Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Used electric vehicles became more affordable after a new tax credit kicked in in January 2023.</li><li>Driving range and driving habits can affect the type of used EV you should shop for.</li></ul>Electric-vehicle prices are falling across the board. And as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nissan-kicks-review-price-rare-find-under-30k-2024-10">more models flood the market</a>, you can get a particularly good deal on a used EV.But shelling out thousands of dollars on an unfamiliar piece of technology (especially one that's been around the block a few times) is daunting for some shoppers.Aside from wondering <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cheapest-electric-car-affordable-kia-ford-chevy-hyundai-nissan-2022-6">which car to buy</a>, used-EV shoppers might be wondering whether the battery could die. Shoppers on a budget might also be looking for more ways to save money, as EV tax credits broadened to include used electric cars in January 2023.The research can be a lot to take on at once. We talked to car-buying experts to demystify the process.<h2>Consider where and how much you drive</h2>Scott Case, the cofounder and CEO of Recurrent, a startup that tracks EV battery health, recommended starting by considering how far you typically drive and the climate you live in — those factors will affect how much range you'll want, as EVs perform best in temperate weather and can't drive quite as far in cold temperatures."Let's say you live in Florida and you drive 30 to 50 miles every day — you can pretty much buy anything," Case said. On the other hand, people who travel 150 miles daily and live in the occasionally frigid Midwest would need to shop around for a long-range vehicle.<div type="image" title="A gray Tesla Cybertruck plugged in at a public charging station." height="1150" width="1533" msid="114294136" hostid="261" sizebytes="313240"></div>Most older electric cars don't have the range of the latest offerings — you might find models with estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency of only 80 to 120 miles.<h2>Battery range will degrade over time</h2>Anyone who's owned a smartphone knows that lithium-ion batteries wear out over time. Pretty much the same goes for EVs.As the years go by, cycles of charging and driving wear out an EV's battery pack, reducing driving range. The vehicle-data firm Geotab has estimated that EV batteries <a href="https://www.geotab.com/blog/ev-battery-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tend to lose about 2% of their capacity each year</a>.The good news is that an EV's battery is unlikely to fail completely or render the car useless.But understanding how much life a vehicle has left isn't all that simple. Case said that exposure to extreme temperatures, frequent trips to powerful DC fast chargers, and variations in battery chemistry mean some used cars perform better than others with identical mileage.<div type="image" title="A charging cable extending from a Tesla Supercharger to a Chevrolet Equinox EV." height="3024" width="4032" msid="114294138" hostid="261" sizebytes="789912"></div>Jim Fish, a vice president of Opus IVS, a tech-focused collision-repair company, said the best question to ask about a battery's care is how often it was left below 20% and above 80% of its charge.Leaving a battery too close to empty or on a full charge for too long affects its ability to hold a charge, Fish said."Of course, you might struggle to find out the truth to that question," Fish said.Recurrent provides reports on EV battery health aimed at helping shoppers choose between cars.<h2>You can get up to $4,000 off thanks to federal tax credits</h2>At the start of last year, a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-state-electric-car-vehicle-tax-credits-rebates-qualify-2023-1">used-EV tax credit went into effect</a> as part of a larger incentive program in the Inflation Reduction Act. Automotive retail analysts described it as a welcome change for EV shoppers on a budget.To <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-tax-credit-suv-tesla-model-y-ford-mach-e-2023-2">qualify for the credit</a>, the vehicle must be purchased at a dealership so that the dealer can report the required information to the IRS.The buyer must be purchasing the vehicle for personal use and not for resale, must not be the original owner of the vehicle, must not be able to be claimed as a dependent, and must not have used any other clean-vehicle credit in the previous three years. Income caps for buyers range from $75,000 to $150,000, depending on their tax-filing status.The vehicle must have a sale price of $25,000 or less and must be at least two model years old.Many states also have tax incentives for purchasing EVs. More detailed information and required forms can be found on the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/used-clean-vehicle-credit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IRS's website</a>.

Considering an electric vehicle? Experts explain how to pick one for your lifestyle and budget

<keyword id="19895433" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tesla" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Tesla" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Tesla">Tesla</keyword> is on the brink again. Sales are slowing even after the company slashed prices. The company is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-layoffs-job-cuts-2024-2">laying off 10% of its workforce</a> — 14,000 workers from Shanghai to San Jose, from the factory floor to the executive suite. The company had to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-recalls-cybertrucks-accelerator-fault-pad-pedal-electric-vehicle-truck-2024-4">recall every single Cybertruck</a> it shipped. And Tesla's position in China, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-electric-cars-ev-elon-musk-tesla-byd-price-war-2024-4">a country that has become critical</a> to its future, is getting shakier.There's only one person to blame for the company's shambolic state and only one person whose exit could save Tesla: <keyword id="19903807" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Elon-Musk" source="keywords">Elon Musk</keyword>. For the past few years, Tesla has looked unstoppable, but during those high times, Musk failed to implement any strategy that would insulate the company from what has become a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-price-cuts-electric-cars-losing-business-strategy-2023-11">violent global electric-vehicle price war</a>. The company is incinerating cash, losing market share, and holding more aging inventory than ever before.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-stock-tsla-quarterly-earnings-call-report-live-updates-2024-4">Tesla reported its first-quarter earnings</a> on Tuesday and missed expectations across the board, even though Wall Street was already expecting the worst. Earnings per share came in at $0.45, lower than analysts' expectations of $0.52. Free cash flow fell a stunning 674% as Tesla focused on AI research and making capital improvements. Gross profit fell 18% from the same time a year ago, and gross margins fell from 19.3% to 17.4% over the same period. If Tesla the company were a car, this is when you start to hear it make a rattling sound.The company's problem isn't a matter of getting through "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-podcast-workers-model-3-production-hell-sewage-sleeping-floor-2023-8">production hell</a>" or "delivery hell" on a new model, which Tesla has been able to survive. Hell is, at the very least, a location. Tesla's problem is that it has no clear direction. It doesn't matter how much cash a company has on hand if it's blowing it on products that aren't ready to scale — like a robotaxi. Or cars that no one wants — like its dated models.Musk seems to understand at least that much: For years, Tesla has teased the development of the Model 2 — a $25,000 Tesla for the everyman. This is the car the market wants, and a Reuters report from earlier this month that the Model 2 was being scrapped (which Musk denied) sent the stock into a tailspin. Given this clear signal from investors, the company pivoted and announced in its earnings release that it planned to speed up production of "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cheaper-teslas-arriving-sooner-than-planned-2024-4">new and more affordable products</a>" to early 2025. Wall Street ate this up: in spite of the miserable results, Tesla's stock has gained nearly 20% since the earnings announcement and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-investors-cheaper-cars-soon-musk-said-earnings-stock-up-2024-4">analysts were falling over themselves</a> to praise the news. It's like people have never seen this play from Musk before, but anyone who's been following Tesla knows we have.Musk is notorious for delivering so late that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-cybertruck-release-date-delivery-delay-signs-2023-9">any sort of timelines</a> are to be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-roadster">taken with a grain of salt</a>. Even Musk's most loyal shareholders — like Ross Gerber of investment firm Gerber Kawasaki — were dubious. In an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday after Tesla's report, Gerber said that he "can't rely" on what the company says about timelines anymore. In the company's post-earnings conference call, Musk only mentioned vague plans for speeding up the production process and spent more time talking about his far-off vision for an Uber-like robotaxi fleet."I'd say at least eight to nine years before they get a robotaxi working," Tu Le, the founder of the electric-vehicle consultancy Sino Auto Insights, told me in a recent interview. "I think they'd argue that they already made it. But I'm thinking about the best-case scenario. And I'm being very optimistic.Being late wasn't a problem when Tesla was the only company making good EVs, but that's not the case anymore. Musk does not have eight or nine years to save Tesla, and making vague promises to deliver a new car that the market actually wants — while appealing to Wall Street — does not relieve the pressures the company is facing now. On one side of the world, competitors in China can make <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-waging-price-war-against-chinese-rivals-2024-4">cars at a much lower cost</a>. On the other side, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-pulling-back-electric-vehicle-production-again-2024-4">legacy automakers</a> are leaning on their combustion-engine and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/car-buyer-interest-hybrids-as-electric-vehicle-adoption-slowing-2023-10">hybrid car sales</a> to make it through the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-sales-miss-ev-slowdown-new-wave-customers-2024-4">slowdown in demand for electric cars</a>. If the Chinese market is a rock, then Western markets are a hard place. Tesla is caught in between. The company needs a serious leader with practical ideas — no self-driving gimmicks, no blowtorches, no broken Cybertrucks, no shitposting, no video-game marathons, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/psychedelics-work-microdosing-lsd-psilocybin-ketamine-retreats-elon-musk-2024-3">no casual ketamine use</a>. Basically, no Elon. It needs a singularly focused, ruthlessly productive leader who can deliver the Model 2 — without copious delays.On Tuesday, Musk addressed the recent round of layoffs by saying that Tesla needed to restructure itself for a "new phase of growth." He's right about that, the carmaker does need a major shake-up — starting with him.The future did not have to look this ugly for Tesla. In 2020, the company was on top of the world. Its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-china-gigafactory-shanghai-fremont-california-factory-2021-10">Shanghai plant started cranking out</a> lower-cost, higher-margin cars. It was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-germany-gigafactory-final-approval-2022-3">building a plant in Germany</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-elon-musk-gigafactory-texas-cyber-rodeo-2022-4">another one in Texas</a>. It <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-delivery-record-q2-annual-sales-2021-7">sold more cars</a> than ever before. Consistent annual profits led to a <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-market-cap-500-billion-stock-price-rally-elon-musk-2020-11-1029835478">glorious stock market rally</a>, and Wall Street rejoiced.What did Musk do with those glory days? He <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-sell-tesla-stock-buy-twitter-deal-net-worth-2023-4">sold a bunch of his Tesla stock</a> to buy Twitter, tried to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-to-take-elon-musk-court-fight-close-deal-2022-7">get out of the deal</a>, and then was forced to go through with it. He <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-launch-rocket-blows-up-explosion-elon-musk-mars-2023-11">blew up some rockets</a> (to be fair, some also made it to space). He <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-neuralink-monkeys-live-in-paradise-denies-gruesome-deaths-2023-11">implanted a brain chip</a> into a bunch of monkeys. He brought a kitchen sink to work and added a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-tesla-ceo-job-broken-chief-hypocrisy-officer-2022-11">few more CEO jobs to his plate</a>. He publicly bungled Gov. Ron DeSantis' attempt to launch a presidential campaign. At Tesla, Musk delivered about 4,000 Cybertrucks — every one of which has been recalled for faulty acceleration — while frittering away any goodwill the company has with its core customers.What I'm saying is that as much as Tesla accomplished in the past few years, it's clear Musk should've spent more time with it. Tesla failed to craft a strategy for chaotic times in what is still clearly a nascent EV industry. Sure, the company has been on a multiyear campaign to get lean and cut costs, but that strategy isn't enough to balance out price cuts, weak demand, and the need for major capital expenditures to get through this period of fleet stagnation. A true visionary CEO — which Musk has long claimed to be — would have pressed the advantage that Tesla developed in the EV market. They would've done research to try to understand what EV demand would look like after early adopters bought cars. They'd know what kinds of buyers would enter the market at that stage and which kinds of cars those buyers would want. A true visionary CEO would meet those customers where they are. Back in November, I spoke with Navdeep Sodhi, a pricing analyst at Sodhi Pricing Associates, who told me that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-price-cuts-electric-cars-losing-business-strategy-2023-11">Tesla should advertise</a> to educate the public about the cost benefits of its cars, like savings on gas. Advertising could have also helped assuage concerns about issues like range anxiety. This month, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-new-marketing-team-advertising-cut-layoffs-2024-4">Tesla laid off its entire marketing team</a>.For years analysts warned Musk that competition was coming, not just from legacy automakers but from the very Chinese market that fostered Tesla's success. Beijing has a pattern of supporting Western companies in China's markets in order to foster competition, then, once China-based rivals are able to catch up, tipping the scales in favor of homegrown companies. Add in the fact that Beijing has cornered nearly every aspect of the battery supply chain — from mining and refining metals to manufacturing the batteries themselves — which has helped China's EV makers to churn out models at price points as low as four figures. The new options have put Tesla on the back foot in one of its most important markets: <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-stock-vehicle-model-y-price-cuts-tsla-elon-musk-2024-4">Tesla's share of China's car market shrank</a> to 6.7% in the fourth quarter of 2023 from 10.3% at the beginning of the year.To maintain its lead, Tesla should have been singularly focused on building the Model 2 — moving down the pricing scale to where there were more customers. But it stopped innovating, the Model 2 hasn't materialized, and Musk's realization that the company needs to actually deliver on a Tesla-for-the-people may be coming too late. Instead of boosting sales with an impressive or accessible new option, Tesla has tried to goose demand by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-slashes-prices-suv-cars-self-driving-software-before-earnings-2024-4">erratically lowering the prices</a> of its existing models to increase volume. This has not worked as planned: automotive revenue fell 13% from the same time last year, according to Tuesday's earnings release, and gross margins in the automotive division fell to 14.8% from 18% a year before.Tesla has always been a "growth" company, the up-and-coming player taking on the legacy automakers. But now the company has entered a new stage of development — it's a large, mature firm, and continuing to grow requires larger amounts of capital, discipline, and focus. There was never a moment for Musk to rest on his laurels, but after 2020 Tesla started to look less like a place where Musk was constantly innovating and more like a place where Musk sourced cash to do whatever else he wanted with his life. Maybe he got bored, or maybe he got distracted — either way, Musk stopped pushing the envelope at Tesla way too early.During the conference call, Musk had a million excuses for why this quarter was so poor — Houthi agitation in the Red Sea, an arson in Berlin, updates at the Fremont Factory. He asserted that Tesla was not a car company but rather an AI robotics company. He spoke ad nauseam about turning Tesla into a self-driving Uber service but refused to answer any questions about the Model 2. Look over here. Look over there. Pay no attention to exactly how we're going to deliver his cheaper car. Wall Street has fallen for this before, and it's becoming embarrassing that it has fallen for it again — especially at a time when Tesla and the EV market are in such a different position. The gestures toward actually producing the Model 2 drove a post-earnings stock pop, but given Musk's years of distraction and myriad projects, shareholders should be more concerned that he may fritter away Tesla's resources on something else — whether that's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-xai-luring-more-investors-spv-high-fees">an AI that can copy his voice</a>, turning X into a dating app for libertarians, or building another vanity clown car. If the Model 2 doesn't come ASAP, it's tantamount to Tesla waving the white flag in the global EV wars for the foreseeable future. Forget growth — now the company that should have been America's EV juggernaut needs to figure out survival.When Musk entered the EV Thunderdome, Tesla was the only game in town, interest rates were at 0%, and most of the country was convinced he was Iron Man. Since then, China has become an EV power player, legacy automakers have been trying to get a cut of the action, debt has become more expensive, and half the country has started to think Musk is Lex Luthor. Things have changed, and Tesla's leadership needs to change along with them or get left behind.<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/linette-lopez">Linette Lopez</a> is a senior correspondent at Business Insider.

Elon Musk just set Wall Street up for one of his classic head fakes

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hybrid sales are booming in the US. </li><li>Once dismissed as a "phase," many drivers are now choosing them over EVs.</li></ul>Hybrids are having a moment.Sales of partially battery-powered vehicles, once ridiculed as a <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1553173389199785985">"phase"</a> by the likes of Elon Musk, are increasing even as EVs stutter, with hybrid sales growing by 50% in the first two months of the year, while EV sales grew 13% in that time, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/hybrid-car-sales-boom-b579bf21">according to</a> research site Edmunds.The booming popularity of hybrids has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/toyota-hybrid-cars-ev-sales-growth-prius-bz4x-2024-2">benefited companies like Toyota</a> who have hedged their bets on EVs and continued to invest in their hybrid lineups.Other auto companies are following Toyota's lead, with General Motors pledging to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gm-hybrids-plan-good-for-car-dealers-and-shopper-2024-1">sell hybrids again in North America</a> and Ford delaying its latest electric SUV to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-pulled-back-on-evs-focused-on-hybrids-paid-off-2024-4">focus on its own hybrid lineup</a>.Even Tesla, which famously doesn't sell hybrids and is unlikely to do so anytime soon, is taking notice. In his latest earnings report, the company <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-blames-hybrids-for-lower-sales-2024-4">blamed demand for hybrid vehicles</a> for depressing global EV sales."The EV adoption rate globally is under pressure, and a lot of other auto manufacturers are pulling back on EVs and pursuing plug-in hybrids instead," said CEO Elon Musk in an earnings call."We believe this is not the right strategy, and electric vehicles will ultimately dominate the market," he added.Business Insider spoke to hybrid owners, experts and industry execs to discover why hybrids are gaining popularity. <h2 id="af74f03e-f0cb-4d4f-8a61-2ca0833223f8">Lack of affordable EVs</h2>Nick O'Brien, who teaches auto tech at Jefferson Community College in Kentucky, took delivery of a hybrid 2024 Ford Maverick in February, and told Business Insider he was more than happy with his purchase.He said the hybrid perfectly balanced excellent fuel economy with a reduced environmental impact."I love it — it's very quiet, very smooth, and more than double the fuel economy of my previous vehicle," he said.O'Brien told BI that he believes EVs are the future, but the lack of affordable options meant that he decided to buy a hybrid instead for his next vehicle."The biggest barrier for me personally is the cost of a new EV," he said. "I think there just aren't many EV options yet that regular people (as opposed to rich people) can afford."The lack of affordable EVs has been cited as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electrc-vehicle-demand-problem-affordability-expense-price-cost-2023-10">one of the biggest reasons why drivers are reluctant to go electric</a>.Hybrids, which tend to be more affordable than pure EVs, appear to be reaping the benefits.Buyers paid $42,500 for hybrids in November 2023 on average compared with $60,500 for electric vehicles and $47,500 for gas cars, according to data from Edmunds <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/business/hybrid-cars-electric-vehicles.html">reported by the New York Times</a>."The additional costs associated with fully electric vehicles is definitely higher than hybrids," Mark Singer, a senior transportation analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, told BI."A lot of hybrid electric vehicles now are not far off from their internal combustion engine alternatives. So I think that the lower incremental costs associated with hybrids at this point are driving some interest towards hybrid versus fully electric vehicles," he added.<h2 id="99ed0829-d858-4969-b375-e264f3970cfd">Soaring gas prices</h2>Singer said that gas prices, which have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&amp;s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg&amp;f=m">remained high since the pandemic in the US</a>, could also be having an impact on consumers' decision to opt for more fuel-efficient vehicles versus gas versions. "What we've seen historically is that when gas prices rise, hybrid electric vehicle price or acquisitions rise as well," he told BI."Since we came out of the pandemic period, gas prices have seen an increase and I think that's probably a significant reason why hybrid electric vehicles have grown in popularity over the last couple of years," he added.<h2 id="5cc0e6a0-dfd4-4147-bf9a-040ac5319f05">Charging hurdles</h2>One of the big winners of the latest hybrid craze is Toyota, which has taken a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/toyota-hybrid-cars-ev-sales-growth-prius-bz4x-2024-2">more skeptical approach to EVs</a> than many of its rivals.The Japanese carmaker beat out Tesla in a recent survey charting <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-demand-still-strong-despite-slowdown-hybrids-survey-2024-1">most the brands most considered by EV shoppers</a>, despite releasing only one battery electric car in the US. Toyota vice president of sales, Jeff Buchanan, told Business Insider that customers are now looking for a choice between hybrids, EVs, and combustion engines, and that Toyota was reaping the benefits of having options in "virtually every segment.""With hybrids now that there's no compromises anymore — they're super efficient, they're powerful, the styling is great," he said.Toyota is expecting around 40% of its total US sales to be in hybrids this year, Buchanan said, with sales of partially and fully electrified vehicles up 70% in the first four months of the year.He described the relative affordability of hybrids as a "huge" factor swaying consumers towards hybrids, especially as interest rates have risen over the past few years — but added that lingering concerns over charging were also putting customers off from going fully electric."There's no doubt that for some people a concern," Buchanan said."There's just not enough public charging out there to make all customers comfortable with it, and I do think that probably is driving more customers back towards hybrids and plug-in hybrids," he added. Singer agreed, pointing to affordability and charging as the biggest factors swaying consumers from taking the plunge and buying a pure EV."Those are the two issues that are proving the biggest barriers to adoption," he said.With neither barrier an issue for hybrids, it seems that the hybrid boom is unlikely to die down anytime soon.

Hybrid sales are booming — here's why drivers are buying them over EVs

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-owner">Tesla owner</a> ordered a Cybertruck and said he later realized it didn't comfortably fit in his new apartment complex.</li><li>The Tesla dealership refused to buy back the vehicle or let him resell it.</li></ul>Blaine Raddon watched the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-truck-cybertruck">Cybertruck</a> launch while he was with his wife in Bali — and he didn't waste any time when placing his preorder for the vehicle.Raddon finally received his truck a few weeks ago. Last week, he posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he wants to return it, but <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla">Tesla</a> isn't willing to buy it back or let him resell it. That's because there's a Cybertruck-specific portion of Tesla's Motor Vehicle Order Agreement, which Raddon signed when taking delivery, which states that he can't resell the vehicle for one year. If the contract is disregarded, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-cybertruck-clause-sue-cybertruck-owners-resale-2023-12">Tesla says it can sue for up to $50,000 in damages</a>, "or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater." Tesla can also refuse to sell the owner future vehicles, the agreement said.Since ordering the vehicle, Raddon's living circumstances have changed, he told Business Insider. He said that he and his wife separated and he's since moved into a new apartment complex, and his new Cybertruck doesn't fit comfortably in its parking space.Raddon, who owned multiple Teslas prior to the Cybertruck, said he didn't give much thought to whether the Cybertruck would fit in the new space.However, upon its arrival, he told BI that he realized the Cybertruck was "so much bigger" than expected, and he had to make a four-point turn to navigate it into the parking spot. He also said he struggles to get in and out of the truck with the amount of space he has on each side.<div type="image" title="Tesla Cybertruck sticking out" height="2268" width="3024" msid="110600763" hostid="261" sizebytes="395646"></div>Raddon reached out to the Tesla dealership manager in Salt Lake City over email on May 22 and said he wanted to return the truck. BI reviewed the email exchange.The written request didn't include details about his changed circumstances but referenced a conversation that happened in person with the Tesla dealership manager. Raddon said he told the manager directly that the Cybertruck was bigger than he expected and asked for one of four solutions: reverse the transaction, trade in the Cybertruck for a new sedan, sell it back to Tesla, or authorize him to sell it without a profit or mark-up.The Tesla dealership manager sent a response on May 23, disagreeing that Raddon's reasoning "warrants an unforeseen circumstance that would trigger Tesla's purchase" of his Cybertruck. He also said Raddon is bound by the one-year prohibition to selling his Cybertruck privately.The manager cited the Motor Vehicle Order Agreement with Tesla's "no resellers" policy for the Cybertruck. While the contract states that Tesla can make an exception if an unexpected situation forces an owner to sell it within that year, that can only occur if Tesla grants permission after accepting an owner's written request.If granted, the owner would receive back the amount of the original purchase price minus a deduction of 25 cents per mile driven, reasonable wear and tear costs, and any repairs needed to meet Tesla's used car standards.The manager at Tesla's Salt Lake City dealership did not respond to BI's request for comment ahead of publication.Raddon responded to the email with a lengthier written explanation, detailing that when he purchased the Cybertruck, he lived in a single-family residence and has since moved out of state. He also emphasized that he wasn't trying to make a profit and understood that if Tesla repurchased his vehicle, he would suffer some loss from the original amount he paid."I am trying to remedy an unfortunate circumstance that the Cybertruck is not manageable in my living situation," Raddon said in the email response."Making me keep a truck that does not fit my circumstances appears to be unfair and not at all the spirit of the no sale language in the contract," he added in the note.Raddon told BI that he's a rule-follower and he doesn't plan to go against Tesla's verdict on the matter or hire a lawyer to dispute the decision. He also said his building is okay with him keeping the vehicle there, but they won't be held liable if the truck gets damaged by another car while protruding from the parking spot.Tesla did not respond a request for comment.A week after sending his longer note to Tesla in an attempt to appeal the decision, Raddon said he's still waiting for a response.

Cybertruck owner says he's stuck with a vehicle that's too big for his parking spot, and Tesla won't let him return or resell it

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Vehicles are built to be safer than ever before, but pedestrian and cyclist deaths are rising.</li><li>A rise in the popularity of larger vehicles, like vans and trucks, may be a factor in this increase.</li></ul>Alyssa Milligan was someone who intuitively knew when another person needed help, encouragement, or a kind word. Although she was new to Tennessee, the 23-year-old physical therapy student, whose mother called her "Sweet Alyssa," had already made many close connections, especially within the tight-knit cycling community around Nashville — before she was killed this month, struck by a pickup truck while cycling with a friend.<div type="image" title="A photo of Alyssa Mulligan at a cycling event wearing a helmet and sunglasses" height="720" width="960" msid="103968161" hostid="261"></div>Roadway deaths in the U.S. are mounting despite <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/ratings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">government test data</a> showing vehicles have been getting safer. While the number of all car-related fatalities has <a href="https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813266" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trended upward over the last decade</a>, pedestrians and cyclists have seen the sharpest rise: over 60% between 2011 and 2022.It coincides with a steep increase in sales of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/car-buying-tips-electric-vehicles-pricing-americans-pickups-trucks-suvs-2023-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans</a>, which accounted for 78% of new U.S. vehicle sales in 2022, according to Motorintelligence.com.Current U.S. ratings only consider the safety of the people inside the vehicle. The National Association of City Transportation Officials is leading an effort asking U.S. transportation officials to begin factoring the safety of those outside of vehicles into their 5-star safety ratings."We don't know exactly what's going on with the increase in pedestrian fatalities. It certainly seems like the increase in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trucks-are-getting-taller-heavier-and-more-dangerous-for-pedestrians-2023-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bigger vehicles</a> is contributing to it," said Jessica Cicchino, vice president of research at the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety."Many studies have shown that larger vehicles like SUVs and pickups are more likely to kill or seriously injure <a href="https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/new-study-suggests-todays-suvs-are-more-lethal-to-pedestrians-than-cars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pedestrians</a> and <a href="https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/higher-point-of-impact-makes-suv-crashes-more-dangerous-for-cyclists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cyclists</a> when they're involved in a crash," she said, noting that large vehicles are more likely to strike people in the head and vital organs, rather than the legs.The design of these vehicles can also pose visibility problems. An Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-lifestyle-a999444be4c3e913ce754367085a9ab2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crashes with pedestrians at intersections</a> found that the vehicles most likely to be involved in left-turn crashes were SUVs and pickups, suggesting "they might be having a harder time seeing some of those pedestrians," Cicchino said.Subaru, which has performed well in IIHS <a href="https://www.insider.com/study-us-pedestrian-deaths-hit-highest-number-since-1990-2019-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pedestrian crash</a> avoidance tests, considers visibility its first line of safety, according to spokesperson Todd Hill. But that has become more challenging as safety standards for rollovers have required vehicles to improve the strength of the pillars that support the roof."The smaller the glass you make, the more design flexibility you have ... but it really comes at the sacrifice of outward visibility," he said.While there has been less research on blind spots directly in front of passenger vehicles, Consumer Reports found in 2021 that high hoods <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/the-hidden-dangers-of-big-trucks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obstructed driver views of pedestrians</a>. Meanwhile, a <a href="https://www.volpe.dot.gov/featured-report/annual-accomplishments-january-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">January 2023 report from</a> the U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe Center determined "the increasingly large blind zones in SUVs and pickups have been associated with fatal 'frontover' crashes," where people are run over by slow-moving vehicles.The Volpe Center, which works to address the nation's most pressing transportation challenges, recently collaborated to produce a <a href="https://blindzonecalculator.herokuapp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">web application called VIEW</a>, which uses crowd-sourcing to create a database of vehicle blind zones. For example, the app shows that as many as eight elementary school children could stand shoulder-to-shoulder in front of a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado without being visible to the driver.The U.S. first began crash-testing cars in the 1970s, and it implemented the 5-star rating system in 1993. In 2006, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began requiring window labels on new vehicles to include those ratings.Thanks to vehicle improvements, seatbelt laws, and other changes, fatal crashes in the U.S. trended downward for decades, hitting a low of 29,867 in 2011. But that trend has reversed. Government estimates of fatal crashes in 2022 show a 43% increase to 42,795 — partially thanks to increases in speeding and drunk driving and decreases in seatbelt use. Fatal crashes also increased as a percent of total miles driven. Pedestrian and cyclist deaths increased by 64% since 2011, to an estimated 8,413 in 2022.NHTSA has proposed <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/five-star-safety-ratings-program-updates-proposed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new pedestrian crash avoidance tests</a>, but they would be voluntary and not part of the agency's 5-star rating system, said Billy Richling, a spokesperson at the National Association of City Transportation Officials, which is pushing to make pedestrian safety testing mandatory."A vehicle could fail the <a href="https://www.insider.com/pedestrian-fatalities-on-us-roads-hit-almost-30-year-high-2019-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pedestrian crash</a>-worthiness test and still receive five stars," he said.A voluntary evaluation isn't enough for Jessica Hart, whose 5-year-old daughter Allie was struck and killed in their Washington, D.C., neighborhood in 2021. Her petition on Change.org, which demands the NHTSA include a vehicle's risk of killing a pedestrian in its 5-star rating system, has collected more than 28,000 signatures.<div type="image" title="Jessica Hart sitting in Allie's bedroom holding up a photo of Allie." height="5438" width="7251" msid="103968237" hostid="261"></div>"She had just started kindergarten," Hart said of her daughter. "She was riding her bike in the crosswalk, a block from our house in the school zone. She was with her dad. And a Ford Transit van came up to the 4-way intersection, and didn't see her, and just proceeded through the stop sign, and hit and killed her."<div type="image" title="A photo of a stop sign and 5-year-old Allie Hart's tricycle and stuffed animals." height="5302" width="7070" msid="103968238" hostid="261"></div>John Capp, the director of vehicle safety technology, strategy and regulation at General Motors, stressed that there is not enough data about pedestrian traffic deaths to understand the causes. He also acknowledged there are tradeoffs in design and said safety emphasis in the past has been on the people inside of vehicles."Ultimately, there's less we can do when someone is hit outside a vehicle," he said. "That's why we're focused on pedestrian crash avoidance."Nearly all new GM vehicles come equipped with automatic emergency braking, and cameras are getting better at seeing pedestrians at night when the majority of those fatal crashes occur.That is in line with an NHTSA proposal that would require new cars and light trucks to have <a href="https://apnews.com/article/automatic-emergency-braking-requirement-lifesaving-ed2df3c5bdff17361ad7d93d942ff03b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">automatic emergency braking able to detect pedestrians</a>, including at night, within three years.Advances in that technology promise to help compensate for blind spots, but safety experts say it is only part of a solution that requires infrastructure changes, speed limit enforcement and even changes to vehicle design."You want to be getting it from all angles," Cicchino said. "You want to prevent the crashes from occurring, but when the crashes occur, you want them to be less dangerous."<div type="image" title="A sign on a post near Allie Hart's memorial that supports Families for Safe Streets." height="5760" width="7680" msid="103968239" hostid="261"></div>Hart is now an advocate with the Washington chapter of <a href="https://www.familiesforsafestreets.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Families for Safe Streets</a>, a nonprofit working to end fatal crashes.<div type="image" title="Jessica Hart holds up a photo of her daughter Allie." height="5760" width="7680" msid="103968240" hostid="261"></div>"I've been speaking out and advocating for safe streets, safer vehicles, alternatives to driving," Hart said, "simply because I just can't fathom that my daughter was killed — it's violent and it's traumatic — and that nothing would change."

Vehicle-related deaths are rising even though cars are built safer than ever. The popularity of larger vehicles may be to blame.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk wanted Tesla to reduce its workforce by one-fifth, Bloomberg reported.</li><li>Musk wanted the layoffs to match the drop in quarterly vehicle deliveries. </li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla">Tesla</a> CEO <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-ceo-elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> at one point wanted the EV giant to trim its workforce by 20%, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-04-21/tesla-tsla-cybertruck-recall-is-latest-setback-to-stock-s-rough-2024">Bloomberg</a> reported on Sunday, citing a person familiar with the matter.The reduction, Musk reasoned, should match the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-sales-deliveries-q1-elon-musk-disappoint-fsd-2024-4">reduction in vehicle deliveries between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024</a>, per Bloomberg.Earlier this month, Tesla said it <a target="_blank" href="https://ir.tesla.com/tesla-vehicle-production-deliveries-and-date-financial-results-webcast-first-quarter-2024">delivered 386,810 cars</a> in the first quarter of 2024, a 20.1% drop from the previous quarter. The delivery drop was the company's lowest quarterly performance since 2022.Musk had announced a round of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-layoffs-job-cuts-2024-2">mass layoffs</a> at Tesla last week. In his <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-sent-tesla-employees-email-announcing-layoffs-read-memo-2024-4">memo</a> to staff, the billionaire said the company is slashing "more than 10%" of its head count."Over the years, we have grown rapidly with multiple factories scaling around the globe," Musk wrote. "With this rapid growth, there has been duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas."Before the layoffs, Tesla said it employed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/000162828024002390/tsla-20231231.htm">more than 140,000 people</a> globally.Besides <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-avoid-ev-sales-slowdown-china-byd-2024-1">declining sales</a>, the company has grappled with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-q4-sales-less-than-china-byd-2024-1">increased competition from Chinese car companies</a> like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-chinese-automaker-byd-rose-to-challenge-tesla-2024-4">BYD</a>. Back in January, Musk had told investors in an earnings call that Chinese automakers "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-warns-chinese-ev-firms-could-demolish-rivals-2024-1">are the most competitive car companies in the world</a>."Tesla's growing troubles have raised questions about Musk's ability to run multiple businesses simultaneously. Besides leading Tesla, Musk also has his hands full with other ventures like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex">SpaceX</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-the-boring-company">The Boring Company</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neuralink">Neuralink</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter">X</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-investment-generative-ai-project-2023-4">xAI</a>.But, Musk has maintained that the layoffs were necessary to keep Tesla "lean innovative, and hungry for the next growth phase cycle," per his memo to staff last week."There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done," he wrote.Representatives for Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

Elon Musk wanted Tesla to slash its headcount by 20% because its quarterly vehicle deliveries fell by that much, Bloomberg source says

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11897862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk" source="Orion">Elon Musk</keyword> has sold close to $9 billion of <keyword id="11900744" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tesla" source="Orion">Tesla</keyword> stock in the past two weeks.</li><li>The Tesla CEO is only halfway towards satisfying his Twitter pledge to sell 10% of his stake.</li></ul>Elon Musk has cashed in nearly $9 billion worth of <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a> stock in the past two weeks, but he's still only halfway toward fulfilling his pledge to sell 10% of his stock.The Tesla CEO sold 8.2 million shares in total, generating $8.8 billion in proceeds, <a href="https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=1318605&amp;owner=exclude">Securities and Exchange Commission filings show</a>. The sales have precipitated a 7% drop in the automaker's stock price, erasing roughly $84 billion from its market capitalization.Despite its recent slump, Tesla stock is still up 56% this year, and has skyrocketed by more than 1,300% since the start of last year. Musk still owns 164 million shares, giving him a 17% stake in the electric-vehicle company.There are several theories around why Musk is on a selling spree. For example, the Tesla chief <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-stock-sale-options-twitter-poll-2021-11?utm_medium=ingest&amp;r=US&amp;IR=T">noted last year</a> that he would need to sell shares to cover the cost of exercising <keyword id="12485716" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="stock-options" source="Orion">stock options</keyword> that expire next year.Musk has also come under fire for <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/propublica-jesse-eisinger-explains-jeff-bezos-elon-musk-avoid-taxes-2021-6">paying virtually no income tax</a>, and has clashed with lawmakers pushing for a "billionaire tax" that would hit the ultra-wealthy's unrealized gains. He cited that conflict when he <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-poll-taxes-10-percent-2021-11?utm_medium=ingest&amp;r=US&amp;IR=T">launched a Twitter poll</a> two weekends ago to ask whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stake. However, it soon emerged that Musk had already established a trading plan to sell stock, calling the point of the whole spectacle into question.Meanwhile, Michael Burry of "The Big Short" fame highlighted that Musk had taken out personal loans against 88 million of his shares at the end of June, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-short-michael-burry-elon-musk-tesla-stock-market-bubble-2021-11?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest">asserted</a> that the Tesla chief might be raising cash to service his debts.In another tweet, Burry noted that Musk described Tesla's stock price as "too high" in May 2020, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-short-michael-burry-elon-musk-tesla-stock-sales-crypto-2021-11">suggested</a> Musk might simply be selling because he knows the company is massively overvalued.Musk was apparently irked by the comment, or perhaps Burry's repeated warnings that Tesla stock is a bubble about to burst, as he <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-michael-burry-tesla-twitter-spat-the-big-short-2021-11">dismissed</a> the investor as a "broken clock" on Twitter.The Tesla chief needs to sell close to 9 million more shares to satisfy his 10% commitment. At the current rate of selling, his disposals are set to continue for a couple more weeks at least.

Elon Musk has sold nearly $9 billion worth of Tesla stock in 2 weeks — but he's only halfway toward selling 10% of his stake

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The federal tax credit for <keyword id="6358835" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="electric-cars" source="Orion">electric cars</keyword> has been around for more than a decade.</li><li>You can get $7,500 back at tax time if you buy a new electric vehicle - but not a Tesla or a Chevy.</li></ul>A lot of things need to happen for green electric cars to take over roads from their fuel-drinking counterparts. One method that may help: making them <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-cheap-affordable-evs-electric-vehicles-tesla-nissan-ford-mustang-2021-2">cheaper</a>. The US is trying to make <keyword id="11897958" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="electric-vehicles" source="Orion">electric vehicles</keyword> more attainable through a tax credit that can knock the out-of-pocket cost of an EV down thousands of dollars. But how does it work? Here's what you need to know:<h2>What is the federal EV tax credit?</h2>The federal government launched the program amid the Great Recession to decrease the effective cost of clean vehicles by up to $7,500. The idea was to boost sales of electric cars and help carmakers scale up manufacturing. <h2>Which models are eligible?</h2>The credit applies to fully electric cars along with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/analysis-plug-in-hybrid-cars-are-the-real-ev-solution-2020-10">plug-in hybrid EVs</a> (PHEVs), which differ from normal hybrids in that they have bigger batteries that you replenish by hooking up to a charger. PHEVs can travel some distance using electricity alone, while other hybrids can't.The US Department of Energy keeps a <a href="https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxevb.shtml">running list</a> of eligible models on its website. The credit only applies to the first 200,000 plug-in vehicles each manufacturer sells in the US, so both Tesla and General Motors are out of the picture. Nissan, Toyota, and Ford will probably be next to cross the 200,000-EV threshold. <h2>How much can I get back?</h2>It depends. A BMW i3, for example, qualifies for a tax credit of $7,500. A Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid gets you $4,502. Why the difference? The IRS calculates the credit based on the size of a vehicle's battery pack. That's why fully electric vehicles are generally eligible for the maximum $7,500 sum, while hybrids often qualify for less. <h2>How do I claim it?</h2>The year after buying a new EV, fill out and submit <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8936.pdf">IRS form 8936</a> along with your tax return. <h2>What's the catch?</h2>The credit isn't exactly free money for those who go electric. It's applied as a discount to one's federal income taxes, so its ultimate value hinges on the amount a person owes the government. Say you purchase a $40,000 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/volkswagen-id4-price-specs-electric-tesla-model-y-us-competitor-2020-9">Volkswagen ID.4</a>, an electric crossover eligible for the entire $7,500 credit. If your total tax liability for that year only adds up to $5,000, you can only redeem $5,000 worth of the credit. If your high-earning neighbor also buys an ID.4 but owes $20,000 in taxes, they will get the full $7,500 subtracted from their bill. If you don't owe enough to redeem the full amount, the IRS won't cut you a check for the difference, nor will it roll the remainder over to the following year. <h2>Will this change anytime soon?</h2>Maybe. Joe Biden has floated introducing a point-of-sale rebate for <keyword id="11947664" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="evs" source="Orion">EVs</keyword>, meaning buyers would get an up-front discount rather than a tax-time credit. Some Democratic lawmakers want to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-tax-credit-bill-biden-tesla-gm-2021-5">increase the credit</a> and eliminate the 200,000-unit rule, which would bring Tesla and GM's popular vehicles back into play. There's also been talk of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/08/11/electric-vehicle-incentives-infrastructure/">creating price and income caps</a>. As it stands now, a surgeon who buys a $160,000 Bentley Bentayga Hybrid gets the same credit as a teacher who picks up a $27,400 Nissan Leaf. Biden has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-snub-shows-biden-loves-unions-more-than-fast-cars-2021-8">talked a big game</a> about aggressively pushing the US toward an electric future. So there's reason to believe he will work to make the EV tax credit more effective and equitable. In 2020, a decade after the policy was launched, plug-ins made up <a href="https://www.bcg.com/publications/2021/why-evs-need-to-accelerate-their-market-penetration">just 2.2%</a> of light vehicle sales in the US, so the White House may have no choice.

How the federal EV tax credit can save you $7,500 on a new plug-in vehicle

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Most automakers sell cars with a traditional franchise model, while Tesla sells direct-to-consumer.</li><li>Some companies have hinted at the idea of shifting their dealer involvement in future EV sales.</li></ul>Auto executives still don't think the Tesla sales model will catch on — despite some pretty substantial shifts in the auto retail space already taking place.More than one-third of executives in the car business don't believe an agency model (or direct-to-consumer sales like Tesla does) will find its way to US car buying, according to a <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230807669740/en/Majority-of-Automakers-Expect-New-Vehicle-Gross-Margins-to-Remain-Above-Pre-Covid-Levels-Though-Dealership-Profits-Are-Projected-to-Decline">Kerrigan Advisors study released earlier this week</a>. About 43% were unsure about the new way of doing things materializing, and only 22% were optimistic it could happen. The dealer consultancy surveyed more than 115 car company executives between December 2022 and May 2023Tesla has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-address-tesla-direct-sales-2014-3">always operated with a direct-to-consumer model</a>, eliminating the need for a middleman — in this business, dealers — and allowing customers to buy vehicles directly from its site with no room for haggling on the price. Buyers can pick up their Teslas at a Tesla showroom (notably not a formal dealership), but transactions aren't typically done there. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-vehicle-startups-direct-sales-rivian-lucid-tesla-revenue-2022-11">Other EV startups have followed suit</a>.Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-electric-vehicle-startups-lack-critical-tool-to-compete-traditional-automakers-2023-2">traditional automakers have primarily leaned on dealers</a> to work with car buyers, serve as a negotiator over <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/car-dealers-reveal-industry-secrets-buying-tips-tiktok-2023-3">price and terms</a>, and be a stable source for vehicle service. This also helps companies mark a car as "delivered" and collect payment as soon as it hits a dealer lot but potentially before it's in a customer's hands. Some car companies have hinted at experimenting more with an agency model, limiting the role of dealers and giving consumers what they say is a more straightforward buying experience, especially with more uptake of electric vehicles.<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/bmw-plans-direct-sales-its-cars-cfo-tells-newspaper-2022-11-03/">BMW's CFO, for example, told Reuters last fall</a> the company wants to give customers a direct ordering option. <a href="https://www.kbb.com/car-news/ford-ceo-wants-future-of-online-sales-fixed-car-prices/"></a>During the company's late-July earnings call, <a href="https://www.kbb.com/car-news/ford-ceo-wants-future-of-online-sales-fixed-car-prices/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ford CEO Jim Farley</a> said Ford's EV business (coined Model e) has already moved to "a differentiated model that will deliver non-negotiated price, a simple shopping and ownership experience and remote services." <h2>Automaker demands put some dealers on the chopping block</h2>But it's been a huge debate in the industry as auto dealers are a strong lobbying force, so much so that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-law-bans-direct-to-consumer-car-sales-tesla-exception-2023-6">banned direct-to-consumer car sales in the state</a>, with the exception of Tesla and EV startups that never had franchised dealers. As is, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lucid-texas-lawsuit-ev-market-dealership-sales-store-2022-11">EV startups have had to battle franchise laws in each state</a> in which they want to set up shop.As automakers spend billions of dollars to electrify in the coming years — and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-ev-production-slow-thanks-to-tesla-price-war-2023-7">lose billions while adoption is still ramping up</a> — they're asking dealers to make substantial investments in their stores. Kerrigan experts have suggested <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/03/how-ford-gm-auto-dealers-are-thinking-about-detroits-ev-future.html">this might be one way auto manufacturers are attempting to push out</a> their dealerships amid the EV transition. Yet, these auto companies also want their dealers around in some capacity to service all the EVs they're hoping to get on the roads in the coming years.<h2>Auto retail has no choice but to change, but the question remains: To what extent</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/car-dealerships-shopping-inventory-prices-incentives-2023-1" rel="">That's all to say that car-buying just isn't what it used to be</a>, and the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/car-buying-shopping-tips-dealers-inventory-pricing-interest-rates-pandemic-2023-3" rel="">modern car-shopping experience</a> has shifted quite a bit. It's also clear that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-cars-killing-car-dealership-as-we-know-it-2023-1">EVs are changing the auto dealership as we know it</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/car-dealers-face-identity-crisis-tesla-threat-2023-3">Tesla is, in fact, influencing the industry to transform</a>.But auto retail tech firm <a href="https://cms.cdkglobal.com/sites/default/files/2023-05/CDK_Global_Trendsetters_2023W.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDK Global found that while 46% of dealers felt unprepared to handle a shift to direct-to-consumer this year</a> (up from 19% feeling unprepared in 2022), only 10% are actually concerned automakers will attempt to make the switch (fewer than the 12% that were concerned last year). <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-shopping-experience-big-advantage-adam-jonas-2023-6">Many customers are interested in the "Teslafied" way of doing things</a>, but others will always need a brick-and-mortar store."There are ways to get consumers the feeling of more buying online and the direct-to-consumer type of experience" without full commitment to the agency model, Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights at Edmunds, said. But, "It does feel like the balance hasn't quite been found yet."Meanwhile, the percent of car-buyers who order their vehicles entirely online still remains very low, according to CDK. "Because of the supply problems that have happened for three or so years, people got really used to ordering from a factory and ordering in-transit — but they did it at the dealership," Dave Thomas, CDK director of content marketing, told Insider.EVs were "going to be the catalyst to jumpstart an agency-type environment," he added, but the need for in-person EV education has kept buyers coming back in-person, at least for now.

You Searched For "personal vehicles sale" and got 9 results

Considering an electric vehicle? Experts explain how to pick one for your lifestyle and budget

Nora Naughton,Tim Levin

Elon Musk just set Wall Street up for one of his classic head fakes

Linette Lopez

Hybrid sales are booming — here's why drivers are buying them over EVs

Tom Carter

Cybertruck owner says he's stuck with a vehicle that's too big for his parking spot, and Tesla won't let him return or resell it

Ana Altchek

Vehicle-related deaths are rising even though cars are built safer than ever. The popularity of larger vehicles may be to blame.

Associated Press

Elon Musk wanted Tesla to slash its headcount by 20% because its quarterly vehicle deliveries fell by that much, Bloomberg source says

Kwan Wei Kevin Tan

Elon Musk has sold nearly $9 billion worth of Tesla stock in 2 weeks — but he's only halfway toward selling 10% of his stake

Theron Mohamed

How the federal EV tax credit can save you $7,500 on a new plug-in vehicle

Tim Levin

Auto execs still don't think the Tesla sales model will catch on

Alexa St. John

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides