Tesla continues to list price with gas savings/incentives and offer odd bundles

[RAW84]

Just want to add that I agree with the sentiment of this thread.


Not only does including gas savings and other ancillary "savings" come off as sleezy to someone looking at the car for the first time, it becomes an annoyance to those seriously considering purchasing who are then running the financials for their own situation. At least that's how it was for me. I thought Tesla had heard this feedback before and moved away from this nonsense, it's a bit disheartening to see it's coming back.

I think it's fair to list the emboldened price including incentives with the appropriate asterisk, because that's a certain offset and easily added back in to the price. Other savings should be on a separate TCO tab.

 

[bob_p]

Concur with others on this thread.

Tesla has a reputation (confirmed by Consumer Reports) of building a great car with satisfied customers.

The latest website is a return to the unnecessarily deceptive advertising that appears to indicate that the entry level car cost $57,500 - when the cash price is actually $76,200 - almost $20,000 more.

If you display the "spec sheet" for the base 70D - it lists the car cost at $67,500 (including the $7500 federal tax credit) and does list the additional $1200 charges - so the spec sheet is more reasonable.

Admittedly (as per analysis in another thread), the Model S is still relatively expensive compared to competitive models in the same price class - and the tax credits help to bring the Model S in line with the other cars.

But adding the hypothetical savings - especially since gas prices have dropped considerably from the $3.90 per gallon listed on the page - is unrealistic and could be perceived as a deceptive trade practice.

And by going back to this unrealistic apparent "list price" for the cars, are they giving more ammunition to the dealers association in their battle against Tesla's ability to sell cars directly in each state?

 

[Zarwin]

There are plenty of deliberately misleading car advertising techniques, and I seriously doubt the intention is to mislead here, but... one technique I've seen referenced is to advertise an amazing price for a car and then in small print somewhere under the ad list "after $5,000 deposit". There are parallels to that deliberately sleazy and deceptive practice, intention or not.

 

[ToddRLockwood]

With the new 70D and new option configurations and pricing, Tesla is back to showing prices "after incentives and gas savings". In other words, low prices that don't actually exist. Yes a cash price is also shown on the page if you look for it, but the headline price under each configuration is in bold black and under that in faint gray print is the disclaimer "after incentives and gas savings". I understand subtracting the federal tax credit, that's an actual dollar figure that buyers are rebated-- but I think it's misleading to include estimated gas savings in the headline price. This reeks of car dealerism, if such a word exists. Tesla, you're better than that.

I don't have any problem with this. The Cash Price is right there, just below the price with incentives included. Most customers are first-time buyers, and they tend to use the incentives as a rationale for spending more than they normally would on an automobile. Didn't you?

An improvement is that now the the Cash Price is the default, rather than the monthly lease payment.

 

[smsprague]

I have to agree that this is very deceptive. Tesla is also hiding it's destination fees. Just for fun I went and did a build on a Cadillac. At the end you see all the pricing right in front of you including destination. Some non Tesla owners (work associates) and I where looking at the new models. They all got a big laugh at the assumption of a $10,000 gas savings. Granted everyone was an engineer so it turned into a great discussion of all the assumptions Tesla must be making and why it's a joke.

 

[yobigd20]

Tesla is still up to their unscrupulous/deceptive advertising/prices with their "after gas savings" on their new home page:

 

[jeffro01]

I guess I'm in the minority on this one, I find that approach to be vital to how the car is presented past the early adopters and the EV fans. I think it's extremely important that Tesla keeps hammering home the fuel savings, even while gas is "cheap" again because we all know we're one middle eastern conflict away from $5+ per gallon gas.

Jeff

 

[AnOutsider]

Well at least it's big and clear that it's after gas savings.

 

[S'toon]

You don't see an ICE car as advertised as a price + gas, so it's deceptive to advertise as a price - gas. That's not what you're paying.

 

[mikes_fsd]

You don't see an ICE car as advertised as a price + gas, so it's deceptive to advertise as a price - gas. That's not what you're paying.

I find it more annoying then deceptive, the text is pretty darn clear, it is just not what I am looking for when trying to get what it will cost me.

 

[jerry33]

You don't see an ICE car as advertised as a price + gas, so it's deceptive to advertise as a price - gas. That's not what you're paying.

The problem is that people are not used to thinking in terms of total cost of ownership when purchasing a car. Price minus gas is probably the simplest way to accomplish that. (The other way would be to list comparable cars and add their fuel cost in a tabular format, but because the cost of a car depends on the options chosen and the discount given, there would be just as many complaints.)

 

[omarsultan]

I don't have a problem with them doing this--the caveat is clearly stated and you can back out the gas savings on the order page. As @jerry33 noted, part of driving EV adoption is to get folks to consider cost of ownership both total and monthly, not just the cost of acquisition. Granted I am a corner case in that I am a high milage driver but my fuel savings are significant. Between a TOU EV rate at home, free charging at work and Supercharging, it costs me about $50 of electricity to drive ~2500 miles per month. Meanwhile it costs me $70 to fill the tank on my wife's Jeep once.

 

[Chuq]

I'm not a fan of having a dollar amount in big numbers, followed by "after incentives and gas savings" - for the sole reason that it will destroy Tesla's reputation with the non-enthusiasts. Their non-dealership model and (from all reports) the way their sales staff treat potential customers has gone a long way to separate them from the "untrustworthy car salesmen" type. Include the "after gas savings" figure by all means, but the *actual* cost should be just as prominent.

 

[dsm363]

Well at least it's big and clear that it's after gas savings.

Exactly. This is hardly deceptive. Sure you have to dig a little deeper to find out what they are assuming to get that value but that's not hard.

 

[dsm363]

You don't see an ICE car as advertised as a price + gas, so it's deceptive to advertise as a price - gas. That's not what you're paying.

The price is clear if you spend a few minutes doing research and is on the order page before you reserve the car.

 

[yobigd20]

Granted I am a corner case in that I am a high milage driver but my fuel savings are significant. Between a TOU EV rate at home, free charging at work and Supercharging, it costs me about $50 of electricity to drive ~2500 miles per month. Meanwhile it costs me $70 to fill the tank on my wife's Jeep once.

lol if anyone's a corner case it's me - typically 4000+ miles/month and I came from a Range Rover évoque getting 19mpg on premium fuel. So far I've got 75k miles and I've probably saved about $20,000 between gas savings and green pass toll discounts so far. And I still don't agree with Tesla's deceptive advertising on cost. They need to show what somebody pays for the loan per month, not the loan minus fuel savings. The amount of money for the car itself doesn't go down. You're still paying the full amount for the car every month. If I could subtract my previous monthly gas payment out of what i per per month for the car that'd be great but it's fantasy la la land per tesla mindset. My loan doesn't magically go down. I'm not paying 575/month for the car. More like $1222.12/month. I'd love to just pay 575 a month but that's just pure Tesla BS.

 

[Matteo]

I think the problem has to do with how the information is displayed. There is a huge difference between these two:

Option A: Display actual price under car models. In addition, display price after savings in a smaller font.
Option B: Don't display actual price under car models. Just display the price after savings in bold font and make the fine print hard to read by making it lighter and smaller than other text.

It looks like the website is trying to trick you by not displaying actual price under car models and by making the fine print difficult to read.

There are other problems with the order page. For example look what it says here:

There are two problems with this statement:
1. The overall warranty on the car is 4 years and 50,000 miles. The buyer is eventually going to find out this information. When that happens this will be a little surprise moment for the buyer. These kind discovery moments are memorable. People don't forget these easily. They will remember this website as the misleading website where they had a bad discovery.
2. The infinite mile warranty does not include degradation. As long as the car drives, the warranty doesn't apply. In comparison both BMW and Nissan warranty includes degradation. Again this is a bad discovery. Also the warranty document is very hidden. To actually see it, you have to do the following:

1. Go to Tesla Motors | Premium Electric Vehicles
2. Click on "Model S"
3. Click on "Specs"
4. Scroll down and click on "All specifications"
5. Scroll down and click the link where it says "8 year, unlimited mile battery and drive unit warranty" and go to page 5

The problem is, in the order page it says "infinite mile warranty" implying that you can drive as much as you want for 8 years without worrying about the battery.

 

[dsm363]

I think the problem has to do with how the information is displayed. There is a huge difference between these two:

Option A: Display actual price under car models. In addition, display price after savings in a smaller font.
Option B: Don't display actual price under car models. Just display the price after savings in bold font and make the fine print hard to read by making it lighter and smaller than other text.

It looks like the website is trying to trick you by not displaying actual price under car models and by making the fine print difficult to read.

There are other problems with the order page. For example look what it says here:

There are two problems with this statement:
1. The overall warranty on the car is 4 years and 50,000 miles. The buyer is eventually going to find out this information. When that happens this will be a little surprise moment for the buyer. These kind discovery moments are memorable. People don't forget these easily. They will remember this website as the misleading website where they had a bad discovery.
2. The infinite mile warranty does not include degradation. As long as the car drives, the warranty doesn't apply. In comparison both BMW and Nissan warranty includes degradation. Again this is a bad discovery. Also the warranty document is very hidden. To actually see it, you have to do the following:

1. Go to Tesla Motors | Premium Electric Vehicles
2. Click on "Model S"
3. Click on "Specs"
4. Scroll down and click on "All specifications"
5. Scroll down and click the link where it says "8 year, unlimited mile battery and drive unit warranty" and go to page 5

The problem is, in the order page it says "infinite mile warranty" implying that you can drive as much as you want for 8 years without worrying about the battery.

Every product has caveats to their warranty. That's why when you buy something this expensive you read and ask questions.


On the order page:

 

[davidc18]

+1 - these cute website tricks may be okay with the early adopter crowd, but I predict that they will NOT go over well the the general public that may be interested in the follow on vehicles. Actually, I find them pretty disappointing myself. My understanding is that the company has a history of over promising and under delivering which has been acceptable because the Service Centers have been delivering exceptional service to the current owners. Will this continue if the company gets anywhere near their stated sales goals??? I am worried (as an owner and tesla advocate) that they will not. I hope they can pull it off.

 

[TexasEV]

+1 - these cute website tricks may be okay with the early adopter crowd, but I predict that they will NOT go over well the the general public that may be interested in the follow on vehicles. Actually, I find them pretty disappointing myself. My understanding is that the company has a history of over promising and under delivering which has been acceptable because the Service Centers have been delivering exceptional service to the current owners. Will this continue if the company gets anywhere near their stated sales goals??? I am worried (as an owner and tesla advocate) that they will not. I hope they can pull it off.

I don't agree with your statement that the company has a history of overpromising and under delivering. The product is even better than promised. The timelines aren't as fast as we're told but the product has always been worth the wait. Problems you read here about center consoles or lighted visors or whatever are trivial compared to what Tesla has accomplished.