How does everyone afford a Tesla?
Discussion
I don't know if it's because when you start to notice something you really notice it but the last few times I've been out I've noticed that there are loads of Model 3 Tesla's on the roads.
From what I can see you aren't going to get in one for much less than £400/month.
Quite happy to admit I may just be out of touch but it just seems like a lot of people in £50K cars.
Am I missing something?
From what I can see you aren't going to get in one for much less than £400/month.
Quite happy to admit I may just be out of touch but it just seems like a lot of people in £50K cars.
Am I missing something?
I had a Model 3 SR+ for 16 months before upgrading to a 2019 Performance. Both on PCPs.
Before the Tesla I ran 10yr old Jaguar XFR. I spent £280 per month on petrol, £55+ on RFL, £250-300 a year on Servicing, about £400 a year on tyres (one pair a yr). On top of this a large bill for something failing was an increasing possibility.
So breaking it down and putting down a £3k deposit (plus the govt grant of the time) paying a PCP of a shade under £400 a month meant a new car with warranty etc etc. The new (to me) Performance is about £100 a month more. Of course there is the balloon payment at the end of the 4 yr term, but I have the choice to get rid or finance when the time comes.
So I have the benefit of a new car with warranty and no nasty surprises for the time being. It's much quicker than the XFR, but I do miss the theatre of the S/C V8.
Before the Tesla I ran 10yr old Jaguar XFR. I spent £280 per month on petrol, £55+ on RFL, £250-300 a year on Servicing, about £400 a year on tyres (one pair a yr). On top of this a large bill for something failing was an increasing possibility.
So breaking it down and putting down a £3k deposit (plus the govt grant of the time) paying a PCP of a shade under £400 a month meant a new car with warranty etc etc. The new (to me) Performance is about £100 a month more. Of course there is the balloon payment at the end of the 4 yr term, but I have the choice to get rid or finance when the time comes.
So I have the benefit of a new car with warranty and no nasty surprises for the time being. It's much quicker than the XFR, but I do miss the theatre of the S/C V8.
sociopath said:
You may not want to hear this but £400 per month isn't a lot of money
My total basic expenditure is only just over double that - all household bills (no mortgage, paid off), food shopping, fuel, running 2 cars, mobile contract, etc.I can't imagine spending more each month to rent a car than keeping a roof over my head.
I prefer to spend money that I've saved to buy a car, knowing that I'll get a fair chunk of the money back when the time comes to sell.
And I’m sure those that own them mostly don’t?
There’s a road round the corner that’s quite long and it probably has 20 Range Rovers, same again in cayennes and all sort of other things. Many people will think very little of spending 800 quid a month on a car. At 400 I thought you’d be down in the mid spec beamers etc which literally every car seems to be?
There’s a road round the corner that’s quite long and it probably has 20 Range Rovers, same again in cayennes and all sort of other things. Many people will think very little of spending 800 quid a month on a car. At 400 I thought you’d be down in the mid spec beamers etc which literally every car seems to be?
I must admit, I’ve wondered the same myself - is it just that people see an annual budget of £5/6k more acceptable than I do?
I run a 10 yr old XF 3.0 D S for which I paid 8k cash and use around £200 diesel/ month so while I do lust after the XFR, the extra 3k price plus the extra £1500 for fuel just isn’t justified in my head when mine is pokey enough anyway.
With mine, it’s already paid for and I expect it to lose £3k in 4 years. The cost of repair and tyres is normally under £1000 per year ( been using this same approach for 20 years or so). I therefore budget £2k per year and drive a decent spec car albeit a little bit tired.
I have looked with jealousy at all the M4’s and Teslas but I just can’t bring myself to waste all that money. (only my opinion, I know it’s a matter of choice
)
£3k deposit plus £400/pcm over 4 years = £22300 and you’re left with nothing so you’ve paid £5600 per year to drive a car from new to 4 years old.
I run a 10 yr old XF 3.0 D S for which I paid 8k cash and use around £200 diesel/ month so while I do lust after the XFR, the extra 3k price plus the extra £1500 for fuel just isn’t justified in my head when mine is pokey enough anyway.
With mine, it’s already paid for and I expect it to lose £3k in 4 years. The cost of repair and tyres is normally under £1000 per year ( been using this same approach for 20 years or so). I therefore budget £2k per year and drive a decent spec car albeit a little bit tired.
I have looked with jealousy at all the M4’s and Teslas but I just can’t bring myself to waste all that money. (only my opinion, I know it’s a matter of choice
)£3k deposit plus £400/pcm over 4 years = £22300 and you’re left with nothing so you’ve paid £5600 per year to drive a car from new to 4 years old.
57Ford said:
I must admit, I’ve wondered the same myself - is it just that people see an annual budget of £5/6k more acceptable than I do?
I run a 10 yr old XF 3.0 D S for which I paid 8k cash and use around £200 diesel/ month so while I do lust after the XFR, the extra 3k price plus the extra £1500 for fuel just isn’t justified in my head when mine is pokey enough anyway.
With mine, it’s already paid for and I expect it to lose £3k in 4 years. The cost of repair and tyres is normally under £1000 per year ( been using this same approach for 20 years or so). I therefore budget £2k per year and drive a decent spec car albeit a little bit tired.
I have looked with jealousy at all the M4’s and Teslas but I just can’t bring myself to waste all that money. (only my opinion, I know it’s a matter of choice )
£3k deposit plus £400/pcm over 4 years = £22300 and you’re left with nothing so you’ve paid £5600 per year to drive a car from new to 4 years old.
Surely down to personal choice. I drive a Leased new performance car, feel confident to drive it properly/as it is supposed to be used, without worry of a major failure which should be covered by the manufacturers’ warranty. I have flipped between buying a 2-3 year old car but the worry of a major bill always brings me back to leasing/pcp. I also own another car outright which is for carting around the kids/Tesco runs etc. Horses for courses. I run a 10 yr old XF 3.0 D S for which I paid 8k cash and use around £200 diesel/ month so while I do lust after the XFR, the extra 3k price plus the extra £1500 for fuel just isn’t justified in my head when mine is pokey enough anyway.
With mine, it’s already paid for and I expect it to lose £3k in 4 years. The cost of repair and tyres is normally under £1000 per year ( been using this same approach for 20 years or so). I therefore budget £2k per year and drive a decent spec car albeit a little bit tired.
I have looked with jealousy at all the M4’s and Teslas but I just can’t bring myself to waste all that money. (only my opinion, I know it’s a matter of choice
)£3k deposit plus £400/pcm over 4 years = £22300 and you’re left with nothing so you’ve paid £5600 per year to drive a car from new to 4 years old.
clockworks said:
sociopath said:
You may not want to hear this but £400 per month isn't a lot of money
My total basic expenditure is only just over double that - all household bills (no mortgage, paid off), food shopping, fuel, running 2 cars, mobile contract, etc.I can't imagine spending more each month to rent a car than keeping a roof over my head.
I prefer to spend money that I've saved to buy a car, knowing that I'll get a fair chunk of the money back when the time comes to sell.
57Ford said:
I must admit, I’ve wondered the same myself - is it just that people see an annual budget of £5/6k more acceptable than I do?
I run a 10 yr old XF 3.0 D S for which I paid 8k cash and use around £200 diesel/ month so while I do lust after the XFR, the extra 3k price plus the extra £1500 for fuel just isn’t justified in my head when mine is pokey enough anyway.
With mine, it’s already paid for and I expect it to lose £3k in 4 years. The cost of repair and tyres is normally under £1000 per year ( been using this same approach for 20 years or so). I therefore budget £2k per year and drive a decent spec car albeit a little bit tired.
I have looked with jealousy at all the M4’s and Teslas but I just can’t bring myself to waste all that money. (only my opinion, I know it’s a matter of choice )
£3k deposit plus £400/pcm over 4 years = £22300 and you’re left with nothing so you’ve paid £5600 per year to drive a car from new to 4 years old.
Old banger Jag doesn’t work for everyone. I run a 10 yr old XF 3.0 D S for which I paid 8k cash and use around £200 diesel/ month so while I do lust after the XFR, the extra 3k price plus the extra £1500 for fuel just isn’t justified in my head when mine is pokey enough anyway.
With mine, it’s already paid for and I expect it to lose £3k in 4 years. The cost of repair and tyres is normally under £1000 per year ( been using this same approach for 20 years or so). I therefore budget £2k per year and drive a decent spec car albeit a little bit tired.
I have looked with jealousy at all the M4’s and Teslas but I just can’t bring myself to waste all that money. (only my opinion, I know it’s a matter of choice
)£3k deposit plus £400/pcm over 4 years = £22300 and you’re left with nothing so you’ve paid £5600 per year to drive a car from new to 4 years old.
Caddyshack said:
If your net pay was say £3600 or maybe joint of more with those little outgoings then you can probably see that £400 is very affordable, the fact that you cannot imagine spending that much based on your very low household outgoings just means you are probably not the target market at all.
I could afford to spend £400 a month on a car, but I can't imagine actually doing it via "renting". A couple of times I've lost more than that by buying the wrong car at the wring time, and selling too early. No biggie, as it was money that I already had. Equally, I've got lucky a couple of times, and had a "free" car by the time it was sold on.I just can't imagine committing to spending £xxx for 3 years on "renting" a car.
I prefer to put away a grand a month, then buy something when I fancy a change of car, or I have the choice of spending it on the house or whatever.
I've never been a "big" earner - only paid higher rate income tax for 2 months in my entire 46 year working life - but I've always saved first and then spent since I was in my early twenties.
I've managed to get a decent house, plenty of "stuff", owned a few half-decent cars, and have enough savings to see me living comfortably if I never work another day - all without ever earning much above the national median income.
Maybe I'm just a bit old-fashioned in my outlook on spending?
shtu said:
sociopath said:
You may not want to hear this but £400 per month isn't a lot of money
Gets the double of both PH stereotyping, and appropriate user name. Top work. 
As you have said, the old fashioned way of owning a car i.e. save up and buy it is long distance memory. Probably half the cars on the road are people renting them, they don't own them nor have the means to actually buy it outright. That said, happy days for people that want a healthy used car market to buy them outright because people rent them and in effect take on the depreciation costs as well as the running costs.
So no, not everyone that has a Tesla can afford a Tesla.
So no, not everyone that has a Tesla can afford a Tesla.
coldel said:
As you have said, the old fashioned way of owning a car i.e. save up and buy it is long distance memory. Probably half the cars on the road are people renting them, they don't own them nor have the means to actually buy it outright. That said, happy days for people that want a healthy used car market to buy them outright because people rent them and in effect take on the depreciation costs as well as the running costs.
So no, not everyone that has a Tesla can afford a Tesla.
I could afford to buy one outright or rent or whatever.So no, not everyone that has a Tesla can afford a Tesla.
Personally it just feels like a lot to be paying out each month.
Maybe some of that is remote working means I'm doing less miles as no doubt if you're doing 40K miles a year they're probably a bargain.
I remember years back when it felt like everyone had a Range Rover Sport as they were everywhere and until recently with the Model 3 I don't think I've had that same perception.
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