Bought a Model Y on Financing: Now She Calls It Her Worst Financial Mistake

A new car depreciated? oh no!

Exactly what was she expecting? Used cars including Teslas fetched good prices during COVID because of the scarcity, and I can't believe so many people paid for GPUs and PS5 double MSRP because they couldn't wait

“She financed the car, thinking she was smartly locking in value.” Lol hmmm that’s not how buying any car works, sister. They’re depreciating tools whether they’re a Tesla or a Toyota. You don’t “lock in” anything by financing a depreciating tool but your own obligation to pay for the it at a typically usurious interest rate and hope you get commensurate value before it fully depreciates. They all depreciate, you just bought a shittier car than most people buy. You want to lock in value? Buy treasury bonds.

Cars being a depreciating asset is economics and finance 101, this is something I’d expect high schoolers to understand

This article must have been written by an out of touch human because an LLM would have at least brought up the obvious fact that cars have been a depreciating asset for 100 years.

Yeah, but the company that sold it to you dropping it by $20 grand after you bought it sort of creates a mathematical nightmare. I would never buy a Tesla for this reason - their pricing is spurious. Same reason I wouldn't buy Stellantis - and I own three generations of Dodge trucks.

You guys are talking shit about this person, but this is what Leon claimed.

I would talk s-t about anybody who takes seriously Elon Musk's claims/puffery/"optimistic predictions" on any subject.

Live near Quantico - tons of mom-and-pop used car places that offer financing, hoping to sell to newly enlisted folks. Their lots are chock-full of Teslas and none of them seem to be turning over quickly. It’s odd.

Buying a brand new car is for suckers. Two to three years old and low mileage is financially sound

For 99% of car purchases and effectively all new car purchases, yes. But, there comes a day for most vintage cars, especially vintage sports cars that haven't been user modified, when they stop depreciating and start appreciating in value. The maintenance costs per mile are still high, but they're no worse than other collectibles as investments. I'm still kicking myself for not buying a Honda S2000 when it was near its price nadir about 7-8 years ago. Finding an unmolested one, alas, would require scouring North America for months.

Hell, your house would be a depreciating asset, but the dirt it stands on is in finite supply.

Sure, but that's more evidence of bad judgment given just how rock solid the financial realities of car ownership actually are. It's not like Musk is even the first founder to say that his consumer product will 'pay for itself'.

Umm you guys keep forgetting, Elon promised Teslas are an appreciating asset. The money will start rolling in any day now…any day.

Very rare cars, it’s true. But even so I’ve seen many analyses that show even collectible cars make poor investments as they cost a fair bit to maintain in collectible condition. Anyway this is irrelevant to anyone buying a brand new daily driver. The only new cars you can buy today that have any significant collectible potential as investments — meaning their value goes up, and doesn’t just fall more slowly than average — cost a great deal of money up front in exchange for their rarity. And you have to be able to afford to keep them pristine and also not drive them to maintain their value as investments. Depreciation is a cruel mistress and rust never sleeps.

News flash, cars are a depreciating asset

I used to have a Mazda3. When I bought it new it was a couple of thousand bucks cheaper than a used one (seriously, I found over a dozen nearby that were $3k more). When I bought my F150, a three year old truck with similar trim was maybe $4k less than what dealer was advertising for a new truck (and when all was said and done after negotiating it was a lot thinner than that). So while I agree that new is usually not a great plan, there are absolutely times where it makes sense.

believing what he claimed is a really powerful reason to talk shit about someone.

We simplified this a lot. It's basically just cars that depreciate more than regular cars. Which is a lot more profound than it sounds.

I agree with what you say except for those wanting a Toyota, Lexus, or Honda. Those brands make little sense to buy two to three years out. You might as well buy them new.

Full Self Appreciating by 2026, next year for sure!

Clickbait...

Might want to hold off on them bonds, too.

This depends on the genre. I’ve only needed 3 cars in 30 years as a daily driver because a moron rammed my second last year. In every case, the brand spanking new Civic was less than a lightly used one because of dealer incentives and wiggle room. This was also true for the family Truxster CRV and the Elantra. It would not be true for BMW X5 though but I assume this would be true for any car between 25 and 40k or possibly a bit more, from Honda, Toyota, Mazda. Domestics usually have better deals, so it probably applies there as well.

>she still likes the car Apparently she thought she was buying a CT 🤣

i haven't had a new car in a while until the 2024 MY. after a year the depreciation really surprised me. and it's not exclusive to the MY. the delta between sell and buy price on used cars is crazy. the only solution to return on investment is longevity.

US Treasury Bonds are no longer safe either.

In my experience it is the same with Subarus

This is how you know Elon is a divorced dad. He puts off his investors like he puts off his kids.

Car is not an asset, it’s a liability that depreciates.

This is every car purchase in 2023. The minimum markup seemed to be $5k above MSRP and a lot of places added at least that much in worthless addons. Tesla did not. While Tesla’s value dropped quickly, nearly everybody lost in 2023 and can’t get rid of their cars.

During the pandemic, and shortly afterwards, it was actually cheaper to buy new than a used car that was less than 3 years old. And for awhile even before the pandemic, 0% or 1.9% financing would occasionally mean that a new car was cheaper over the course of an entire loan. Now, of course, none of that is true.

>She financed the car, thinking she was smartly locking in value and joining the EV future. But then it was all downhill from there. **What an utter load of crap!** [5-Year Depreciation for Notable Vehicle Segments](https://motorillustrated.com/evs-lead-5-year-depreciation-rankings-in-latest-study/151454/) >Segment 2019 2023 2025 > Overall 49.6% 38.8% 45.6% > Hybrids 56.7% 37.4% 40.7% > EVs 67.1% 49.1% 58.8% > SUVs 51.6% 41.2% 48.9% > Trucks 42.7% 34.8% 40.4% The above shows that all cars depreciate, but EVs depreciate more than other cars, including in 2023. "Smart locking of value" just never existed for ordinary cars (it exists for some old-timers, but that is not relevant here). I don't know whether Tesla was significantly beating the averages, but: 1. Probably not 2. Was still depreciating, historically speaking 3. Elon was unhinged then, too, just a tad less. This person was very stupid then - and is even more stupid now, floating her stupidity.

>Same reason I wouldn't buy Stellantis That's a bad reason not to buy them - because they are well-known not to hold value. You buy them to drive them into the ground. Get them for as cheap as you can and then use them.

>this is what Leon claimed What he claimed didn't matter then either, not for the value of the cars.

Why is this article being regurgitated again 😩

No, I buy one because the value proposition (part of which may be preferences or very non dollar based units) fits. And if I went for a new truck, recently/currently, I would have to argue the price down an insane amount to approach other brands pricing. They priced like they have the market power of Apple or something. So as an owner of three Dodge trucks, first I held out. And then I bought a GMC. I guess they are getting better, but if the starting value proposition is "I am being taken advantage of", you are going to lose a lot of people like me. Or the person in the article.

Some guy on YouTube bought a CyberFuck and it was so bad Tesla had to buy it back from him under lemon law. Then he (brace yourself) used the money to BUY ANOTHER 🫠

Depreciation is only important if you want to sell the car. Don’t sell it, keep driving and saving money on gas and, who cares.

Well, Tesla’s are an investment - for Musk. Just look how people buying/ leasing Tesla’s put money into Musk's pocket. Keep buying Tesla’s, after all being the richest man in the world, who corrupts countries, and destroys Democracy, really deserves your money. To top it all, if you keep buying Tesla products, Musk has been offers $1 trillion.

All appliances are appreciating assets. /s

Agreed. Also, Mazda.

I would go with Pokémon Cards over treasury bonds at this point

Anyone who buys any mass produced car and expects its value to go up is a complete idiot. Cars are not investments. They are tools. Those tools lose value over time.

I saw a video where a lady who bought a Tesla didn’t know you had to pay to charge it. My guess is folks bought it without knowing or having a plan on how to charge it.

Fsd 2017 lets go

try Japanese JGB bonds, one of the safest in the world.