Stop Being So Fucking Irresponsible

Today’s free lesson in life is brought to you by the latest outrage surrounding the cancelation of Cap and Trade (C&T) and how the government is unfairly targeting Tesla purchasers.

Yeah, that’s right. People wanting to buy a $64,000 car are complaining that now they can’t afford it, which means they could afford at least a $50,000 car which could get you any Audi model below the A6 lineup (Q5, A4, A5) and from memory, most of the Cadillac lineup, anything below the Mercedes C-Class lineup, or any fully loaded mid-range car like the fantastically new near-luxury Mazda6, or any Acura or…the list goes on and on.

The PC party has been clear since at least February of this year and sure enough, when they were voted in, they canceled Cap and Trade.

In Ontario, anyone buying a PHEV (Plug-in Electric Vehicle) or BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) could get up to $14,000 off the price of a car. Typical PHEVs would get $7800 off, BEVs could get $14,000 off, depending on the size of the battery.

Thanks to Doug Ford promising beer in corner stores and dropping gas prices by $0.10 (BTW, anyone notice since his election gas prices have crept up almost $0.10 already?) we the people decided that was better than the long-term progression of our society in Ontario.

Anyway, as he promised, he canceled C&T with these stipulations:

• Telsa purchasers only get the rebate if the car was plated by July 11 since customers order directly from them, and not from dealers. I assume this is because some dealers handle the rebate directly, like ours did when we bought our PHEV last year. It seems unfair, but there’s a reason underneath it…go find it.
• Cars on dealer lots before July 11 will still qualify provided they are registered, and delivered before September 10.

I made the mistake of replying to a thread on Facebook where someone posted the article about someone who “wanted to do the best thing for the environment and his daughter” by buying a $64,000 Tesla. The poster shared the article with a “oh, poor them…they can’t get a $55, 000 car…” and hilarity has ensued while rational people try to explain that if you rolled the dice banking on a rebate to afford an expensive car when you knew it would be canceled, you’re an idiot, and emotional people complained that it’s not fair…and everything in between. Actually, one person in that thread said “oh well, live and learn…I ordered mine, can’t get the rebate so I’ll just suck it up”

At least ONE person on the early is being responsible…

The main argument from people CBC talked to are:

1. Biff isn’t sure he can afford the car now. Doing the math, paying the extra $14,000 equates to an extra $185 extra per month over a 96-month loan according to Tesla’s online builder. If your budget is such that this is a huge issue, well, let’s just say you couldn’t have afforded the car in the first place. Plus, the gas-savings eats that difference pretty quickly.
2. The world is going green, I wanted to be part of change. You still are and $14,000 is the price of being an early adopter. 2 or 3 years from now you’ll be able to get a more reasonably priced EV, but of course charging infrastructure will cost more as more people adopt so all the free charging stations that are mostly vacated today will change.

Today’s Life Lesson — STOP BEING SO FUCKING IRRESPONSIBLE

First I will yell at you. Later I will show you options.

1. If you can afford a $50,000 car, things are going pretty well for you.
2. Specific to this topic, since everyone knew C&T was going to be canceled as early as February of this year and they rolled the dice to try and beat the cancelation of the rebate…and lost…grow up and take responsible for YOUR CHOICE to gamble.
3. To those complaining it’s not fair because you wanted to save the world by buying an electric car, these were your other pre-rebate options: Hyundai Ioniq ($35K), Chevy Bolt ($42K), VW eGolf ($35K), Nissan Leaf ($32K), BMW i3 ($48K), Kia Soul ($34K), or the lot of PHEVs that cover most people’s commute time in EV-only power. As of today, we do 92% of our driving on EV-only power with our C-Max Energi.
4. Also, the planet will be fine…the people on the other hand…
5. To those complaining the government is being unfair: Grow up, life isn’t fair.
6. Don’t spend money you don’t have.
7. Make important decisions like this based on what you can control.
8. Finally, just say YOU WANTED A TESLA BECAUSE THEY’RE AWESOME!! That’s the real reason and you shouldn’t feel bad about wanting something….just stop playing the “it’s not fair…” card as a result of YOU wanting something.

Some Advice for Being Responsible

Ok, so you’re probably mad if you’re one of the people screwed over by the PC government with respect to C&T. But again, once the emotional shock wears off, your brain will takeover and you’ll realize you have more options than you thought:

1. Cancel your Tesla order and suck up the $3500 non-refundable deposit. That is, assuming your recently ordered it. Anyone who paid a $1000 deposit before Tesla changed the policy can get their deposit back.
2. Change your Tesla order to wait for the $46K version.
3. Cancel your order, eat the $3500, and if you really wanted to save the planet by buying an EV, get a used Leaf…you could buy 7 of them for the price of a Model 3.
4. Cancel your order, eat the $3500, and if you were buying a EV to save on gas, buy 14 Ford Fiestas. It’s still cheaper in the long run. (BTW, we’ve saved about $2,000 on gas since we bought our PHEV and with the rebate, Ford employee pricing, and Costco discount, we saved $12,000 on the car.)
5. Cancel your order, eat the $3500 and find a new EV via Autotrader. As of yesterday there are 45+ Bolts, 48 BMW i3’s, 55+ Leafs in stock across Canada. Go look. Call dealers and find them.
6. Tweet Elon Musk about how you’ve been treated unfairly and maybe he’ll change the non-refundable deposit policy. He’s done crazier things.
7. Get every Ontarian who ordered a Tesla and lobby the government. Change happens when enough people force action…not by whining about being treated un-farily for wanting to buy a $64K car so you can save the planet.
8. Accept the order, and suck up the extra cost by skipping eating out and getting $9 latte’s from Starbucks for a couple of years.
9. Accept the order, and sell it…there is still HUGE demand for the model 3 so it’s likely you’d be able to sell it for close to sticker price…although eating the $3500 deposit is probably better.
10. Accept the order, and ask for a $14,000 a year raise.
11. Accept the order, and sell $14,000 of crap lying around your house that you don’t need.
12. Accept the order and suck up the cost because it’s a freaking Tesla!!! (side note: we were really close to rolling the dice on the C&T thingy and decided it wasn’t worth the risk)
13. Write down all options you have on sticky notes, put them on a wall and rank them based on what’s important to you. Is it saving $$ on the car? Saving $$ on gas? Saving the planet? Combination of all 3? The point is, you have more options than you think…let the emotional shock wear off and then the thinking part of your brain will come back online.

We live in a world of disposable outrage. Everything is someone else’s fault nowadays. We chastise millennials for being spoiled and entitled, yet WE created the mess and WE are WAAAY worse! Ever watch how supposed grown-ups behave in public?

Accept the decisions you make. Take action when you feel you’ve been wronged. Most importantly, look at YOU first. What led to this decision? What part of the decision is my fault? What other factors contributed to me making this bad decision? What can I do now? Cope with the problem? Solve it? Manage it?

Read The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin. In an age where our brains are constantly bombarded with more and more complex decisions, the best we can do is wait for the emotional shock and awe to wear off so our rational, thinking part of the brain can take over.

Finally, if you’re one of the Tesla people who got screwed by the PC government…rejoice in the fact you have a AMAZING car!! Enjoy it!!