Teenage son has 2023 Bolt LT2. I’ve been offered $28500 from a dealer. I believe the Bolt will be worth $23k in 3 years (partly due to price support from used EV tax credit). $28500 @ current CD rate of 5% is $1425 or $118 per month in what I’ll call interest expense. Add $153 in depreciation ($5500/36) and I’m calculating a monthly cost of $271.
New Model 3 is currently $477/month with $0 down. With a lease, I have less concern about dents/dings and/or loss of value due to repairable accidents. And I believe the M3 is one of the safest cars in production.
POV1: $477 for M3 is 76% higher than the monthly cost of the Bolt. That’s a lot.
POV2: I’m paying $500/month for just his insurance (male teen ) so $977 ($477+$500) for the M3 is only 27% higher than the $771 ($271+500) for the Bolt.
Is it worth paying 27% more for an arguably safer car and some additional benefits from leasing? In relative dollars, it’s not that much more. In actual dollars, $200 is still $200.
Not much difference. The big swing is the teen male, first year with license.
Bolt has good safety features. But the Tesla unibody design seems to be amazingly effective at protecting vehicle occupants.
Had a used Leaf for him to use while learning to drive. Wanted more safety features so upgraded to a Bolt. Because of his age, he has to go under my insurance so he needs full coverage in order for me to maintain my umbrella policy. When he is old enough to get a separate policy, I will switch him over.
Doubtful. Plenty of new EVs with more range and quicker charging will be out. The Bolt will be old tech after 3 years. That’s why we lease EVs - we don’t need to take the chance at the heavy depreciation hit.
The teen will want the Model 3. He already however has the bolt. It going to be better overall to keep the bolt; and like others pointed out he can figure it out later in life as the bolt is still his.
Don’t they have the same tech? They both have AEB. Bolt has traditional BSM which I prefer over the Tesla camera view (awkward for driver side blind spot).
Not sure what the LT2 trim has… BSM on the Tesla is not that good… you’re looking at your mirrors when you change lanes, not the center console… and a BSM light is binary whereas with the virtualization you have to do some looking to see if there is car there or not (and only shows red when you signal).
Also, I think the Premier trim of the Bolt has a 360 view, does the Bolt have cross traffic detection?
Agree that the BSM on the Tesla is awkward and not as good as the Bolt. The Bolt does have cross traffic detection and 360 view…which the Tesla does not. Good points.
He honestly doesn’t care. He might even prefer the interior of the Bolt (LT2 trim is actually pretty nice) over the M3. With the added insurance cost, I think I’ve decided to keep the Bolt. It’s also my understanding that his insurance rate will drop in a year assuming no accidents/infractions.
) so $977 ($477+$500) for the M3 is only 27% higher than the $771 ($271+500) for the Bolt.
