5 Things You MUST Do Before Buying a Tesla

buying a Tesla has been one of the best purchases I've ever made in terms of satisfaction and savings but it is still a relatively expensive car and probably the second most expensive thing you'll ever buy other than your house I'm all about exploring technology that saves time money or energy so before you buy Tesla yourself here is a crucial checklist to go through to avoid having any regrets now as much as I love the first Tesla I ever bought which was my model 3 I'm not sure if I would have bought it back when I did if I weren't eligible for the full 7 500 federal tax credit that played a big factor for me because even with that tax credit I paid fifty thousand dollars for it and I didn't want to go above that luckily a standard Range model 3 has come down in price to around forty thousand dollars now before any tax credits but that's still a lot of money for a car for most people so even though all model 3 and model y Vehicles currently qualify for the full 7 500 federal tax credit that only applies to eligible buyers so it would behoove you to see exactly how much of that federal tax credit you are eligible for Tesla has some useful information on their site about the federal requirements including the adjusted gross income limitations along with the vehicle price caps but it's recommended to speak to a tax professional to be absolutely sure Additionally you should research your state and City's local incentives which Tesla has a web page for as well for example Tesla customers in Connecticut get a twenty two hundred fifty dollar rebate for new electric vehicles under fifty thousand dollars plus a reduced vehicle registration fee so don't miss out on any of those local incentives a Teslas are known to have some of the longest range EVS but you should also calculate how much range you actually need based on your driving habits maybe you rarely take road trips and only need something for running errands around town in that case even the lowest Range model 3 with 272 miles of range might be Overkill if you're on a strict budget you could look into more affordable options such as the Chevy bolt which has a generous 259 miles of estimated range for around 20 twenty thousand dollars after the full federal tax credit now the ability to charge at home just might be the best benefit of owning an electric vehicle I've said this for years I don't know if I would even recommend someone buy a Tesla if they didn't have access to home charging having my car charged overnight while I sleep is a game changer mainly because of these two reasons one it saves me money by charging at the cheapest electricity rate and two it saves me time because I don't have to make inconvenient charging stops during my normal daily driving to put the savings into perspective my closest Tesla Supercharger costs 39 cents per kilowatt hour while my home charging off peak rate costs just 8 cents per kilowatt hour if I didn't have home charging and had to do all my charging at the nearby supercharger it would be nearly five times more expensive now when I reserved my model 3 back in 2016 I actually saved up money to buy my first house with a garage because I knew I wanted to have a dedicated secure spot to charge my car if you don't have access to charging at home then my other suggestion would be to see if you can charge at your workplace go to your employer and just tell them you'll pay the installation cost of an outlet or charger but home and or work charging is a must especially home charging because the workplace is never promised or permanent and the popular myth about buying a Tesla is that you need to pay an outrageous amount of money for a home charger that's not true during your Tesla online order you can choose the optional mobile connector for 230 dollars and you can use that on a normal outlet for slow charging if your daily driving is less than 50 miles per day for example however if you want faster charging that can charge your car say from zero to 100 overnight you can get a faster Outlet installed like the Nema 1450 or a dedicated level 2 charger installed the installation cost varies based on your electrical system and the desired location of the outlet or charger but it's a good idea to hire a professional electrician to make sure it's done correctly and safely and the company I personally recommend is today's sponsor Mr Electric last month I moved into a new home and one of the very first things I did was have Mr electric a neighborly company install a level 2 EV charger in my garage because I drive a lot but even for average drivers it may be worth it to have the convenience of faster charging at home according to a Mr electric consumer survey over half of all homeowners said they would be likely to install an EV charger at home after purchasing an electric vehicle with around a quarter being very likely if you need help getting your home ready for your electric vehicle you should contact Mr Electric today they can add electric vehicle charging equipment create a dedicated circuit and install the necessary safety equipment with Mr Electric you can expect a full inspection of all equipment prior to installation site inspection to ensure equipment is installed in accordance with manufacturer specifications an electrical system upgrade including a new dedicated circuit and wiring to support the higher power draw of a level 2 charger and it's all done by a licensed electrician who will install your equipment to conform to all national electrical code and local permit requirements they did a great job at my house click the link below to learn more about EV Chargers from Mr Electric now the main reason I bought a Tesla was because I drive twice as many miles annually compared to the average American driver and I was tired of stopping and paying for expensive gas two to three times per week I knew that driving an all-electric Tesla Model 3 instead of my old gas car could save me about 3 500 a year on fuel alone and if I kept the Tesla for at least 10 years which is still my plan I'm halfway there then it would be roughly thirty five thousand dollars in savings which is the equivalent of what a brand new model 3 cost right now which is pretty crazy so try to calculate your fuel savings for yourself before deciding on buying a Tesla to get a good idea of your potential savings you'll need to know the average gas price in your area by using aaa's gas prices website your estimated annual mileage that you typically Drive the efficiency of your desired Tesla vehicle listed on fueleconomy.gov and your local residential electricity cost obviously the key to the most savings when buying a Tesla is by driving a lot in an area with low electricity prices now going from a gas car to a Tesla comes with some Lifestyle Changes mainly in terms of doing some planning ahead of time for charging your car on a trip now although Tesla owns and operates the largest global fast charging Network in the world with over 45 000 superchargers and new ones popping up constantly traveling in a Tesla is still a different experience compared to driving a gas car where you can pretty much travel anywhere and refuel in five minutes at any nearby gas station but to be completely honest I've never had a problem charging my Tesla on a road trip at any supercharger I've never had to wait for a stall to be available and although I have pulled up to a stall that was broken or out of service all I had to do was move over to the next stall to get a working charger and the car automatically routes you to supercharger's a longer trip and gives you pretty accurate estimated charging times but in my experience on trips you should probably expect to stop to charge for 15 to 30 minutes for every two to three hours of driving on average but an even more important thing to do is make a list of your frequently visited locations such as family or friends houses or vacation homes and not only see if there are charging stops along the way but you need to see if you can charge at your destination you can use Tesla's trip planner site to do this or even a site like a better route planner which is one of my personal favorites and if there are remote or rural locations that you frequently visit with no fast Chargers along the way make sure that you are able to slow charge at the location you're visiting this is something I had to do when I first got my car and visited my in-laws because although there was a supercharger in between my house and theirs it was a little bit out of the way which would add about an hour to the trip round trip but since we just take our mobile charger now and connect to a normal power outlet at their house we don't have to stop and charge at all and last but not least if you've completed all the previous steps and are ready to buy you should definitely use a Tesla referral link when ordering Tesla is one of the very few car companies that have a referral program where owners can refer other friends or family members and each person earns Rewards or credits that can be redeemed now I suggest going to find a Tesla owner that you know in real life and try to use the referral link because Tesla's referral program rules state that referral links should be shared from one person to another and not broadcast in Mass on public platforms scratch that Tesla just updated the referral program so that referral links are allowed to be posted on social media platforms so now you can be bombarded with referral links anywhere you go if for some reason you don't have a friend or family member or someone you personally know with a Tesla referral link you can be my friend and simply click the link below to use my referral link if you'd like as of right now the making of this video if you buy a model 3 or model y for example using a referral link you'll receive 500 off your purchase plus three months of free full self-driving capability which comes to an 1100 value so don't miss out on that and that wraps up all the things that you should do before buying a Tesla from somebody who has owned two Tesla so far and hopefully three hopefully that Roadster will come sometime in the future either way thank you so much for watching hope this helps you out give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it make sure you subscribe for more Tesla and Tech videos in the future my name is Andy I'll talk to you in the next one

Channel: Andy Slye

Views: 10,625

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Id: HGbtt21lP70

Length: 9min 6sec (546 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 04 2023