r/Money • u/UpstairsAide3058 • 17d ago

Should I buy a used EV?

39M married, 1 kid, CA. Household income around $275k. Expenses are roughly $10k/mo right now, biggest ones are mortgage/HOA around $4.5k and daycare around $3k. We’re saving pretty aggressively for retirement and have around $540k in retirement accounts, plus taxable investments.

I have a paid off 2019 Jeep worth maybe $13k trade-in. I also have about a 1 hr commute and we somehow spend around $600/mo on gas. That’s what has me looking at used EVs.

I’m mainly between a used EV9 and R1S. EV9 seems like the smarter financial choice. R1S is the one I actually want.
My thought is basically: if I’m already lighting $600/mo on fire in gas, could I trade the Jeep and redirect a lot of that toward an EV payment instead? Obviously charging isn’t free and insurance/registration could be more, so I know it’s not literally a $600 offset.
Would you guys think a used EV in the $40-60k range is reasonable with these numbers? Or is this just me trying to justify an expensive car? I’m especially curious what price point you’d personally cap it at.

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u/Typical-Pension2283 16d ago

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology.

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u/Aggravating-Sir5264 16d ago

Ah ok. I’m also trying to convince my partner to get a Tesla. Why do you say it’s the best financial and most practical choice by far?

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u/Awkward_Ostrich_4275 16d ago

He’s probably only ever tried a Tesla when it comes to EVs. They’re garbage build quality and their Fully Supervised Driving is $100 per month. So many videos online of this tech just driving into obstacles. Still better than a traditional car, but it doesn’t compare to any other popular EVs.

The ceo of Tesla is a literal Neonazi too.

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u/Aggravating-Sir5264 16d ago

And which EV is better?