I saw a 3 car accident today. 2 of them were Teslas. Lol.

https://i.imgur.com/OTFadhb.jpg

Just got back from Australia where I rented an iX3 for a week. It was just $33AUD/day (plus fees) compared to ~$55/day for a Kia hatchback so easy call. Really pleasant car to drive around though the fake motor noise was annoying. I told the wife that I'd consider buying one if it didn't come out to $100k (it's priced slightly less than X3 M40i in Australia). BMW's done a really nice job converting their gas platform into EVs - it's not perfect but for daily driving it works great. Easy to get 400km of range out of it and charging was never a problem.

Hmm... so how does the business model work? The car seems to sell for ~$90k AUD, and it gets rented for $33/day... I would imagine that tier 1 rental car companies tend to keep their cars either for a few years, or if the mileage reaches a certain point.

So let's say they keep the car for 3 years. Assuming that it gets rented every single day, that's ~$36k in rental fees.

Let's say they sell the car at 60% of its brand new MSRP, so that's $54k.

$54k + $36k = $90k lol~

So how do they make money out of this?

I may have snagged the rental at a a very opportune time as I just looked it up again for bookings (on Sixt Australia) in Feb-Apr and it's mostly around $110-120/day. That is still cheap though as a Kia Cerato (Forte) or Camry costs just as much. A Tesla Model Y is ~$95 while a Mercedes C200 is $150+. Some of the pricing is weird as the cheapest car in April is a Corolla hatch at $55/day. EVs also come with free charging so anyone putting a lot of miles on really benefits from going EV.

Notably, the prices include car insurance ($5000 deductible) making my $33/day rental ridiculously cheap.

I'm guessing that there must be some government incentive or requirement that's making EVs available at low prices for rental agencies. I'm for whatever got me the great deal as driving around in a BMW sure beats a Kia hatchback.

My dad just got a RAV4 Prime and got a chance to drive it around in real world conditions. EV mode isn't fast by any means but the instant torque makes driving around the city so much better.

How long did your dad have to wait to get his Rav4 Prime?

A friend of mine just picked up his Rav 4 Prime and he had a 2 year wait for it.

Current wait is like 3-4 years right now. But my dad got extremely lucky, he waited far less than that.

Did he have a trade in and financed or leased it ? I heard they are prioritizing customers who lease finance AND have a trade in because they get extra $$$ on those deals.

Finance and trade in....

Sure pays to know the right people at the dealerships. Those waitlists aren't ordered by sequence, but rather by highest profit margin from the deal.

I watched someone cut the queue for something with a 1-year waitlist - the dealer bumped everyone down to make room and that person was given an incoming unit that's already on the water.

I know someone who got a 2022 RAV4 Prime last year, sold it. Then got a Prius Prime earlier this year, traded it for a 2023 Rav4 Prime yesterday. No financing, cash deals.

He did not order any of these cars... right place at the right time and a good relationship with the dealer.

More orders are being cancelled at delivery, I think the interest rates are turning people away.

This.
rate at 7.79 - 8.79% :lol

if they are smart enough to know how much extra they will be paying

And that's with good credit, just imagine all the people not on RS and is poor, 15%? :lawl::troll:

^ I think at that point the dealership finance just rejects it. I've never seen or heard from ppl first hand getting a higher rate than advertised at a OEM dealer.

Are Toyota dealerships still turning away people that want to get in line for the Sienna? I was turned away by 2 dealerships in the summertime.

How was it driving around in full power mode?

Just buy a mazda for 4.45% rate

Can't speak for other Toyota dealers but ours is also not taking Sienna orders at this time

I can't believe a RAV4 can go that fast :lawl: RAV4 Prime > RAV4 V6 for sure :lol

There are sub-prime, and special financing... at the end of the day...

For the client
- building back credit
- getting a car which most likely get them that job

For the dealer and the bank who is willing to finance
- calculated risk
- insurnace
- more profit

It is VERY expensive, but for a lot of people, it is also the fastest way to get back on their "feet" (credit wise)... most of the time
- they take the very high rate
- make sure they do good payments for a 6 month to a year
- sell the vehicle at a loss
- roll some negative equity into another vehicle with normal OEM rate

Still expensive, but the trick is to buy the cheapest car possible that can be financed, because there is only so much they can depreciate in 6 months to a year... pay the high rate to get your credit back... now buy a cheap new car with the normal OEM rate with some neg equity... yes you will be stuck in that car for 7 years, but by the end of it, you will be back in net positive again in equity + credit score...

I see random ads on YouTube for mustangs and American trucks, Mitsubishi for like 2.99% not sure if for reals though.

Whatever rate below the current market interest rate is a subsidized rate. There are models out there that are offered with very low rates, but the reason is simple, they aren't moving fast enough.

I understand the concept behind it, but have you seen it done at Hyundai where someone comes in to buy an Elantra, say advertised at 5.99, and walk out with a 10.99 loan?

Holy moly that is some impressive financial gymnastics.

If you just removed the word "car" I would've thought it was a post about investment banking on Wall St., doing credit swap deals or some shit. Leveraging negative equity into new rounds of loans oh my god.

Damn. You'd think if those people would have done this kind of diligence on their personal finances in the first place, they wouldn't need to resort to this crazy level of fiscal back-flipping to buy a car!

^ those kinda people are usually the ones that's, I'm too good to buy a $5000 shit box, I must a new/ few year old pos that is worth half what they paid the moment they drive off the lot. Then have a $1000 month car payment. :fulloffuck: