Guys, I made a mistake

I test drove a Tesla Model 3 yesterday

I LOVED it, but I will not get rid of my car and get one unless the monthly cost is equal to or less than what my current car costs me.

My current car payment is $307/mo

Think it's possible? Let's find out

First things first, I am going to list three sets of monthly expenses:

- 10,000 miles a year
- 12,000 miles a year
- 15,000 miles a year

This is important because mileage affects:

1) Lease Payment Figures
2) Maintenance Expenses
3) Gas Expenses

My current car is a 2012 BMW 135i

- $307/month payment
- $135/month insurance

Right off the bat, the car needs about $3,300 of work done within the next 2 months. We will factor that in later.

The car gets ~200 miles out of a full tank of gas which costs me ~$45

Continued

I also need an oil change every 3,000 miles which costs me ~$180.

By using the payment, insurance, gas expenses, and the oil changes factored with mileage, we can come up with these figures:

15K/year = $795.25/mo
12K/year = $727.00/mo
10K/year = $676.50/mo

For a BASE Model 3, I inputted ~$3,300 total down payment to match the upcoming expenses of my 135i. With that plugged in, the monthly lease payments are calculated. Once insurance* is added, we get:

15K/year = $773/mo
12K/year = $753/mo
10K/year = $733/mo

includes tax

*For insurance on the Tesla, I simply added $120 ($250) to what my monthly 135i premium is.

I doubt it would go up that much, as the 2018 M3 I drove for a year was actually cheaper to insure than the 1 series, but better to be safe than sorry

I also didn't factor in charging cost for the Tesla because I have a free charging station less than 5 minutes away from my house

That is a HUGE advantage for the Tesla. Without that access, the Tesla would cost a bit more per month to operate

So, the more I drive, the more sense the Model 3 makes in terms of affordability vs. my current car.

However, my 135i currently has 83,000 miles on it

Unexpected costs are inevitable with any high mileage car, but especially with a turbocharged car made in Germany

Now, yes, the Tesla scenario makes more sense in my case because the car I own is expensive to operate...

But ALL high mileage cars have problems or will eventually have them.

This is something you should consider when putting a comparison together for yourself.

I can almost guarantee that many of you are upset that I factored in a lease payment instead of an auto loan payment.

That is a thread for a different day but, in short, leases are not the devil. I'll explain that later, I promise

So here are the final numbers:

15K/year: Tesla is $22.25 less per month vs. 135i
12K/year: Tesla is $26 more per month vs. 135i
10K/year: Tesla is $56.50 more per month vs. 135i

Pull the trigger? Keep dreaming?

What do you guys think?

Let me know if you found this helpful

Shoutout to:

@TeslaTested
@CJ_Johnson17th

Zach has been telling me FOREVER to get a Model 3, but Chris tweeting:

"Everyone needs a Tesla"

That motivated me to actually sit down and really crunch the numbers

Picture of my scratch paper for anyone interested in having some insight as to how I came up with all of this