Should You Buy A Cheap, Used Tesla Model 3 As A Daily Commuter Car For Under $20K?

Not saying there's anything wrong with a model 3 or I necessarily disagree it's a great deal. But there's so much BS and hyperbole in this video it's ridiculous.

buying an electric car with 100k miles is definitely a mistake. however, i bought my used one with 20k miles and it still had a warranty. great car. i'll probably ditch it at 120k miles though

Great vid !

hey, i agree. buying a used 3 is a great financial decision. my nephew got a 2019 last year with EAP and upgraded to fsd for only 2k.

I can attest to a lot of the things in this video. Although he didn't touch on this topic too much, a used high mileage Tesla will likely have less issues than a high mileage gas car will, since it has a lot less moving parts.

You don't have to worry about oil changes, transmission flushes, carburetors, alternators, timing belts, head gaskets, spark plugs, mufflers, etc. And even brake pads can last a long time thanks to regen braking.

And I can't emphasize the ease of long distance driving enough. On a road trip, you tell the car where you want to go, and it will automatically add Supercharger stops along the route. It will even tell you how long to charge for if you don't want to think too hard about it. Most Supercharger stops are 15-25 minutes, which for me was usually just enough time to stretch my legs, use the bathroom, and grab a snack/drink from a nearby store. Often the car says it's ready to continue the trip before I'm done with those things.

And the other thing that makes long distance driving easy is Autopilot/Full Self Driving. The basic one will keep the car centered in your lane, and has adaptive cruise control to slow down and match the speed of the slower vehicle in front of you. FSD will auto-lane change and go around the slower vehicle when safe to do so, as well as take turns to reach your destination.

You obviously still need to pay attention for things like road debris, wild animals that might decide to cross the road, construction zones, and erratic drivers. But it helps reduce the likelihood "highway hypnosis" or "zoning out", where you start to get tired trying to keep your car in the lane and having to adjust the speed manually to avoid hitting other cars.

Basically you feel less tired/worn out on longer drives with those Supercharger stops and Autopilot doing the boring highway driving for you.

14 racks for a 2019 is crazy. imo getting an older gen1 chevy volt for ~7k is where the biggest financial gain is. one car solution, dont need to rent somewhere with a charger, 50-90% of your driving will be on ev mode, the latter if you can charge at work. somewhere between the model 3 and model y in size/hatch back. i put 40k miles on my gen1 volt in the last 18 months and saved enough money on gas to pay for the car. my 2013 gets 45-55 miles of range before switching to gas. insurance is 20$/mo, and i dont have to pay or worry about finding expensive fast charging. imo best commuter car is the oldest phev that everyone forgot about coz they thought it was just a hybrid like the prius. got mine at 90k miles, currently has almost 140k miles on it, no repairs needed. i commute around 85 miles each way to work

I got a 2019 with 27k for $21k

Own 6 month new MX and 4 year old MY-also…

Bought a used $17k 2017 Chevy Bolt and used $28 K M3 about two years ago for daughters.

Chevy Bolt a better deal…initially. Great range and ok tech. Not meant for cross country- great for a commuter, but is a Chevy- not as reliable as my Teslas and tech is nowhere close. Chevy Bolt is small and is basically a retrofit for a Chevy Spark (which I would never buy).

Used M3 now has 103k miles (bought at 90k). Drives like day 1- great supercharger infrastructure- so much a better car than the Bolt for long term ownership.

Downside not mentioned- need to have a reliable place to charge at home for any EV.

Someone commented about total BS in this clip. Like what?!?

There you have it.

Id say 60k mi is a good sweet spot on mileage to cost (could probably get for right under 20k after 4k off rebate) where you stil have 40k mi left on the battery/motors.

My son got a 2022 model 3 car fax dealer service 40,000 miles White on Dec 14,2024. Added features ASD and heated seats. The battery warranty 6 years or 100,000 miles.

100,000 miles is wild

You can get a Tesla where I live with 20k miles for $20k.

Can you use summons

This car in the video is a 2021 model

100k plus miles and how many times that battery has been charged is a big deal. you really need to count the price of the car plus a battery replacement sooner rather than later. the battery degradation from being charged that many times is going to cause the battery health to go down. You might get lucky and get another 50k miles out of that battery, but it will fail. As long as you are prepared for that then the rest is usually fine. the electric motors are designed well. the newer the model year the better. you want to receive as many tesla updates as possible. the reduced price is there for a reason. the battery warranty is gone.

what about FSD? can you subscript FSD from Tesla?