Hacker News Reader

Comment by 300bps | Hacker News Reader

Have you seen the calculator on Tesla's web site? I saw it several months ago and my reaction was that it was a load of crap. I'm a huge fan of Tesla's and the sooner car dealerships go extinct the happier I will be. But there's something wrong about that calculator.

Check it out for yourself:

http://www.teslamotors.com/true-cost-of-ownership

Any reasonable person would see that page and think they can get a Tesla for $601 per month. But that's the "Effective Monthly Cost". The actual monthly cost for the lowest cost model is $980 per month for a 6 year loan. Seriously, a 6 year loan?

Honestly, they don't even need to do this. The people buying a Tesla now aren't shopping for a car strictly on price and they're smart enough to not be fooled by such gimmicks.

View on HN

Not only is the number given misleading, but the factors that contribute to that misleading number are (1) questionable, and (2) unrealistic themselves.

I don't know, "Estimated Payment" is pretty clear at $980 a month, just below effective cost.

On that page, perhaps, but that's not shown on the main design page: http://www.teslamotors.com/models/design

It still says "effective monthly cost" versus straight up "monthly cost".

Even read in the most naive light, this still more straight forward than the typical auto dealer tactics which are both more numerous and more deliberately designed to confuse.

Take the typical ad for a lease of $169 a month. That could actually use an "effective monthly cost" price next to it. Once you add in the $2400 due at signing (ignoring TT&L), it's really $369 a month and much less of a bargain.

Cell phones could use an effective cost instead of a their, "iphone for $99*" which just aren't the actual cost.

That the effective monthly cost of a Tesla goes down due to subsidies, reduce fuel usage, and maintenance may seem strange, but is very real.

I don't know, "Estimated Payment" is pretty clear at $980 a month

I disagree. $601 per month is in bold almost-black and on my screen is about 115 pixels wide. $980 per month is in dark gray on gray, not bold and on my screen is about 82 pixels wide. In addition, the $601 per month has right under it a giant red button that says, "ORDER" which strongly conveys the idea that you are ordering a car for $601 per month.

Then consider even the $980 payment is pretty silly. It's for a 6 year loan. Who gets a six year loan? My opinion is that Tesla is engaging in very misleading tactics here and it tarnishes my otherwise very high opinion of them. I guess there must be a population of people that would reject a car immediately if they saw that it cost $1,157 per month after putting 10% down on a 3.30% five year loan. I guess the person is supposed to initially think they can afford it, fall in love with it, then find a way to make the numbers work? I have no idea.

From the link below, 17% of the loans in the last quarter of 2012 were longer than 73 months...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732364660457840...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com