vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
"You can greatly reduce the risk if you can line up a buyer prior to purchasing the car.  That kind of thing is common in business, one example is drop shipping.  Also there are sales companies that specialize in these kinds of things bringing manufacturers of goods together with customers.  The sales companies never take delivery of the product, just a commission on the sales.   From this the manufacturers are served as they have gained a customer for their goods.  The buying company is served as they can make a ""better"" end product.  The two parties may have not been brought together had it not been for the sales company so on some level both are happy to pay for the service. Can you find market inequalities and profit from them?  Sure.  I missed a great opportunity recently.  I purchased a name brand shirt from a discount store for $20.  Those shirts typically sell on ebay for $80.  I should have cleaned out that store's inventory, and I bet someone else did as by the time I went back they were gone.   That kind of thing was almost risk-less because if the shirts did not sell, I could simply return them for the full purchase price.  That and I can afford to buy a few hundred dollars worth of shirts. Can you afford to float 45K CDN?  What if it takes a year to sell the car?  What if the economy goes sour and you are left ""holding the bag""?  Why are not car dealers doing exactly what you propose? Here in the US this type of thing is called ""horse trading"" and is very common.  I've both lost and made money on these kind of deals.  I would never put a significant amount of my net worth at risk."
Makes sense.  I typed the previous reply on an ipad and was too lazy to go into the fact that as you point out the cash exits the balance sheet so in a DCF it doesn't get any weight in the terminal value calculation which makes up a significant chunk of an EV normally.
You own something with very little market value - even if you paid a large price for it initially. Your cost to sell may be more than the price you get. Like any other item that has limited resale value, your best option may be to donate it. A quick Google search will turn up some options. This will likely be less hassle than selling. Also, you have a potential tax write-off.
Also peak is going to get a lot worse.  No-one is going to wait to plug their car in until bed time.  They are going to plug it in as soon as they get home in the evenings,  and if there are high wattage fast chargers to get that first 40ish % charged quickly before swapping to trickle charge then I have a feeling there will be peak price hikes as a result of the load increase.
Any way you look at it, this is a terrible idea. Cars lose value.  They are a disposable item that gets used up.  The more expensive the car, the more value they lose. If you spend $100,000 on a new car, in four years it will be worth less than $50,000.*  That is a lot of money to lose in four years. In addition to the loss of value, you will need to buy insurance, which, for a $100,000 car, is incredible. If your heart is set on this kind of car, you should definitely save up the cash and wait to buy the car.  Do not get a loan.  Here is why: Your plan has you saving $1,300 a month ($16,000 a year) for 6.5 years before you will be able to buy this car.  That is a lot of money for a long range goal.  If you faithfully save this money that long, and at the end of the 6.5 years you still want this car, it is your money to spend as you want.  You will have had a long time to reconsider your course of action, but you will have sacrificed for a long time, and you will have the money to lose.  However, you may find out a year into this process that you are spending too much money saving for this car, and reconsider. If, instead, you take out a loan for this car, then by the time you decide the car was too much of a stretch financially, it will be too late.  You will be upside down on the loan, and it will cost you thousands to sell the car. So go ahead and start saving.  If you haven't given up before you reach your goal, you may find that in 6.5 years when it is time to write that check, you will look back at the sacrifices you have made and decide that you don't want to simply blow that money on a car. Consider a different goal.  If you invest this $1300 a month and achieve 8% growth, you will be a millionaire in 23 years. * You don't need to take my word for it.  Look at the car you are interested in, go to kbb.com, select the 2012 version of the car, and look up the private sale value.  You'll most likely see a price that is about half of what a new one costs.
Rational-market theory says it's impossible to have a big-ticket product offering with essentially unlimited demand and zero meaningful competition. Moreover, this is happening in an environment where the business is not only receiving direct gov't subsidies, but where borrowing costs are close to negative in real dollars. A going concern with booked orders and guaranteed revenue through 2014 should, if anything, be *borrowing from banks to buy back equity*, not selling equity to raise capital. If Tesla needs to raise capital, then something is seriously wrong with the underlying business. As in, wrong enough that its current sales are not only un-profitable, but that currently-booked future sales will continue to be un-profitable for the foreseeable future (otherwise they could just borrow). You can plead ""startup"" when you have a small customer base but a great concept. You can plead ""startup"" when you first start shipping product in small quantities at low prices. But you can't plead ""startup"" when you have been shipping a product for years, and when you have customer-orders booked years out, at full asking price, with no meaningful price or product-competition."
When is the right time to buy a new/emerging technology? When it's trading at a discount that allows you to make your money back and then some. The way you presented it, it is of course impossible to say. You have to look at exactly how much cheaper and efficient it will be, and how long that will take. Time too has a cost, and being invested has opportunity cost, so the returns must not only arrive in expected quantity but also arrive on time. Since you tagged this investing, you should look at the financial forecasts of the business, likely future price trajectories, growth opportunity and so on, and buy if you expect a return commensurate with the risk, and if the risk is tolerable to you. If you are new to investment, I would say avoid Musk, there's too much hype and speculation and their valuations are off the charts. You can't make any sensible analysis with so much emotion running wild. Find a more obscure, boring company that has a sound business plan and a good product you think is worth a try. If you read about it on mainstream news every day you can be sure it's sucker bait. Also, my impression that these panels are actually really expensive and have a snowball's chance in Arizona (heh) in a free market. Recently the market has been manipulated through green energy subsidies of a government with a strong environmentalist voter base. This has recently changed, in case you haven't heard. So the future of solar panels is looking a bit uncertain. I am thinking about buying solar panels for my roof. That's not an investment question, it's a shopping question. Do you actually need a new roof? If no, I'd say don't bother. Last I checked the payoff is very small and it takes over a decade to break even, unless you live in a desert next to the Mexican border. Many places never break even. Electricity is cheap in the United States. If you need a new roof anyway, I suppose look at the difference. If it's about the same you might as well, although it's guaranteed to be more hassle for you with the panels.
Industrial grade batteries, which is what you would need for this, are not cheap. Your typical household batteries are super cheap, but not electric car batteries.   Also I was speaking more from the substation point of view for the purchasing of the batteries, not the consumers. I could see having to maybe pay a membership fee to that type of station to get access though. Somehow have a way to sign some kind of forms for insurance of return of the batteries.
One thing to consider: the Apple service plan covers replacement of the battery in addition to the normal things you expect.  Since the battey is not consumer replaceable, and, according to what I hear, is almost certain to wear out within the two year life of the phone, and is more expensive to have Apple replace than the extended coverage, it's probably worth it.  (Disclaimer: this was told to me by my son who used an iPhone for two years before I got mine.  I haven't independently verifies his facts. This also applied to the 3G and 3GS. I'm just assuming it's also true for the 4.)
"It's a status symbol, but that status isn't about money. It's about virtue signaling, and showing that you ""care"" about the environment. It's the same reason that the Prius didn't sell as well until after it was given a distinctive look, and why nondescript electric versions of Honda's and others don't have similar market share, even when they outperform more visible competitors."
well, our disagreement is regarding my use of the word confiscate  I feel government took my hard earned tax dollars to fund their agenda of EV promotion.  I don't want government picking winners/losers and I don't agree with **my money** wasted/destroyed on crony capitalism
Carmax will be interested in setting a price that allows them to make money on the reselling of the vehicle. They won't offer you more than that. The determination of the value compared to the BlueBook value is based on condition and miles. The refinancing of the auto loan could lower your monthly payment, but may not save you any money in the short term. The new lender will also want an evaluation of the vehicle, and if it is less than the payoff amount of the current loan they will ask you to make a lump sum payment. This is addition to the cost of getting the new loan setup. If you can pay the delta between the value of the car and loan then do so, when you sell the car. Don't refinance unless you plan on keeping the car for many months, or you are just adding paperwork to the transaction.
"I don't think $35k is much of a status symbol. The Toyota Highlander costs more than that. ""Environmentally friendly"" is only one of few reasons to get the car. Given the massive success of the current Tesla models on the road, it's understandable why people pay the deposit. It's got autopilot features, intelligent diagnostic systems, and the current line of Tesla are the safest vehicles on the planet. Not to mention it's extremely reliable."
You misunderstood my post, I know how batteries recharge. [Tesla intentionally slows down how quickly the battery can be recharged if you regularly use supercharging stations](https://electrek.co/2017/05/07/tesla-limits-supercharging-speed-number-charges/) to prevent the battery pack from losing performance prematurely. This is a limitation of the batteries that are currently being produced, however solid state batteries don't appear to have these shortcomings.
It has already lost twice, to the lower courts and the appellate court. It says that the manufacturer could not allow you to resell things you legitimately own, or that they can even ask for a cut of the proceeds. Legally, you would not even be allowed to have a garage sale if anything you were selling were manufactured overseas. An unintended consequence is that it would give manufacturers an incentive to move facilities overseas so they can control the secondary market.
I purchased a used (2011, low miles) sedan in early 2014 for ~28k, 9   months before moving to the city. I put 12k down including trade in   and currently own 9k on the car (1.9% APR). It's a luxury sedan (not a   3 series, hah!) and will hold it's value better than other cars for   quite a while (currently worth ~23k in private sale). 1.9% APR yet it costs you 50% APR to keep it. Regarding your logistical problem:  Maybe you will go home/your parent's house less. Maybe you will make New York City your home. Even if there is something very serious (or interesting) 320 miles away, the rest of us also have to deal with this.  Bus, train, Uber, arrange pickup at the train station with friend's/family. You can also subsidize flights and trains with promotional credit card miles.
"You're asking if lottery ticket can ever produce a positive expected value (EV). The short answer is, ""no"". There's an interesting article that goes into the details and is heavy on the math and graphs. The key point: Even if you think you have a positive expected value due to the size of the jackpot being larger than the number of possible numbers, as more tickets are purchased (and the jackpot grows larger) the odds of someone else picking the winner goes up and your EV goes down. The article concludes: [It] ... paints a grim picture for anyone   still holding out hope that a lottery ticket can ever be an   economically rational investment. As the jackpot grows in value, the   number of people who try to win it grows super-linearly. This human   behavior has a mathematical consequence: even though the jackpot   itself can theoretically grow without bound, there is a point at which   the consequent ticket-buying grows to such a fever pitch that the   expected value of the jackpot actually starts going down again."
Look at Price/book value and there are more than a few stocks that may have a P/B under 1 so this does happen. There are at least a couple of other factors you aren't considering here: Current liabilities - How much money is the company losing each quarter that may cause it to sell repeatedly. If the company is burning through $100 million/quarter that asset is only going to keep the lights on for another 2.5 years so consider what assumptions you make about the company's cash flow here. The asset itself - Is the price really fixed or could it be flexible? Could the asset seen as being worth $1 billion today be worth much less in another year or two? As an example, suppose the asset was a building and then real estate values drop by 40% in that area. Now, what was worth $1 billion may now be worth only $600 million. As something of a final note, you don't state where the $100 million went that the company received as if that was burned for operations, now the company's position on the asset is $900 million as it only holds a 90% stake though I'd argue my 2 previous points are really worth noting. The Following 6 Stocks Are Trading At or Below 0.5 x Book Value–Sep 2013 has a half dozen examples of how this is possible. If the $100 million was used to pay off debt, then the company doesn't have that cash and thus its assets are reduced by the cash that is gone. Depending on what the plant is producing the value may or may not stay where it is. If you want an example to consider, how would you price automobile plants these days? If the company experiences a reduction in demand, the plant may have to be sold off at a reduced price for a cynic's view here.
As someone who's currently shopping for some winter wheels and has the raised blood pressure to go with that, I've got a few suggestions as to what would make me pick up the phone and call your or email you if you're advertising a vehicle. Keep in mind that if you're willing to deal with the additional hassle, you'll normally get the most money for a used car if you sell it privately. If it is worth the additional effort though is both a matter of judgement and if you're willing to put up with strange people like me :). Depending on the value of the vehicle and its rarity/desirability, you're looking at newspaper ads (probably won't get you much of a response these days), craigslist, Autotrader and similar, and last but not least, ebay. If you're trying to sell something that's easy to find because there are five at every street corner (think beige minivan), skip ebay. If it's worth below 5k-6k, I wouldn't bother with places where you have to pay to advertise, which leaves CL for the cheap stuff - that said, I'd still stick it on CL if it's advertised in other places. Heck, it's free after all. The figure out what sort of money you're asking for. Check the resources like KBB.com and have a look at your local CL for similar vehicles. Out here, certain types of vehicles (for example, Jeeps) sell quickly and often above even KBB.com. A little market research will help you come up with a good price. Just don't do things like asking a massively inflated price for a vehicle because you paid $x five years ago. All this shows that you have no idea what your vehicle is worth. Oh, and I'd always work out what the minimum I'd take is - leave yourself some haggle room but don't undersell the vehicle. Once you know where you advertise and for how much, pull together the basic facts for your vehicles and the points that would make it stand out. Basic facts about the car should include engine size, type of transmission, if it's AWD (where applicable), mileage.
"Having just gone through selling a car, I can tell you that CarMax will most likely not be the best solution. I recently sold my '09 Pontiac Vibe which had a KBB and Edmonds value (private party sale) of around $6k. Trade-in value was around $4,800. I took it to the local CarMax for a quote, and they came back with $3,500. Refinancing is tricky. Banks have a set limit on how old a car they will finance. Many won't even offer financing if the vehicle has over 100k miles. We looked at refinancing our other car, and even getting the APR down over a point we would only have saved $15/mo or so. Banks typically offer much higher interest rates for used non-dealership cars and refinancing than they do for new cars, or even used cars purchased from a dealership. Assuming you have 2-3 years left on your loan, I don't think that refinancing would save you enough to be worth considering. CarMax sells cars in 1 of 2 ways. They are also up front with you about the process. They do not reference KBB or Edmonds or any other valuation tool other than their own internal system. They either take the car, spruce it up a bit, then resell it on their lot, or they sell it at auction. If they determine your car will be sold at auction, then they will offer you a rock bottom price. The determining factors that come into play include age of the car, mileage, and of course overall condition. If you Mini is still in good shape and doesn't have a lot of miles, then they may try to resell it on their lot, for which they could offer you closer to personal-sale price than trade-in. How many 2007's are for sale in your area? How much are they selling for? I did sell them a truck back in 2005 and received $200 more than KBB valued it for, but it was in great shape, only a couple of years old, relatively low mileage, and it was in high demand. God bless the South and their love for trucks!
The present value of $100/yr is far higher today than if short term rates were say, 8%) Once panels drop to where they are compelling for the higher return areas, I'd expect volume to drive continued improvements in cost and better economies of scale. Initially, the need for storage isn't there, as the infrastructure is in place to drive your meter backwards if you produce more than you use. The peek sun coincides with peek demand and the electric companies are happy to have your demand go negative during those times. Update - the conversation with Duff led me to research 'demand charge' a bit more. You see, the utility company has to have equipment to generate the peak demand, usually occurring in the early afternoon, say 12N-2PM as the sun is brightest and AC use in particular, highest. I found that Austin energy has a PDF describing the fee for this. Simply put, the last kW of demand will cost you $14.03 in summer months and $12.65 in winter. This adds to $160/yr that a 1kW panel might save the owner. Even if one does capture the full power at peak every month, $100 is still non-trivial. This factor alone justifies $1000 worth of panel cost, and as Duff points out, the government may find it cheaper to use this method to clip peak demand than by funding bigger power generators. To summarize, the question isn't so much ""are they worth it"" as ""what is a xKW panel worth?"" (A function of annual savings and time value of money.) The ever decreasing installed cost for a given system makes solar an inevitable part of the future power technology. I am not a green tree hugging guy, but I do like to breathe fresh air as much as anyone. I'm happy with whatever role solar plays in cutting down pollution."
I usually use this process:  determine fair market value. This will be an estimate from KBB or similar minus any known repairs or maintenance needed. (Est)-(repairs)=FMV IF FMV < $0 walk away and sell it for whatever it will bring. You would be better off even just buying a similar model  than buying the repair. If FMV > $0 ask yourself this question:  If I had the fair market value in cash, would I purchase this car? Essentially, this is what you are doing if you choose to keep it. This is where your needs and opinions come into play. If you wouldn't, sell it and buy something else. Unless you have certain specific numbers on the future maintenance and repairs needed, you are just speculating on future events. In general, the probability of repair for the age and condition will be reflected in the estimate of value, so that is captured in the analysis already.  There is also no guarantee that another car would not have some other large repair, even if it was newer.  From just the numbers, I can't think of many reasons not to drive a car until it dies (FMV < $0) or until you find an excellent deal to replace it.
Sigh.  I knew this headline would end up being printed, which is of course wrong.  Tesla said that their run rate will be 100k annualized at the *end* of 2015.  That does not mean 100k in 2015, that means 2k/week at the end of 2015, which means 100k+ in 2016.  It will probably be ~60-70k in 2015.
The real benefit to the environment will come as the grid is powered by more renwables. Tesla will charge when renwables are generating, store power in its big battery, and feed energy back to the grid during times of high demand or when renewable sources are down
1) How long have you had the car?  Generally, accounts that last more than a year are kept on your credit report for 7 years, while accounts that last less than a year are only kept about 2 years (IIRC - could someone correct me if that last number is wrong?). 2) Who is the financing through?  If it's through a used car dealer, there's a good chance they're not even reporting it to the credit bureaus (I had this happen to me; the dealer promised he'd report the loan so it would help my credit, I made my payments on time every time, and... nothing ever showed up.  It pissed me off, because another positive account on my credit report would have really helped my score).  Banks and brand name dealers are more likely to report the loan. 3) What are your expected long term gains on the stocks you're considering selling, and will you have to pay capital gains on them when you do sell them?  The cost of selling those stocks could possibly be higher than the gain from paying off the car, so you'll want to run the numbers for a couple different scenarios (optimistic growth, pessimistic, etc) and see if you come out ahead or not. 4) Are there prepayment penalties or costs associated with paying off the car loan early?  Most reputable financiers won't include such terms (or they'll only be in effect during the first few months of the loan), but again it depends on who the loan is through. In short: it depends.  I know people hate hearing answers like that, but it's true :)  Hopefully though, you'll be able to sit down and look at the specifics of your situation and make an informed decision.