Really, Elon? 51%?

Buying an automobile from a single-source supplier can come back to bite you in the a*s come trade-in time...

I've been hating on "Plug-In Electric" (PIE) vehicles for more than an eon.  For about a dozen really good reasons.  You know, like they have a propensity to burst into flames without warning.  That can be problematic.  And run over little girls on tricycles.  Messy.  But I've failed to report on one more reason why you shouldn't buy an automobile, or anything else, from a non-dealer, dealer.*

Every car sold in America is sold by a dealer network.  By law.  Dealers buy a franshise to sell a certain brand, and then the manufacturer does the hand off.  After which, no influence may be expended on the dealer/franchisee as to price or availability.  Oh yeah, that's every car, except one.  

That "one" is a Tesla.  Musk must have paid off Hunter and his daddy to have gotten an exception to the dealer franchise rule 20 years ago, but that's how you buy a Tesla.  From Tesla.  Direct-to-you.  Sounds fun, right?  Be afraid, fellow Patriots.  Be very, very afraid.  And here's why...

It's being reported that a wealthy owner of a 2022 Tesla Model "Plaid" tri-motor with only 19,000 miles on the clock wished to trade it in on a new, "bat-winged" Model X.  Expensive?  Yes, yes it is. 

They all are. 

So because Tesla is a single-source seller and buyer, meaning there's no independent dealer network, this owner approached them for a trade-in offer.  The one he got back took his breath away.  Tesla offered him 51% of his $119,000 original purchase price!  Only $61,100 for this near-new top-of-the-line Tesla in showroom shape.  Like a slap in the face to a loyal customer.  One who just learned the pitfalls of dealing with the market-maker.

This Model tri-motor Model "Plaid," BTW, means it has 1,020 horsepower and can accelerate from a dead stop to 60 mph in under two seconds!**  

Of course, it also means there's like 39 people in all of America who not only want it, and can afford it, who don't already have it.  It is expensive to buy, to own, to insure (20% premium) and apparently now to sell!  The whole electric car market is only a decade or so old, so we should make sure there's a way to offload a $100,000+ investment if and when the time comes...

So as I mentioned earlier, the "Plaid" will pass everything on the road except a "Supercharger," which will happily sell you kW's at $0.53 each.  

That, by the way, is the exact price of gasoliine... 

I feel for this dude.  Must be tough to have loads of cash, get hooked on the pitch, become a mainstream addict, yet cannot get his pusher to buy back some of his stash...

*       Unlike all other PIE's, Tesla's are only available from...Tesla.  Wouldja' buy an engagement ring from LeRoy's Ring Company?  Even if LeRoy was a cool guy?  Okay.  So what they charge is what you pay.  And what they offer as a trade-in...is what you get.  Unless you go outside that network and try to trade your car in to a regular, good old-fashioned dealer.  Like Chevrolet.  And Ford.  And Genesis.  The way one chooses to do it from the git-go if one gives a sh*t about one's money.  BTW, they'll look at the guy with the Tesla the way an entomologist looks at a bug just before inserting the pin...

**     Cars with internal combustion engines need time to "spool up," creating torque, which is the stuff that makes the back wheels spin (not horsepower).  And lay copious quantities of rubber (yeah!).  But cars with PIE motors don't need that.  Like the rheostat for your dining room light, they're either "on" or "off."  Their "torque" is available from "0" mph and "0" rpm, because there is no rpm.  That's why they're in demand by hot rodders like me.  Except unlike me, those hot rodders who've bought into this whole "green" schtick haven't thought through the whole electric car deal.  If they had, they would run like a bandit from these growed-up, ovepriced golf carts...