 = $600, i.e. the same I was paying for my Lexus.
Only difference is, the Lexus payments end in 4 years, Tesla ends in 8.
"Arguing that that last $700 isn't there because you can't afford it" - I'm not saying I can't "afford" the $700. But on a cost benefit analysis, I bought the car on the premise of Tesla's supercharger network and its expansion, and the lack of any further expense.
It's a need vs want, yeah I don't need it, but I want it so I bought it, that doesn't mean I have money to blow on "extras" in fact its the opposite, and have to sacrifice the extras in order to afford this.
As for having 2 of them, the first was a buy-back by Tesla.