With Tesla, you can turn a $2,442 windshield installation into a $3,174 windshield installation through the power of interest.

This is being reported by the Teslasphere as an “excellent option” to restore affordability to a car market that desperately needs more affordability.

Only, neither of those numbers is even in the same ballpark as affordable.

  • DaddleDew@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Imagine buying a car and your car payments keep going up over time because the repair costs rack up faster than your payments.

    • theneverfox@pawb.social
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      9 days ago

      A sane society wouldn’t create a currency based on debt

      Our entire economy is balancing on infinite growth, because it’s all made up of chains of debt that all siphon off money upwards, at every step

    • dan@upvote.au
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      9 days ago

      If this was done in the USA, a lot of airlines would struggle or even collapse if they couldn’t figure out how to adapt.

      The four biggest airlines in the US (United, Delta, American and Southwest) all lose money on flights. The way they make a profit is through their co-branded credit cards. The banks pay the airlines to purchase miles from them to use as points, and one of the primary ways the bank makes the money to do that is from interest payments.

      https://www.investopedia.com/the-four-biggest-us-airlines-all-lost-money-flying-passengers-last-year-8781856

      I’m not saying that interest rates shouldn’t be limited, just that there’d be some major impact since a lot of the financial industry is funded by interest payments.

      • ramble81@lemmy.zip
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        9 days ago

        I have one of their cards but I pay my balance off every month. They have got to hate me.

        • baggachipz@sh.itjust.works
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          9 days ago

          Even when you pay off your balance every time, they still make money charging merchants for every transaction. But yeah, they make shit tons more from people carrying balances.

          • dan@upvote.au
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            9 days ago

            This is one of the reasons merchant fees are so high in the USA.

            In Australia, merchant fees for a medium-sized business are an average of 0.75 to 1.5% for credit cards and 0.25% to 1% for debit cards, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia (https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/pricing/card-surcharges).

            In the USA they’re often over double that. Some payment processors charge 3% or more for credit card processing.

            • baggachipz@sh.itjust.works
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              9 days ago

              Yeah, it’s an absurd amount. A lot of restaurants add on an extra fee if you pay by card. When will the madness end?

          • ramble81@lemmy.zip
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            9 days ago

            I mean that’s credit cards in general. The alternative would be to switch to a debit card, but as a consumer there’s quite a few protections I’d lose out on like charge backs and fraud protection.

            • baggachipz@sh.itjust.works
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              9 days ago

              Oh don’t get me wrong, I use credit cards for everything and pay it off in full every month. I get extra benefits over using cash or debit. Gotta play the game

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      Higher interest rates allow creditors to take on riskier customers. Having said that, the US sorely needs regulation in all financial matters.

    • 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      Drive to your local LKQ distribution center with stock and an extra $100. You won’t make it past the 3rd installer you see show up in a van before someone will take your $100 with a new windshield installed within 30 minutes. Never buy a car unless LKQ makes reproduction parts. That is where 90% of auto body repair parts come from in the USA. Anyone can walk in and pay cash too.

  • charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works
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    9 days ago

    from what I understand, Tesla’s are fucking garbage so you’re going have to finance a bunch of repairs for your expensive piece of shit

    • baggachipz@sh.itjust.works
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      9 days ago

      When I had mine, the back seat started rattling one time so I took it in for service. A week later, I finally got it back with a piece of electrical tape stopping the rattle and an invoice for $160.

      • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
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        9 days ago

        Glad you no longer have it, but next time, regardless of manufacturer, if you have a minor issue that isn’t covered by warranty, don’t bother taking it to the dealer. They all scam you based on the hourly pricing (not competitive to independent shops, even specialists of the marque) and replacement policy (replace as big a part as possible because more money + less chance of customer coming back. Example for ICE based cars: Friend did his apprenticeship at a Toyota dealer. Car came in with a bad alternator voltage regulator (probably 20-30 euros for an aftermarket part, Toyota would obviously ask more for a genuine Toyota branded part), his boss told him it’s going to have to be a full alternator replacement, they won’t replace the regulator itself. This policy is great under warranty (you get more parts renewed, yay), but not so much when it’s an out of pocket repair.

  • Zier@fedia.io
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    9 days ago

    You’re not paying enough for out rolling trash dumpster, would you like to finance some used parts that don’t work either??? Sincerely, Elon

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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    9 days ago

    How much of this expense is because Tesla is a small auto manufacturer? I imagine they don’t have the economies of scale that others do.

    And I’m not even thinking about the stupid wankpanzer with all it’s custom BS…

    I feel like a competent CEO would have merged with a large auto manufacturer and maintained an independent leadership.

  • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
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    9 days ago

    With Tesla, you can turn a $2,442 windshield installation into a $3,174 windshield installation through the power of interest.

    Ok but 2442 is already insane. Yes it’s heated, yes there’s a rain sensor, plenty of cars have that, and their windshields cost half as much.