The case for model 3

great idea for a thread... did you find any similar threads before you posted?

 

Maybe add insurance to your list of costs?

By "model 3" you're referring to Tesla?

 

With a Model 3 you are paying for efficiency, performance and safety.
If you are not interested in performance, it may not pay off financially. Depending upon your driving patterns, you may be better off with a LEAF, Mini Cooper SE, or Prius Prime.

That said, being in Canada, your gas prices are higher, how are your electricity prices? The TCO of a Model 3 might be lower, but a LEAF, or MINI SE would be lower yet.

Here is a TCO analysis of a Model 3 vs Camry vs BMW 3 series. Please note, these are based on US numbers.
https://insideevs.com/news/586195/tesla-model3-rwd-tco-toyota-camry-2021/

 

2010 Prius TCO over 9 years.

In Praise of Prius: After 7½ Years, We Still Count the Savings | FrugalFringe.com

10 Reasons We Keep Loving Our 10-Year Old Prius | FrugalFringe.com

Then we have Car and Driver not happy with cost of T3 maintenance costs.

Car And Driver Not Happy With Cost Of Tesla Model 3 Maintenance (insideevs.com)

 

Our daughter's Tesla Model 3 had an underpanel tear apart, first winter. FWIW we get negligible snow here. See it's made of some sort of fibrous material, and this is a regular occurrence, judging from online reports.

 

From what I understand model 3s have poor front suspension components that can break like lower control arms etc and a lot of little things that add up to pretty good cost if you are out of warranty door handles are tricky I have friends with these things I don't know all the particulars but I'm waiting because you know big millionaires have to make compromises to make things and if you're not really good in the compromises you get things wrong and it winds up costing customers $1,400 door handles I'd like to see cost and how the ionic five works out something more realistic Elon is cool and all that but I don't like to put my money and stuff until it's like a Toyota that's why doctor Toyota is holding off on electric cars because we're not ready for that yet according to him we just don't have the infrastructure in place and Toyota's not about to compromise everybody's infrastructure with a half a million electric cars a year or some such situation

 

Soooooo much misinformation in such a long run-on sentence. Did you used to write articles about the damage Prius batteries were doing? As shown by the ‘Sudbury’ mine?

 

Well I guess put your parts break down of the parts that I just said the break that are common and it happened a bit but no matter the fans of these things are fans I'm a fan of electric cars just a little bit different maybe something along the lines of the lucid but that's not ready for prime time either the thousand volts is appealing

 

Well all my costs are absorbed here and done by me a lot of the fluids and things I get for near nothing because I have friends at the dealer and friends and other shops where I can get fluids and bulk for nearly nothing so until I get too old that I can't do anything I'm good and then I'll be dead

 

Here is my record of the true cost of ownership on 5 hybrid cars I owned (one currently owning). The cost includes everything I actually spent on the car including some accessories I purchased. For my current 2021 PP, I used a $30K trade-in value for the car if I sold it now. Other numbers are actual costs I paid at the time, so they may not apply to other regions, different cars, or time periods. As you can see for my current 2021 PP and for the previous 2020 PP, I have a negative cost, meaning I actually have profit even after subtracting all the costs associated with the car. Except for HCH which was purchased used, all Prius are purchased new.

Gas price is a real cost I paid at the time I owned the car, so it has changed over the years. Since in our region, the cost of electricity is high and currently about the same as the cost of gasoline per mile driven either on EV or HV, AFAIK there are no BEV that will beat my current PP in terms of the true cost to own and operate. This is likely to be true even if I keep my current 2021 PP for the next 10 years and the gas cost stays as high as it is now and electricity remains about the same.

 

I think if you research it you'll find a huge price for full coverage on Tesla based on cost of repairs compared to all over vehicles... Down here in the US I'm told auto insurance for a Tesla can be way more than a thousand a month.

 

And it can be much lower.
The costs for insurance for a Tesla vary widely. My initial cost for insurance for my Model S was within $10 (for 6 months) as insurance for my 2008 Gen 2 Prius. (this was back in 2012).
Some companies do charge rather silly rates. Shop around and you can find reasonable rates.
Cost of repairs is higher than average. Medical costs for occupants are much lower due to the safety ratings.

My rate for my wife's Model Y is about 20% higher than my rate for my Mini SE. Considering the cost is much higher, I'd say it is quite reasonable.

 

Thanks for this info... That's one less barrier for me one day being a Tesla or similar EV owner...

 

This is all for full coverage replacement value like you have a loan on the car anything happens to it you're getting paid??

 

If this was a question for me, yes, full coverage.
Back in 2012 the coverage was identical between the Prius & Tesla.
Now, the coverage is identical between the Tesla & Mini.

And yes, there are some people getting extreme quotes (although I have never heard of anyone paying $1000/month). But if people shop around, they can find an insurance company that isn’t ripping them off.

 

Not that I plan to purchase M3, (for one thing, it makes absolutely no financial sense to do so), I was just curious if I replaced my current 2021 PP Ltd with 2022 M3, what my insurance premium would be like.

According to my insurance company GEICO, the replacement would increase my 6 mo premium by $580 which is more than double of what I am paying now. The total cost was for two cars we currently own for the full coverage (max liability, no deductible collision/comprehensive coverage) with no change in the coverage or driving pattern after switching. This calculates out to be that the 2022 M3 premium would be $872/6mo compared to the $290/6mo I'm currently paying for the 2021 PP. So, it is almost triple the cost to insure the M3. It is nowhere close to the $1000/month premium mentioned, but it sure looks to be super expensive to insure an M3 than for a PP for me.

GEICO is really good for checking those what-if scenarios on swapping the vehicle or dropping or changing the coverage. The online quote gives an instant answer and can be purchased to reflect the change immediately. But auto insurance premium is so variable depending on the location, model of car, driving habits, driver's record, etc, it is meaningless to compare the cost of insurance for different owners even for the same model of car. I regularly check to see if I can get better rates from other insurance companies by using multiple quote services, but so far, I have found no other insurance company that would beat the cost and service of GEICO.