There’s nothing saying he didn’t overpay in the first place either!

A rational smart financial decision made from individuals who choose to buy a Tesla Truck? Oh, thou doth jest.

The owner is figuring out what everyone else knew: the swastitruck isn’t worth half of the money Melon is asking for it.

Having seen how expensive a cheap car can really be (that’s all my mom could afford as a kid, and did that come back to bite her regularly), I won’t go lower than CPO when doing a purchase. I bought used without a CPO exactly once, and I was very glad it got totaled before I had to put a bunch of money into it (and that insurance said it was worth more than I owed so I got a decent down payment on the next one).

This piece of shit costs $200k???

Gap insurance anyone?

Im not sure how they paid that much. I didn’t think even the cyber beast was that expensive.

Read the article, he paid a broker $50k to buy one of the first ones. $150k is still crazy.

Breaks out world’s tiniest violin…

It’s a little more complicated than that. They also factor in salvage value, and what it’d be worth after repair. Basically, whatever is cheaper for them. I’m guessing the battery and motors are quite valuable as salvage parts, and the value of a repaired CT is substantially lower.

For instance- my 2017 2 door coupe, and my partners 2019 small SUV were both crushed in hurricane Helene. Adjusters stopped adding repair costs at $12k for my coupe, which they paid me $32k for. Her SUV was basically the same story- $11k in damage was enough to total it, and they paid her $24k.

I feel like I have to address the airbag situation. Airbags don’t deploy upon impact (at least not directly), but rather upon any significant deceleration. Anytime the vehicle decelerates enough that your body is thrown forward with force is when an [front] airbag would deploy. You know the thing where your seatbelt locks up as you’re braking? Same principle, but a higher threshold.

So the father back up your point, I cannot see how an e-scooter, sideswiping or even being hit head-on, could cause enough deceleration that would deploy the airbags.

Then again, it’s the cyber truck, so from a “safety” perspective who knows.

I was imagining the side airbags deploying if it was a sideswipe.

I always assumed the motors and batteries are paired with the cars the same way iPhone screens and batteries are, making them valueless for scrap unless you’re Tesla and can put in the right code…

I dunno how likely it is to find a peer-reviewed article about this. It’s not like “cybertruck owner made horribly bad financial decision” is breaking news, it’s just the status quo.

The inverters and hvjb could implement those features but you can’t really DRM copper windings and nickel cell casings

A different set of forces would activate those to be sure. I know rollover forces deploy side airbags.

Again, it’s a cybertruck, so its poor craftsmanship is probably enough to blame.

I’m not sure you could total my S10 with a scooter.

No, he paid $200,000 for that piece of shit. Right now a new one should be about $70k, which is still $70k for a turd floating in a punch bowl, but is also $130,000 less than what he paid.

You don’t need GAP insurance if you just buy a vehicle you can afford in the first place.

I like the moneyguy 20/3/8 rule. 20% down in cash, no more than 3 years on the loan, no more than 8% of gross monthly income as your monthly payment.

Also the title could be misleading, was a scooter in the lane and he just crushed it against a wall or second lane of traffic? Maybe scooter crushed under the frame punctured battery pack?. A lot off driver vs cyclist collisions often get headlines like Cyclist hits car. When the reality is driver pulled into path of cyclist. Or Driver actually directly hit cyclist by not giving proper lane clearance.

Oh no! Anyways.