Paying for the Roadster

Yes, I am not entirely sure the rationale behind it all.

My guess reading between the lines of our conversations is that they are afraid that many people are like me, and intend to pay for much of the balance with stock sales or other investments which are currently very unhappy. Giving people more time to arrange funds will allow fewer people to pull their deposit now. It will also allow for people who intend to get a car loan for part of the balance (another question I was asking about) to have a "pink slip" to give the banks at the time of the loan.

Personally, I was going to have some issues to pay my balance in December (or my original horror, next week) for a car I was not going to see until May. My stock value has more than halved recently, and it would be difficult to obtain a car loan when there would be no car title to give to the bank at the time of the loan.

But of course, this is all speculation on my part.

Yes I think it's a good move to keep potentially anxious customers on-board. I wonder how the crunch may affect the terms and conditions of the Tesla Owners Club - a possible area for cut backs.

I'm in the same boat as Graham. Got my color kit, definitely don't want to sell stock to cover the balance, will be looking at getting a loan instead. Have a note in to get date updates for myself so I can plan that out better.

Looked at the credit union (KeyPoint) for loan rates - ticked me off that they have a "green car" bonus on the loan rate, but then you look at the list, and not only is it a joke, guess what's not on it?

Have a note in to get date updates for myself so I can plan that out better.

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As I recall, your original number and mine were so close together that our cars will probably be produced within the same week. If that is the case, yours should also be built in March for a May delivery.

I went by my credit union (BayFed) a few weeks ago to get some preliminary info about a possible loan. They informed me that they would not give car loans for a Tesla because it is an electric car! I have a feeling I could get them to change their mind on that if I felt like arguing the point, but first I thought I would try my other credit union (San Mateo). Since Tesla is in San Mateo, they will hopefully be better informed than Santa Cruz.

They may be thinking "electric car" is equivalent to NEV, which I could see not giving a car loan for. If it's not that, well, that's so embarrassingly stupid on their part...

Yes, I was very clear to them that this was a highway capable car, registered with the DMV, I showed them the Tesla web site etc. I am pretty sure I just got an idiot that day and if I went back to a different branch and talked to someone with half a brain that it wouldn't be a problem.

But I am going to check with my old credit union in San Mateo first. I think they may be able to give me a better deal, anyway. They give a quarter point off "hybrid cars" that I might be able to convince them to give to a pure electric car as well.

graham said:

My stock value has more than halved recently, and it would be difficult to obtain a car loan when there would be no car title to give to the bank at the time of the loan.

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If your stock value is high enough that you could use it to pay for the car, but you don't want to sell at the market bottom, you might consider a loan against your stock value.

We've done it a couple of times. You move some assets into a collateral account, then take a loan out against that value at a very favorable interest rate. Obviously, it limits what you can do with those assets, you can't just yank them out and take away the collateral backing the loan, but you can certainly sit on them waiting for the market to go back up, then pay off any remaining balance on the loan.

It's a great way to finance things when the market is down and you don't want to lock in a poor return or loss, and you don't want to pay car loan interest rates.

Great advice! Thanks, tomsax!

As an update:

I did speak with San Mateo Credit Union today. They were very aware of Tesla. They are happy to give loans for the car, and they will give the extra quarter point off the rate discount that they give hybrid cars.

In other news: I also stopped by the Menlo Park store to look at their inventory and determine my color lock-in for next week. They have at least 15 new Teslas in their service bay, and probably another 5 in the building out back.

The salewoman confirmed that they have ramped up to 10 per week.

TedK said:

Former patient buyer...

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So Ted you had a deposit on a Roadster and have canceled like Tony?

Yeah, tough decision as I had the best price. Financing was becomming a concern in this environment since we are just now starting on a garage and house remodel. So, I decided to put the garage first and let the EV dust settle for a few years before buying. I was also breaking my own rule of never buying the first year of any model car.

Cheers,
Ted K

Well, if someone was planning on financing their balance due using something like Capital One or some other online lender, the availability of credit compared to a year ago is significantly less. That might trip some people up. For example the current maximum available at Cap One is 50k, no matter what your FICO is. That is not enough to complete a purchase for those that put down 30k. Personally, I am going with my garage remodel as the cash use priority, plus you can currently get better pricing from contractors as many are out of work.

This has been my experience as well. And reading between the lines talking with Tesla it is not uncommon. I think this is partly the reason they are now only asking for cash upon delivery instead of so far ahead of time. Too many people wanted to pull out now due to lack of credit/current funds, while waiting allows people more time to raise the money.

It is possible they have changed this policy only for the 2008s. But they have modified the terms many times in the past 4 weeks, it is possible that they haven't fully made up their minds yet, and/or they haven't propagated this information well yet.

It doesn't look like a policy change for the 2008s from my experience. My Tesla Motors owners car page has always shown my "balance due on delivery." My signed agreement doesn't indicate any additional payment due prior to delivery nor has anyone from Tesla Motors ever told me that there would be any additional payment required prior to delivery.