How I Came to Own a Tesla, Part II, The Miracle of Financing
With my sights firmly set on a Model S Tesla, I began looking for used cars. There are few enough used Teslas for sale that most car search engines will let you look at the entire inventory across the country, and not limit you to what's available in your state. There are so many variables to consider when looking at the used Teslas, it is a bit daunting. The company doesn't have model years since it is continuously changing options, what is available on a car built in February might be gone by June.
It didn't take me long to find a 2016 in our price range with autopilot capability, but by the time I got in contact with the seller, it had been sold. Before I moved on to my number two choice on the used car list, I had a delightfully fateful conversation with my husband.
He is self-employed, and his income is variable. Highly variable. We went eight years without earned income after he sold his last company, then moved up to minimum wage with his new company only after he had been working with no pay for a few years. He's making a middle-class salary now, despite his role as executive, but it's just enough to cover our regular living expenses, not to also make a payment on a new luxury car. Hence the search for used cars for which we could pay cash and be done with it.
Enter the fortuitous moment-- without giving away too much corporate info, I'll just say we have an opportunity to hopefully get a cash bonus later this year. Which raises the amount we can spend on the car. But since we don't have the cash now, we can't spend it on a used car now. But I casually mentioned that Tesla is offering .99% financing on NEW cars RIGHT NOW. My husband closed his eyes, I could tell he was doing some math in his head, and when he opened his eyes he said the magic words, "Go buy a new Tesla." Whooooo! Although the budget is increased over our original used-car budget, we still got the entry-level Model S, the 75 rear-wheel drive. But I did get a bunch of cool features like the upgraded seats, the sunroof, and autopilot. T (my husband) instructed me to go ahead and pre-order the fully self-driving feature even though it's not functional right now. We tend to keep our cars a long time, and he thinks it will be functional while we own the car. I'm not sure about the timing, but we always wanted to be early-adopters of self-driving cars, so we are at least on track for it! I liked both the red and the blue, but he liked the blue much better, so blue it is!
Our conversation was at 11pm on a Monday night, and we looked on the website and chose all our options then. But I didn't feel comfortable ordering a car on the internet, so the next day I called to see if I could order it at their new dealership in Glen Allen, VA, about 90 minutes from my home and conveniently close to my parents' home, where I could leave my kids. I got an appointment for noon on Wednesday. I couldn't sleep Monday night, I was SO EXCITED to get a new car. I thought I'd have to wait a few more years until T had a big change with his company, and I'd be driving my old car or a newer used car until then, so to have the timeline accelerated so unexpectedly was wonderful.
I'm so glad I went to the dealership. First of all, I didn't realize the financing was only good through the end of September, and you not only had to order the car, but TAKE DELIVERY by 9/30 to score the low interest rate. So my sales guy found me just what I wanted in inventory. There was just one change from what T and I saw online-- new cars are being built with a cream interior, but the ONE inventory car with all the other options we wanted had a white interior. I took it. And I'm glad I didn't dither about it, since it is being delivered with absolutely no time to spare, I pick it up on 9/30, the last day with the interest rate available.
It didn't take me long to find a 2016 in our price range with autopilot capability, but by the time I got in contact with the seller, it had been sold. Before I moved on to my number two choice on the used car list, I had a delightfully fateful conversation with my husband.
He is self-employed, and his income is variable. Highly variable. We went eight years without earned income after he sold his last company, then moved up to minimum wage with his new company only after he had been working with no pay for a few years. He's making a middle-class salary now, despite his role as executive, but it's just enough to cover our regular living expenses, not to also make a payment on a new luxury car. Hence the search for used cars for which we could pay cash and be done with it.
Enter the fortuitous moment-- without giving away too much corporate info, I'll just say we have an opportunity to hopefully get a cash bonus later this year. Which raises the amount we can spend on the car. But since we don't have the cash now, we can't spend it on a used car now. But I casually mentioned that Tesla is offering .99% financing on NEW cars RIGHT NOW. My husband closed his eyes, I could tell he was doing some math in his head, and when he opened his eyes he said the magic words, "Go buy a new Tesla." Whooooo! Although the budget is increased over our original used-car budget, we still got the entry-level Model S, the 75 rear-wheel drive. But I did get a bunch of cool features like the upgraded seats, the sunroof, and autopilot. T (my husband) instructed me to go ahead and pre-order the fully self-driving feature even though it's not functional right now. We tend to keep our cars a long time, and he thinks it will be functional while we own the car. I'm not sure about the timing, but we always wanted to be early-adopters of self-driving cars, so we are at least on track for it! I liked both the red and the blue, but he liked the blue much better, so blue it is!
Our conversation was at 11pm on a Monday night, and we looked on the website and chose all our options then. But I didn't feel comfortable ordering a car on the internet, so the next day I called to see if I could order it at their new dealership in Glen Allen, VA, about 90 minutes from my home and conveniently close to my parents' home, where I could leave my kids. I got an appointment for noon on Wednesday. I couldn't sleep Monday night, I was SO EXCITED to get a new car. I thought I'd have to wait a few more years until T had a big change with his company, and I'd be driving my old car or a newer used car until then, so to have the timeline accelerated so unexpectedly was wonderful.
I'm so glad I went to the dealership. First of all, I didn't realize the financing was only good through the end of September, and you not only had to order the car, but TAKE DELIVERY by 9/30 to score the low interest rate. So my sales guy found me just what I wanted in inventory. There was just one change from what T and I saw online-- new cars are being built with a cream interior, but the ONE inventory car with all the other options we wanted had a white interior. I took it. And I'm glad I didn't dither about it, since it is being delivered with absolutely no time to spare, I pick it up on 9/30, the last day with the interest rate available.
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