How to convince a wife that a tesla is a great addition to my garage?

My wife is so cheap, she loses it if I buy a sausage mcmuffin over making breakfast at home. After one drive in a Model S, she was sold. That's the trick. Get her to test drive one. We'll be ordering ours soon.

Buy it for your wife as a gift. This is why I have a P85+ in my garage right now. I bought it on my birthday and it arrived on her birthday and I said I got it for 'our birthdays'. If she is upset about the gift you bought her, then just look hurt.

Just go for a test drive, that is all that is needed. With your income just buy what you want, life is to short and enjoy it while you can.

It's hard. In the end, the money isn't the real issue. It comes down to whether or not they like the car, the concept of EVs, and can adjust/live with the limitations (which are quickly being addressed).

Double post?
Sorry.

I just told her I was the man and she was the woman and we were getting a Model S.....

Now I am sure that you all know that is exactly how it happened...:tongue:

I just told her that this was important to me and the car would be hers in four years after it is no longer allowed on my company auto plan (no more the four model years old) and she could drive it any time I was not using it. This lets the company pay a good chunk of the price. I let her pick the colors (women really like that).

She also knows how much fun I have had with my 1974 VW Thing I converted to electric drive. Even she admitted that she has enjoyed that car. We drive it almost every day to the park to get some exercise in a really nice local park. Since it still has a clutch and four speed manual transmission, she is a little afraid to drive it without me in the car. She can of course drive the Model S anytime she likes with no issues. She has wanted a hybrid for a few years now and the pure EV was an easy sell once I put all of the number together. I will cost us about $25-30k more to own than the cars I typically put on my auto plan. (There is a minimum value requirement as well)

I bought the car first, then told the wife afterwards. Better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. You screwed up.

If you really mean "my salary with bonus is high six figures", I can assume you mean $750k a year.

So ... what's the question?

sp4rk said:

If you really mean "my salary with bonus is high six figures", I can assume you mean $750k a year.

So ... whats the question?

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That's exactly what I thought.

Canuck said:

That's exactly what I thought.

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Thats not what I thought. Usually when someone says that immediately I think high 100s. Not nearing 7 digit range. You wouldn't be asking this question if that was the case.

He's not asking whether he can afford the car, he's asking how he can sell the car to his wife. I completely sympathize with you OP... it's hard when someone is in denial or oblivious to how much they spend on gas. They just look at the sticker price for the car and (ir)rationalize away the gas as being a small expense, and not an ongoing obligation.

With a salary in the high $200s, you shouldn't be asking this question either. Are you mad? People with salaries in the $80-90k range ask this question...not those in the high $200s!

(Just joshing about the mad thing)...but seriously, you're lucky enough to make bookoo bucks. Take the wife for a test drive. If at your income she still doesn't want it, then either get a new wife or buy it and just don't tell her .

Brittt1 said:

• IS keeping the Volt the smart thing to do (I'd lose like 20K on its three year purchase price if I sold)?
• How do I present this as a a good thing to my wife (the very mention of stuff like this could send her on a tirade that takes days to recover :crying?
• I like the idea of a used model (around 70-80k) what would that get me 60 or 85 ? The TAX credit benefit really isn't that enticing for me to buy new as it seems to come off the price of a used vehicle anyway and you have to wait over a year for it.
• What about an inventory car, worth the look?
• financing, should I finance for like 75% and then pay a chunk off when i sell the MKX privately, no rush right when money is practically free these days?
• Fairfax county property Tax (NoVa residents would know this), urghhh, is it really 3K for year 1? I guess if i get a used one then its less? this could be a deal breaker with the wife (an additional $3K is a huge amount to pay in property tax for a car a year, especially on top of the 10K i already spend for my home county property tax) and the 4% sales tax.

Brittt1

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1) is keeping the volt the smart thing to do - Depends on how you define smart. If smart is paying a relatively lower amount of money for transportation, then keeping the Volt vs. buying a new Model S is very smart. If smart is defined more as spending your money on something that you will have more fun and enjoyment and support a company that is trying to change the paradigm we live with about sustainable transport, then selling your Volt and buying the Model S is a very smart move.

2) How to present this to your wife depends on what she values. If she values having money, then it's a hard sell vs. the Volt. The Volt from an operational cost will compete very nicely against a Model S, especially if you seldom kick in the Volt's gas engine. Even if you keep the Model S for decades, it will not pencil out against a Volt if you keep the Volt for a similar length of time (You might make an argument for similar value if you include depreciation, but then someone could counter with opportunity cost of money and how you could have invested the money elsewhere and made more money than the depreciation lost over time). You might be able to argue that the Model S is a more well built car and would last longer vs. a Volt because of less complexity (no Internal Combustion Engine) but that would require some assumptions that your wife might not believe, or wouldn't be strong enough to overcome her skepticism. If she values safety, then you can build a strong argument for the Model S. With over 100 million fleet miles traveled, there still has not been a serious injury or death in a Model S, even with some horrific sounding accidents that have happened. If she values emotional experiences, the case can be built for the amazing emotional experience the Model S brings to you every time you get into it. It is just an amazing car to experience on an every day basis.

3) Used Model - $70-80k, I think you could get an 85kW car if you looked around enough, but I think the cars with enough mileage to get the car depreciation down to that range are pretty rare finds right now. It seems as if there is a larger market for 85kW cars that might have a few thousand miles on them where owners decided they wanted to upgrade to P85's or P85+ cars. It will be easier to find a 60kW used car in that price range, but I would suggest you get an 85, especially if your wife is on the fence.

4) Inventory cars are fully backed by Tesla, so they are probably worth the look, but you can probably find an equivalent car on the used market for less, but both inventory cars and used market cars are still not easy to come by if you are looking for a very specific configuration.

5) Financing. Money is still very cheap, so I tend to say finance and use the banks money.

6) Don't know about Fairfax county tax so can't give you good info here!

Additional thoughts on the wife factor - My wife was uncertain about the Model S and taking her on a test drive as a passenger and also having her drive the car helped with some of them. She still had concerns that could not really be addressed until we actually had the car in our possession, so she had to take some things on trust and faith in the research I did on the car and how confident I was in it (For us it was basically sight unseen because we were Signature owners). If you can find some people in your area that have a car, see if you can arrange a meet up with them so your wife can ask them about the car and their experience with it, that is a great way to get an outside opinion that she might listen to from a different perspective than just hearing your thoughts.

Also I would tend to build the case for the car around its safety, performance, comfort, statement factor (helping us as a world move toward sustainable transport), practicality (tremendous carrying capacity) and the fact that we spend a lot of hours of our life sitting in a car so spending money in that area of life actually can make more sense based on use time vs. spending money on stuff we don't spend that much time using.

You can also tell your wife that my wife now totally loves our Model S. It is actually her every day car and she reluctantly lets me drive it on occasion (we also have a Leaf which is my every day car). She has gone from a skeptical, reluctant buyer to a fanatical fan of Tesla and our Model S. Prior to this we had never spent more than $30k on a car, so this was an extreme leap for both of us. She thinks it is an incredible car that has totally been worth what we spent on it. Plus she now never has to go to a gas station, stand out in the cold weather and pump gas! She actually really loves that benefit quite a bit.

Tell your wife that buying a Tesla is an investment in your children's, and your grandchildren's, future. Tell her that people like you who can afford it have a moral obligation to buy this car since there are so many selfish people in this world with money who will only buy an ICE vehicle and Tesla needs all the help and support it can get in order to change the world, one vehicle purchase at a time. That way she will look selfish if she refuses...

Far easier to beg forgiveness than ask for permission ...

steve841 said:

Far easier to beg forgiveness than ask for permission ...

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Unless its after the divorce. Haha.

I am not sure what most can tell you to help. You know your wife better then anyone will ever know her. I think maybe you need to talk to her yourself on what her gripes are about the car. Is it too expensive? Try to let her know you agree, but (insert the bonuses and points here). Tell her you are passionate about it.

In the end, if she doesn't agree with it I wouldn't do it. Marriage is a team effort and a purchase this large could be used in an investment in both your futures. Regardless if you are the bread winner or not in the family, I think she may be seeing you spending the money on something that may not be the best option for your future and is concerned.

Lets be honest. A car in general, especially a car as expensive as the Model S, is not a good investment financially. You will both have to be on board with this before you go forward, unfortunately the only thing that is universal to all people is they change perspective when driving the car. That is the only thing I think is worth recommending.

To sell my wife on the car I just told her how much trunk space it has. :biggrin: Her response was "Sold, don't tell me how much you spend."

And she picked the paint color.