Can I Break the Cash Rule for a 0.99% APY Deal on a Tesla Model Y?

These days I recognize the best sale as not buying it at all. The entire system is designed around you spending money.

When you experience hands free self driving, you’ll be totally okay taking longer road trips.

Surely it would be ok if you keep the cash available making a higher rate elsewhere which secures the minimums

I got a car a couple of years ago at 1.9% for 48 months, and while I'm typically against having debt, it's hard for me to justify paying it off early when I can get 4-5% in interest in a HYSA. I do agree with those who say if you're going to not pay it off, you should have the cash set aside in addition to your emergency fund so you could pay it off if you had to. On a different note, I agree with Brian about it being nice not needing to put gas in an EV. My car is a PHEV, so while I still need gas occasionally, this is far less often than when I had my pure-ICE car.

I have the cash for it and needed a new vehicle. Also have solar and a at home charger I installed. Everything made to much sense.

There is a difference between APY and APR... Annual Percentage Yield (yield you earn on a savings account) vs Annual Percentage Rate (the interest calculation you pay on a loan). This episode is actually talking about APR, despite saying APY.

I don’t get this. A car still depreciates regardless if you finance it or pay cash. What I consider is the interest paid over the life of the loan. A 50,000 car loan at 6% over 3 years will cost about 4,700 in interest and about 8,000 in 5 years. At .99% for 3 years it’s $700 in interest and under $1,200 for 5 years. You can currently put $50,000 in a 6 month CD at current rates and make the $1,200 in interest. If you did 12 months, you would make $2,500. My last two car purchases have been 0% APR for 60 months.

For me, an electric car is a time saver. That's why I bought a hybrid plug in. The plug in is just enough to get me through my daily commute (and then some). I do have to spend 5 seconds every day to plug it in, but its better than spending 5 minutes at a Gas station, or 15 minutes at Sams Club/Costco. It's an excellent tactic. If I didn't already have a car, I would have probably bought one, cause I am that guy who would put that money into investments and keep that .9 APY for as long as possible. But I have one, and I'm probably not going to buy another one until the repairs on the car is more than its value (or the battery dies).

Looking at buying two tesla here soon. A couple of our customers have over 200k miles with very low cost to maintain.

If you have good credit and that dealer is trying to push inventory by giving you institutional or subsidized rates then just keep you cash in your investments. I think the real rule is to be able to buy in cash, to be able to fully pay if off if you wanted to above and beyond your emergency fund, which is a great rule. My personal rule is to have twice the amount of equities that if sold could cover 12 months expenses and outstanding non mortgage debt.

I wouldn't let it sway my purchase decision personally and I agree that you should have a pay in full mentality on cars... but this is a good tactic by Tesla. It will get a lot of people in the door on the brand.

can we get a money guy studio tour ???

I drove to San Diego and back from Northern California in a Tesla model Y. It’s about 450 miles each way and only cost me $150 using superchargers. Try doing that in a pickup truck, SUV or any other kind of car you’re gonna find on the roads.

The FOO are guidelines. Just got my model y at 0.99 with 0 down. Keeping my new car savings getting interest so I save the same amount each month, $400.

The silliness around auto loans is only partly the interest rates. The real silliness is in the fact you are borrowing to buy something that is not an investment. You also have next to 0% chance of being able to get the same or more money out of the car, at a sale, than you put into it on purchase and maintenance. Now if a bank is offering .99% on a mortgage... that's a totally different story!

Its worth considering Hyundai or Chevy if youre interested in an EV. Shop around. Saved me about $25K and you dont have to deal with the tesla quirks - you get physical buttons in logical places to push for car functions. Instant torque and low operating costs isn't something that is Tesla specific, it's a feature of EV drivetrain tech.

No tire rotation? Can you swap left and right at least?

Yall forget to turn the lights on?

Do not pay that thing off. Keep your money in the bank. .99 is the very definition of OPM.

With Tesla you need also insurance to be added to the rule