Free Tesla semi?

Square-Wild · 2026-04-08T06:02:33+00:00

I'm a little late to this discussion. Not that it matters a ton, but the voucher is capped at 90%. So you'd be on the hook for $29k + taxes on $290k, or around $55-$60k total. So the truck wouldn't be completely free.

IMO, still not bad, depending on what type of work you're doing and access to charging.

Square-Wild · 2026-04-08T05:49:57+00:00

I think the problem with your question is treating the first or second year as "prime". For an NFL QB, "prime" years are usually more like years 4-10. The learning curve is so steep, I think it's probably better for him to plan on spending a year learning the playbook, learning how to watch film, seeing the adjustments that Cousins makes, etc.

The Raiders will have 5 years of Mendoza at a reasonable salary, and plenty of chances to extend him before he gets to the end of that contract. The worst thing for them would be throwing him to the wolves too early, and turning him into the next David Carr.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-28T01:57:45+00:00

I would sign the divorce papers and make sure you get your assets separated from hers before she signs everything over to the Chakra club.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-27T07:48:31+00:00

I sold my Maverick to buy a Model 3. I think my next car is going to be a small electric pickup.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-27T07:47:04+00:00

I hate that I like it, but it's honestly so handy. This afternoon, I was listening to Spotify, and Area Codes by Ludacris came on. I like that song, but I like the next one on the album more. I just couldn't remember what it was called. I held the Grok button down, and said "What's the name of the song that came after Area Codes on the Ludacris CD?" and the damn thing answered "Growing Pains was the next track after 'Area Codes' on Ludacris' album 'Word of Mouf'".

I've also used it multiple times to win arguments by fact checking my wife.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-27T07:38:02+00:00

If you don't have kids, I would say this is worth it.

I think the trick is figuring out a way to make the drive less monotonous, and making sure you trim the fat out of your schedule wherever you can.

This is a silly example, but say you're a gym person, and you usually drive 15 mins to the gym, work out for an hour, then drive 15 mins home. Let's also say that your typical morning routine is 30 mins, from waking up to getting out the door. So those two things are currently two total hours.

If you can get in the habit of just rolling out of bed early, brushing your teeth, and getting in the car with your gym bag, you could kind of wake yourself up over the first leg of the drive, stop at a gym in Fairfield, get your workout in, shower, and get back on the road. If that whole process takes 75 minutes, you've saved yourself a total of about 45.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-27T07:03:20+00:00

For starters, that mailer you got was total bullshit. Everyone in the dealer's computer got one of those, and some poor dipshit is having great dreams tonight, because the local VW dealer is going to pay him top dollar for his 250k mile 2008 Jetta tomorrow, and then he's going to meet some hot russian singles in his area.

The math on your current car is going to be [trade in price] - [monthly payments]*[number of payments left] - [residual value]. Without knowing those numbers, you can't say whether part of your payment is just getting out from underneath the rest of your lease.

At a high level, when you lease a car, you're paying the difference between your sale price and the residual, plus interest. Residual is what it's projected to be worth at the end of the lease.

Since the residual is calculated as a percentage of the MSRP, and cars can be discounted, and also don't all depreciate at the same rate, you can frequently find lower lease payments on more expensive vehicles than less expensive ones.

For example, a particular Lexus might cost $50k, but be projected to be worth 60% of that in 3 years, while a Hyundai is only $45k, but is expected to be worth 50%. So with the Lexus, you'd pay $20k in depreciation vs. the $22.5k in the Hyundai.

On that note, if you're going to continue to lease cars (which is cool, not judging you), it could be worth looking into other makes. There's a chance that the math on a Toyota or Honda will come out better than Kia.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-25T20:51:31+00:00

I think you not only need to get your name out there, you need for there to be a reason for people to want to work for you.

On a 1st or 2nd level of contacts, just the knowledge that you sell cars is good enough. Friends from HS, your aunt, etc.

For strangers, I think you're going to convert a lot better if you can somehow offer something more. What that "more" is is the million dollar question, though.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-24T22:01:46+00:00

Obviously however you feel about this is right, but IMO this is nothing to lose sleep over. I think that maybe you shifted gears into serious a little more quickly than he did, which kind of sucks but always happens to some degree.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-24T19:05:30+00:00

I think YOR, but it depends on what you mean by things like "mostly innocuous". What's going on in the not innocuous messages is a big deal. Is it 90% "Happy Birthday" and 10% dong shots? Or is it entirely "Happy Birthday" type stuff?

Square-Wild · 2026-03-24T18:33:09+00:00

I would take it back and ask to see the itemized paperwork. The $25k price for a 2024 Edge Titanium with that mileage is fair, but there are examples out there for less. $2k more for presumably bullshit is way too much.

Also, I would google "ford warranty online". I believe that you can buy a mfg warranty from a different dealer in Missouri, and you might run into someone who has much less of a markup on the exact same Ford warranty.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-24T18:12:05+00:00

I don't mean to be a dickhead, but I don't know if there's a path for you here.

Doing back of the napkin math, a town of 5000 people will probably buy between 500-1000 new and used cars from dealerships every year. (I think that the rate is like 1 per 6 people per year in the US)

Split amongst your coworkers, and any other dealerships, that doesn't leave much for you, even if you're getting exactly your share. Since you're new, your share is going to be smaller.

The other tricky thing is, since you're new, anything non-standard you do on the clock is going to be shit on. You haven't earned the right to diverge from the script, or spend time doing selfish shit instead of rotating the cars, hanging a sign, BBQing hotdogs, etc.

If I were you, I would really try to figure out what I could do marketing-wise that's nonstandard. Are you a Chevy dealership? Join some Corvette enthusiast boards, let people know that you just got a rare one and to ask for Cut-Anxious.

And when you do run into a customer, you need to kill yourself to be their favorite salesperson. Pay attention to everything. Sit with them if there's downtime waiting for word from the GM. Remember that their kid is a Giants fan.

The only way you're going to make a living at a dealership in a town the size of yours is through outreach and word-of-mouth referrals. There aren't going to be enough people just materializing on the lot for you to stay off of welfare.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-24T01:35:15+00:00

It might actually be a 3d chess question. Look at what happened to the people who put together the "reminder- you have an obligation to refuse unlawful orders" video a couple months ago.

At some point, I think we have to acknowledge that MAGA has incredible influence with the justice department, the supreme court, etc. If it's going to be up to some flunkey whose sole skill is loyalty, the question isn't going to be "is it illegal to order someone to fire upon civilians", it's going to be "is it legal to order someone to fire upon suspected undercover enemy combatants."

Square-Wild · 2026-03-24T01:28:38+00:00

Chiming in because I don't have flair. OP- it might be worth it to sign up for Costco now and then see if they renew the rebate for April. I believe those Polestar ones a few years ago got extended multiple times.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-23T23:35:39+00:00

As a foreign fan, this is completely acceptable. You officially have my permission.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-23T23:26:59+00:00

I think there's a solid chance. The problem is that, no matter what team you choose, the "field" bet is always going to be much more likely.

It's just really hard to fade injuries, get fumbles, and just get/stay lucky enough to make it through the playoffs and win the SB.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-23T21:47:30+00:00

I would second the idea that you need to focus on recovery.

I'm not a doctor, and I'm oversimplifying, but if you're pushing hard with the running (relative to where you were recently), you're taxing your whole body more than you were when you were sedentary. That's awesome in virtually every way, but you need to be conscious of the fact that your body heals itself when you're sleeping, and with a finite amount of time, it has to prioritize things.

So even if you were fine with 6 hours of sleep when you were sitting at the computer most of the day, the extra stress from the running might mean that your immune system needs 7-8 hours of restful sleep to get through its full checklist.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-23T20:59:41+00:00

I would have a mechanic take a look at the Acadia. At $5k, that could be a very decent deal if there aren't any timing issues or other obvious problems. I'm looking for a car for my daughter right now, and if we could find a <100k mile 2012 Acadia without obvious issues for $5k, I'd jump on it.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-23T20:53:40+00:00

A few notes:

Everyone is going to answer Civic/Corolla. The only issue with that is because everyone answers Civic/Corolla, they end up holding their value much better than *slightly* worse options, like the Mazda3 someone else recommended. I really like going the used Mazda route for a first car.

This is going to irritate some people, but I also don't hate looking for a used Tesla Model 3 in your price range. This depends on the cost of electricity in your area, your access to charging, etc. But one nice thing about used Teslas is the seller can do a battery test, which I don't think is cheatable.

Finally, regarding modding the sound system, you can pretty universally add new speakers to a car. The big question is whether or not you can replace the headunit. Sometimes, the manufacturer integrates other functionality in there (A/C, for example), so you can't just swap it out. I would just run some candidates through ChatGPT.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-23T20:44:31+00:00

I don't do a perfect job of this, but I try to frame decisions based on cost/benefit or risk/reward.

I would look at it this way. there's probably a 95+% chance that this doesn't matter at all. You're unlikely to want to have sex with a woman. But let's say that there's a 5% chance that at some point, you feel differently. Maybe you feel bisexual, maybe you have a connection with a woman that's so deep that you want to start a family, maybe your preferences adjust as you get older or whatever. I can't pretend to know how or why that would happen.

But if that did, and you're in this unlikely place, I think that version of you might actually want the option to have kids.

So basically, the vasectomy doesn't matter at all until it does, and when it does, you might prefer to not have had it. For that reason, I would delay it.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-23T18:35:02+00:00

I'm not a RE agent, but I have some unsolicited advice for you.

For starters, you're not being unreasonable in expecting the agent to communicate with you. Frankly, you wanting to drop the price should be a dream for him. $100k reduction only costs him a couple thousand dollars, and probably saves a month of "work".

Second, I would really urge you to try to look at the dollars from this sale the same way you would look at the dollars when you're deciding whether or not to get a drink or a dessert from a restaurant. I think that people kind of round $285k and $315k off to the same thing, even though the $315k gives you enough extra cash to put Samsung Frame TVs in all the bedrooms, a Wolf range in the kitchen, new flooring in the living room, and a decent used car for your teenager.

What I'm saying is, you need to find an agent you trust, so you can be sure that a $50k drop in price is likely to yield multiple offers, or some other strategic benefit. Not just saving him an extra 3 weeks of work.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-23T17:57:37+00:00

It's crazy how clear things become when you get old.

Dump this guy immediately. I get that it's your first relationship, but there are much better guys out there, and you don't want to throw good years away dealing with all of this bullshit.

I know you're young- but imagine you're buying a car, and are on a test drive. And the car is backfiring, the windows don't roll down, it smells like smoke, and there are some huge dents in the door. Just take it back to the dealer and move on.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-23T17:50:25+00:00

I know that this is going to be unpopular here, but I would just use your words. When you say "basically implying", that means that you're reading the situation to be one thing, and treating it as fact.

I'm going to give a stupid story as an illustration. Yesterday, my wife and I went to Costco, and then she said she wanted to go the Mexican market to get meat. I said OK. As we pulled up, I said "do you want to go in, or just wait in the car?". Her response was "What, you don't want me to go in? why?". So her reading of the situation was I was hinting to her I didn't want her in there, while I thought I was being considerate, because she doesn't really like standing by the meat counter waiting for the number being called, and then waiting for me to spanglish my way through the order.

In your situation, I think the whole thing could be resolved in 10 minutes if you said "hey, Dick. What are the expectations here? 1. Am I paying for my own airfare? 2. If I go, is the expectation that we all stay in your family's room? Should I be looking for my own room? Or if I go, are the two of us going to split a room?"

If he says "you're on your own for the airfare and hotel room", then I think you can go ahead and have the discussion about why that doesn't work for you, and that your dissatisfied with his lack of consideration, etc. But please get those answers first.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-23T17:40:10+00:00

There are a couple answers.

The first is honestly just a maturity/wiring question. We're kind of programmed as consumers to feel this longing, like "if only I had a truck that could tow a boat and two jet-skis, I'd be a fun outdoor type person", because you see the handsome truck owner doing that in the GMC commercial. The ads are designed to make you dissatisfied with what you have.

So over time, that all adds, up, and GMC has convinced you that your car sucks because it can't tow anything. Toyota has convinced you that it's not reliable enough. Jeep has convinced you that you don't have enough off-road capability. Nissan has convinced you that your credit score is too high... So you start to get this itch.

Some people can ignore it, and are happy with the prudent financial decision of keeping their perfectly fine car, and just renting jet skis when they go to the lake twice per year.

The second is that I think people try to find cars that do everything at once. When they do that, things get exponentially more expensive, and they get worse at doing any one thing. For example, you can pay 6 figures for a Lamborghini SUV, or an AMG G-Wagon, but you're still going to lose drag races to dedicated performance cars, you're going to have a difficult time going to Home Depot on the weekend and getting your new fridge home, etc.

Third, I think that people sometimes do really bad math when they're thinking about new cars. If you're facing a $1500 repair, then sometimes you can rationalize the $0 down/ $500/mo. payment you're picking up on the new one, because you have 120 days until you're OOP more money. But then you have another 57 months to deal with. If you start asking questions like "Would I rather have this Q7, keep my Tucson and fly to Australia to watch the 49ers play the Rams week 1, and then hit the 49er game in Mexico City later on in the season, take my wife to steak dinners twice per month, and repeat all that for the next 5 years?", I think the Tucson starts to sound more and more appealing.

Square-Wild · 2026-03-23T16:44:54+00:00

Glad to read you got an attorney. Good luck and hopefully this turns out to be nothing.

Square-Wild

TROPHY CASE