$35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now • Hacker News Board

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#391

Post by eatbitseveryday » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 2:20 AM UTC

BoorishBears wrote: post #136

BenoitEssiambre wrote: post #37

"To achieve these prices while remaining financially sustainable, Tesla is shifting sales worldwide to online only. You can now buy a Tesla in North America via your phone in about 1 minute, and that capability will soon be extended worldwide. We are also making it much easier to try out and return a Tesla, so that a test drive prior to purchase isn’t needed. You can now return a car within 7 days or 1,000 miles for…

“Courageous” If anyone has ever had to cancel a car sale you’ll realize how much of a hassle it truely is to “return a car” Your credit report will show a loan even after it’s been cancelled for weeks. I once cancelled financing for a car due to it not being as described. Started looking for a new car and found it. Got denied for a loan because my score showed a 60k loan with 0 payments made. It took almost 2 months…

Pay in cash?

I find it hard to argue for getting a car loan when the car's value is above a certain amount. Certainly if the car provides value greater than it is worth (i.e., ability to provide mobility to/from employment location) but a Tesla is more in the "luxury" category.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#392

Post by bagels » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 2:21 AM UTC

theartfuldodger wrote: post #368

Dylan16807 wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a $3,750 federal tax credit and possible state credits to offset the delivery cost, the headline price of $35,000 is misleadingly high .

24,450 is the posted actual cost after normal rebates and credits

A large part of that is "savings on fuel"

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#393

Post by travisoneill1 » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 2:21 AM UTC

almost_usual wrote: post #359

tamal wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a law.

"This is 2019," he said. "People want to buy things online." But he added that franchise-dealer opposition would be a violation of interstate commerce, and that is unconstitutional. "Good luck with that," Musk said. Sounds like Musk likes to pick and choose the laws he follows. Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-is-eliminating-most-of...

I'm glad he has picked this one to break then. Requiring a middleman to sell cars is even stupider than taxi medallions.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#394

Post by vvanders » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 2:22 AM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #220

vvanders wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, I was spending $400/mo on gas which is now close to $50/mo before you figure in oil change costs. Quite a few cars/trucks run synthetic these days which can really start adding up.

But how much are you going to pay to replace the battery?

I'm at 85k miles and still going strong so I'm not worried.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#395

Post by 43920 » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 2:23 AM UTC

jeffparsons wrote: post #377

BoorishBears wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Courageous” If anyone has ever had to cancel a car sale you’ll realize how much of a hassle it truely is to “return a car” Your credit report will show a loan even after it’s been cancelled for weeks. I once cancelled financing for a car due to it not being as described. Started looking for a new car and found it. Got denied for a loan because my score showed a 60k loan with 0 payments made. It took almost 2 months…

> "financing for a car" ... "ding your credit score" To my mind the mere fact that someone would borrow money at all to buy _a car_ is a huge red flag against their creditworthiness / financial responsibility. But I keep reading online that people who otherwise seem pretty sensible do this as a matter of course. Is it possible that living in a city with functioning public transport has sheltered me to the point of na…

> is having a car really so essential to holding down a job and accessing services in most of America (etc.) that taking out a loan to acquire a car becomes a necessary evil?

US public transit is really bad outside of major urban areas. In the (medium-sized) city I live in, the only public transit is an unreliable bus service that only covers a few areas of the city with really limited routes. We don't really have taxis, either, and there's enough sprawl that you can't bike to places easily, so your options are to either use uber/lyft for everything and hope you can get a ride reliably, or buy your own car.

Median household income in the US is only around $60k/year [1], which makes it pretty difficult to afford a car without some form of loan. If you save up pretty far in advance, and buy a cheaper used car, it's probably doable, but most people don't want to do that (and if everyone tried to do that, used car prices would likely go up to almost the price of a new car anyway).

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N/

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#396

Post by Judgmentality » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 2:24 AM UTC

dpkonofa wrote: post #360

Judgmentality wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because now you can't drive one without buying it first.

That's not true, though. You can still go to a Tesla dealer and test drive one. You can't necessarily test drive the exact model that you would buy but that's exactly the edge case that the new return policy is meant to address.

Did you miss the part where they said they're closing their stores?

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#397

Post by chrisseaton » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 2:29 AM UTC

smolsky wrote: post #280

city41 wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars have always had delivery fees. Delivering something that weighs several tons is not cheap.

It's cheap in NorCal - my friend had a Model 3 delivered by a dude. Literally. A dude drove his car to his house and then called Uber. P.S. by "dude" I meant that the man just drove the car to the owner's place from their Fremont factory (30 min).

How else would you deliver a car? Not sure what point you're trying to make?

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#398

Post by natch » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 2:31 AM UTC

elihu wrote: post #361

natch wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At only $2,000 more I doubt it has a better margin. I think they just want more buyers to be happier with their purchase, while still providing the $35k option they promised for those who prefer to stick strictly to that price regardless of features.

It wouldn't be surprising if the 240 mile range battery and the 220 mile range battery are actually the same part. (As I understand it, there is a trade-off between battery wear and what voltage you change and discharge to. So, the people with the "low capacity" battery may benefit by having a somewhat longer overall usable battery lifetime.) If that's the case and the "bigger" battery costs nothing to Tesla, the $37…

Possible... that does make sense. It would definitely be smart to use the same parts if they can do it and give both cars good trade offs for the performance / wear. My hunch is though the other upgrades more than meet the $2k difference even when only considering Tesla’s own cost.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#399

Post by jetako » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 2:33 AM UTC

leetcrew wrote: post #354

BoorishBears wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Courageous” If anyone has ever had to cancel a car sale you’ll realize how much of a hassle it truely is to “return a car” Your credit report will show a loan even after it’s been cancelled for weeks. I once cancelled financing for a car due to it not being as described. Started looking for a new car and found it. Got denied for a loan because my score showed a 60k loan with 0 payments made. It took almost 2 months…

if you are financing an (entry level) luxury car, you are doing something wrong.

How do you figure? I've been financing a car at ~3% interest for the past 4 years. My investments have returned triple that over the same period.

Re: $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Available Now

#400

Post by chrisseaton » Fri, Mar 01, 2019, 2:33 AM UTC

sriram_sun wrote: post #267

gamblor956 wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never once paid a delivery fee for a new car. I do not know anyone who has bought a non-luxury car that has paid a delivery fee for a car. OTOH, I do know many people who paid delivery fees for customized luxury cars. The $35k Model 3, however, is not a luxury car and is barely customizable, even to the extent of available add-on packages.

Oh yes you have. Every dealer everywhere charges a "Destination Fee." That is what you pay for delivery to the dealer's. That line item for the price of the car is non-negotiable. There is wiggle room on MSRP etc. This was the first google result that came up for "car destination fee" :- A "destination charge" is a fee that the manufacturer charges to deliver a vehicle from the factory to the dealership, and that is…

Why would anyone want to negotiate individual line items rather than just negotiating on the final bottom-line price? Why would I care if I'm reducing the destination fee or the actual price? What difference does it make to me?