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When you're already paying extreme housing costs? I really don't think most SWEs I know could afford this... Unless they wanted to give up saving for retirement

When you're already paying extreme housing costs? I really don't think most SWEs I know could afford this... Unless they wanted to give up saving for retirement, owning a house, etc.

gambiting 10y ago
You can have a model S in the UK for 395 pounds(¬500USD) /month. That's a 7-year contract, but given the 8 year warranty on the car, I don't really see a problem here. And 395/month is very affordable if you have a job in IT, even outside london(I make waaaaaay less than any of the figures in the article above and my monthly payments for the car are larger than this).
- forgetsusername 10y ago
  >That's a 7-year contract, but given the 8 year warranty on the car How do you account for the implied risk that Tesla doesn't exist in 8 years? That's a long ways away, and there's no guarantee they make it.
  - MichaelBurge 10y ago
    You could buy additional insurance if you're actually worried about this. Or you could short their stock as a hedge, and buy some options to cover the upside risk. Or you could buy the car using a title-backed no-recourse loan, pushing this risk onto the lender. Or you could lease the car rather than buy it.
    - tamana 10y ago
      If you lease the car, the monthly price doubles.
      - huac 10y ago
        There's got to be an arbitrage opportunity here.
      - bradycoye 10y ago
        47,208 a year if you lease your car out 30 days a month on Turo.
- wil421 10y ago
  7 or 8 years is an extremely long time to finance a car. Do we know how much battery life will be left after 8 years?
  - jonknee 10y ago
    > Do we know how much battery life will be left after 8 years? That is the warranty period so I don't think you'll have any trouble: https://www.tesla.com/blog/infinite-mile-warranty https://www.tesla.com/blog/infinite-mile-warranty > the 85 kWh Model S, our most popular model by far, now has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on both the battery pack and drive unit. There is also no limit on the number of owners during the warranty period.
    - schwap 10y ago
      There's a difference between having a warranty, and getting work paid for by a warranty.
      - gambiting 10y ago
        I'm sure that in UK "warranty" means that all work and the unit itself is paid for by the manufacturer in case of a fault. If only parts were covered, but not labour, it would have to be described as such,
      - jonknee 10y ago
        Tesla is really good about warranty work. You don't pay for a thing--labor and parts are included.
- Spooky23 10y ago
  That's really stupid. If you need to pay for a car for 7 years, you can't afford the car. Buy a used Civic and save your money.
- dogma1138 10y ago
  Where do you see a 7 year contract in the UK? The longest financing term offered by Tesla is 48 months, you can get a Tesla Model S 60D/70 for about 350-400 GBP a month (after a down payment (of about 20K + another similar payment at the end), but I haven't seen a 7 year contract any where. NVM I found the 7 year leasing program. After a down payment of ~16,000 pound, you get to a monthly payment of 622 GBP for 71 months for a Tesla Model S 60 (not D). http://imgur.com/a/1Asgz http://imgur.com/a/1Asgz This isn't "affordable" by any means, and this is the most basic Model S, without AWD, autopilot or any other upgrade package.
  - gambiting 10y ago
    Yes, you're right, I mixed those two up - you can have the car for 395/month on a 4-year long Purchase Hire Contract, or for about 600 on a 7-year old lease. My mistake. The autopilot option changes the monthly payments in almost negligible way though.

When you're already paying extreme housing costs? I really don't think most SWEs I know could afford this... Unless they wanted to give up saving for retirement, owning a house, etc.

gambiting 10y ago

You can have a model S in the UK for 395 pounds(¬500USD) /month. That's a 7-year contract, but given the 8 year warranty on the car, I don't really see a problem here. And 395/month is very affordable if you have a job in IT, even outside london(I make waaaaaay less than any of the figures in the article above and my monthly payments for the car are larger than this).

forgetsusername 10y ago
>That's a 7-year contract, but given the 8 year warranty on the car How do you account for the implied risk that Tesla doesn't exist in 8 years? That's a long ways away, and there's no guarantee they make it.
- MichaelBurge 10y ago
  You could buy additional insurance if you're actually worried about this. Or you could short their stock as a hedge, and buy some options to cover the upside risk. Or you could buy the car using a title-backed no-recourse loan, pushing this risk onto the lender. Or you could lease the car rather than buy it.
  - tamana 10y ago
    If you lease the car, the monthly price doubles.
    - huac 10y ago
      There's got to be an arbitrage opportunity here.
    - bradycoye 10y ago
      47,208 a year if you lease your car out 30 days a month on Turo.
wil421 10y ago
7 or 8 years is an extremely long time to finance a car. Do we know how much battery life will be left after 8 years?
- jonknee 10y ago
  > Do we know how much battery life will be left after 8 years? That is the warranty period so I don't think you'll have any trouble: https://www.tesla.com/blog/infinite-mile-warranty https://www.tesla.com/blog/infinite-mile-warranty > the 85 kWh Model S, our most popular model by far, now has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on both the battery pack and drive unit. There is also no limit on the number of owners during the warranty period.
  - schwap 10y ago
    There's a difference between having a warranty, and getting work paid for by a warranty.
    - gambiting 10y ago
      I'm sure that in UK "warranty" means that all work and the unit itself is paid for by the manufacturer in case of a fault. If only parts were covered, but not labour, it would have to be described as such,
    - jonknee 10y ago
      Tesla is really good about warranty work. You don't pay for a thing--labor and parts are included.
Spooky23 10y ago
That's really stupid. If you need to pay for a car for 7 years, you can't afford the car. Buy a used Civic and save your money.
dogma1138 10y ago
Where do you see a 7 year contract in the UK? The longest financing term offered by Tesla is 48 months, you can get a Tesla Model S 60D/70 for about 350-400 GBP a month (after a down payment (of about 20K + another similar payment at the end), but I haven't seen a 7 year contract any where. NVM I found the 7 year leasing program. After a down payment of ~16,000 pound, you get to a monthly payment of 622 GBP for 71 months for a Tesla Model S 60 (not D). http://imgur.com/a/1Asgz http://imgur.com/a/1Asgz This isn't "affordable" by any means, and this is the most basic Model S, without AWD, autopilot or any other upgrade package.
- gambiting 10y ago
  Yes, you're right, I mixed those two up - you can have the car for 395/month on a 4-year long Purchase Hire Contract, or for about 600 on a 7-year old lease. My mistake. The autopilot option changes the monthly payments in almost negligible way though.