Hi, this is my first post on this forum. I've seen some threads which somewhat touched on this topic here (particularly the one from December) as well as on teslamotors.com (although I haven't read through every single thread) but I wanted to do a pulse check again, especially with new owners where the initial hype might have worn off as well as those who might have had a change of heart in the last six months. Apologies if this topic has already been covered ad-nauseam.
I'm curious as to how far current owners were willing to stretch themselves financially in order to be able to justify their purchase, not including those fortunate enough to be able to easily plunk down the cash up-front without a second thought. Cars tend to be an emotional purchase for many and I assume in this case we're talking about a relatively significant financial commitment for most.
There are obviously many ways to look at this issue with a wide variety of subjective factors to consider and I presume most owners are sane enough to not put themselves into extremely vulnerable financial situations in order to get a fancy "nextgen" vehicle, but as a generalization, I'm wondering what kind and how much risk owners were willing to expose themselves to (delay mortgage payoffs, delay retirement savings, etc.) in order to afford one?
I'm on the fence on purchasing (again) but after writing down the numbers, it seems I'm actually able to afford one assuming I put half down with a 72-month loan while potentially paying it off early, and still maintain my present course of paying off my mortgage ten years early as well. I had assumed a while ago that I'd have to delay mortgage payoff by quite a bit, but that doesn't seem to be the case, assuming future economic conditions aren't too adverse for me.
However, this does mean the money I'm putting into a car is not being used for padding retirement or other investments. I'm a little conservative on these things so making a leap of faith requires me to do some comparison on just how sane (or not) my line of thinking is relative to others who may be in a somewhat approximate situation as myself, otherwise there's a nagging voice in my head yelling at me for being unnecessarily frivolous and indulgent. On the other hand, I'm over forty and not getting any younger.
I plan on keeping the car as long as I can or however long the battery lasts or technology to replace it will be available. This will be my third car. My current vehicle for which I paid about $20k new is almost fourteen years old and still runs fine, but at 230k+ on the odometer it's not going to last forever. I can't cost-justify a Model S based simply on fuel savings (the new insurance will offset that) and perceived less mechanical maintenance (also offset by tire costs). And body-related damage repairs will be very expensive from what I can tell. When it comes down to it, this will be a very pricey avatar for my sense of futurism and willingness to gamble on positive disruption in a stagnant industry. A nice avatar, for sure, but I'm trying to walk the line to ensure I'm not making an overly impulsive decision. On the other hand, it's easy to over-rationalize.
Living a few exits away from the Fremont factory SuperCharger adds a bit of comfort too.
I'm curious as to how far current owners were willing to stretch themselves financially in order to be able to justify their purchase, not including those fortunate enough to be able to easily plunk down the cash up-front without a second thought. Cars tend to be an emotional purchase for many and I assume in this case we're talking about a relatively significant financial commitment for most.
There are obviously many ways to look at this issue with a wide variety of subjective factors to consider and I presume most owners are sane enough to not put themselves into extremely vulnerable financial situations in order to get a fancy "nextgen" vehicle, but as a generalization, I'm wondering what kind and how much risk owners were willing to expose themselves to (delay mortgage payoffs, delay retirement savings, etc.) in order to afford one?
I'm on the fence on purchasing (again) but after writing down the numbers, it seems I'm actually able to afford one assuming I put half down with a 72-month loan while potentially paying it off early, and still maintain my present course of paying off my mortgage ten years early as well. I had assumed a while ago that I'd have to delay mortgage payoff by quite a bit, but that doesn't seem to be the case, assuming future economic conditions aren't too adverse for me.
However, this does mean the money I'm putting into a car is not being used for padding retirement or other investments. I'm a little conservative on these things so making a leap of faith requires me to do some comparison on just how sane (or not) my line of thinking is relative to others who may be in a somewhat approximate situation as myself, otherwise there's a nagging voice in my head yelling at me for being unnecessarily frivolous and indulgent. On the other hand, I'm over forty and not getting any younger.
I plan on keeping the car as long as I can or however long the battery lasts or technology to replace it will be available. This will be my third car. My current vehicle for which I paid about $20k new is almost fourteen years old and still runs fine, but at 230k+ on the odometer it's not going to last forever. I can't cost-justify a Model S based simply on fuel savings (the new insurance will offset that) and perceived less mechanical maintenance (also offset by tire costs). And body-related damage repairs will be very expensive from what I can tell. When it comes down to it, this will be a very pricey avatar for my sense of futurism and willingness to gamble on positive disruption in a stagnant industry. A nice avatar, for sure, but I'm trying to walk the line to ensure I'm not making an overly impulsive decision. On the other hand, it's easy to over-rationalize.
Living a few exits away from the Fremont factory SuperCharger adds a bit of comfort too.