137. Why a Tesla is the Perfect Car?

You should have seen this guy, he looked like a midget driving this thing. It was huge. It was outlandish, had all the upgrades. He rocks up in 2021 to pick me up from the hotel, I'm like.

What is this big old Jeep Cherokee? Things have changed a little bit. Not really my sort of style anymore.

It's what happens when a kid gets their first paycheck. They go out and get a car like that, mate.

Welcome back to another episode of the Ben and Bergs podcast. I'm Ben, your favorite high school dropout and founder of Collective Shift alongside Ms. Bergs, your favorite MBA and CEO of Collective Shift. Join us as we bring you world class crypto research and strategies to help you dominate this crypto bull market as well as a behind the scenes view of us scaling a fully remote subscription research business. And we'd love for you to subscribe if you're listening to us on YouTube. It would mean the world to us if you could leave a subscribe or if you're on a podcasting app. If you give us a follow, it really would help us out and grow the podcast. Now, Bergs, I am in the middle of potentially making a purchase of a car. So I've been thinking about this for a little while. I sold my car about two years ago when I started traveling and living abroad.

Wait, wait, Ben, Ben, tell everyone what kind of car you had, what car.

I had or what car you had. Oh, I had a, I had, what did I have? I had a 2000 and I think it was a 2022 or 2021 Jeep Cherokee.

It was, it was a, it was a big dog.

It was, you should have seen this guy, he looked like a, driving this thing. It was huge. It was outlandish. Had all the upgrades like he rocks up in 2021 to pick me up from the hotel.

I'm like, what is this big old Jeep Cherokee? Things have changed a little bit. Not really, you know, my sort of style, you know, anymore.

It's what happens when a kid gets their first paycheck. They go out and get a car like that, mate.

So I've been looking around because basically at the moment like I don't have a car. I'm back living in Melbourne and I love playing golf over weekend and to go down to Mornington or St. Andrews or you know, anyone that's in, in Melbourne, you know, great quality courses but they're like, you know, an hour and 40 minutes down and, and then an hour 40 back for some places, right? So I, I Will hire a car like go get or one of these ones and it probably cost me like 120, 150 bucks a day, right? Then that plus Uber trips. So if I need to go to a friend's house or I'm going for a meeting or I go to a coffee shop or you know, anywhere where you need to take, I'm getting an Uber, right? So if I play golf once or twice a week plus the Uber trips, all of a sudden it's, it's, this is like adding up and it's just super inconvenient.

So you came to me, you had this revelation, mate. You're like, oh mate, I figured it out. I just need a car. I go to all these places and it's so hard. I got to figure it out. If I just had a car, I could just go there.

It was so good. It's like you've unlocked the secrets to the world. And I'm like, yeah bro. And you're like I'm gonna get a car.

So had a look. And then obviously like, like you know, you get it, you get an old, old school car, like a secondhand car, I get a new car, whatever. But for me like one of the things and the benefits of being a business owner is that you can lease a car with or pay for a car with pre tax dollars, right? As an individual, you know, if you, unless you have a no better lease, you have to use post tax dollars to buy a car. And what does that mean? You basically, let's say you earn thousand dollars, you have to give 30%, 40%, whatever it is your tax break tax tax breaker to the government. So you have $600 left over and then you pay for a car on top of that. Which is just like awful economics. When you're a business owner and you use your car for business purposes, you can use pre tax dollars to do that through getting a lease. Now what I also found out that the government has is they have a EV electronic vehicle incentive for business owners to basically cut out the fringe benefits tax on getting an EV car if it's below the luxury car tax threshold. So basically if you were to get a new EV car like a Tesla or any of these hybrid, I'm not sure about hybrid cars, but like these electro electronic vehicles that you can basically lease them out and you don't have to pay any fringe benefits tax, meaning you don't have to pay any tax on top of what you're paying. So you can use pre tax dollars if you lease the car and as long as you're using it for some business purposes, even though you're using it for personal as well, it doesn't matter. You don't have to pay any fringe benefits tax on the personal side of you using that car which is a.

Pretty sick deal Bergs, not tax advice.

No tax advice.

It is a good deal and like the simple math around this is if let's say you it's a car for example you earn a dollar, you get taxed on that dollar, let's say 30% you're down to 70 cents then you've got to pay GST which is 10% roughly another you know, 6, 7 cents you down to 64 cents purchasing power. As a business owner you get that full dollar purchasing power plus you claim back the GST you actually make more than a dollar.

Yeah and then also with the fringe benefits you save on that plus Bergs if I am right in saying you're not tax advice but for our circumstance you can claim the depreciation of the car.

Yeah, it's a non cash expense.

Yeah, thought so. So all in all I've been looking at some EV carsbergs and there's one that stands out mate. Well there was two. There was two. I'll took the both for a test drive so always love the Tesla. I love Tesla because it's very software driven and I always just, I'm just a tech like you know it nerd And I love how the new Model 3 I went for a test drive on the weekend so they just came out with a new model. It's been like eight years since they come out with an upgraded edition. They don't do like iPhone 13, iPhone 14, they don't do that. They just had the Model 3 Model Y and then they have an upgrade and they recently had an upgrade in December and it's pretty sick mate. The interior is super nice. They got like new interior lighting and it's just so nice to drive mate. And we tested out with the enhanced Autopilot so we went out on the, on the highway and turn on Autopilot. That thing is scary to be. That thing is wild but it's got a huge nice display, lots of room, it's quiet and I can just imagine recording some great crypto coffee with Ben in the Tesla mate.

He tells me he's like mate, the ROI on this car is going to be insane. The amount of content I'll be able to do bro.

So mate, you, you took the Tesla out how was the Autopilot So you're.

Not supposed to use autopilot around the city, right in the traffic in, like, the suburban areas. Well, we gave it a crack. See what it.

Right. That thing is scary because it basically, like, it puts you really close to the other side of the lane, and it doesn't turn you into the right lanes to turn the corners. And it also doesn't recognize traffic lights. We realized.

Around. Around the city, they've got an upgrade coming. It's a little while away yet, but soon it'll recognize traffic lights. And another really cool feature is, like, when you're parked in a car park, you can actually summons the car. So let's say you're at the beach or whatever, or you're at the movies, whatever. You could come out and you can press a button on your mobile phone and the car will come out of the car park and come to you. So you can get in the car, which is kind of ballerina.

Did you use that?

No, we didn't use that. We were there. One of the guys at the Tesla shop said he used that. He's like, yeah, that's. That's pretty sick.

I could just imagine, like, it tries to reverse and then you see your car coming towards you, just like crash into something.

And so I haven't driven a Tesla. I've been in one. They're interesting cars. How did it kind of drive and handle? And are you a fan of the massive iPad right in the middle?

I love the massive iPad in the middle. Just like a big fan of that. And they've also got an iPad on the back now. So whether you sit in the back two seats, there's another iPad there where she can play with, like, the different control the aircon. You can watch movies on the little screen. It's kind of cool. So if you're going on road trips with friends, you know, they can. They can look at that. The. The handle of the car is really nice. Accelerates super fast. But what's really interesting is, like, because it's an EV car, you take your foot off the accelerator and the car basically comes to a stop. Like, you're breaking and really. So you accelerate like you're going fast. As soon as you take your foot off the throttle, the car will, like, basically come to a complete stop. It's like you're braking, which is.

Yeah, engine braking.

Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of unique. And then it's just so minimalistic, man. Like, there's just no buttons. There's no, like, mumbo jumbo. It's just like super clean, super nice.

Are you actually going to remember to charge it, mate?

Definitely not. I mean.

That'S the downside. I'm going to completely forget Nav to go somewhere one day and just be. Just like, fumble the ball on that. But I spoke to a lot of people there that own them, that also live around Pran and there's a bunch of like, superchargers. They can, you know, 15, 30 minutes, you can charge it up. So not that I go to the shops, but if I go to or have to start going to the shops, I'll go there and charge it up and.

Should be all good.

Fantastic, man. So this is definitely your. Your car of choice. I've seen a lot of people getting BYDs as well. You got any thoughts on those, mate?

I can't do it, mate. Beyond your dream like this, I think.

I think you are the poster child for what a Tesla buyer is. You're like their primary customer, mate.

It's like they talk about me in their marketing meetings.

What does that go like? Yeah, we've got this guy banned. He reckons he's got zero time. He just needs an app to buy everything.

He reckons he's super cool. Reckons he needs a Tesla.

Like, oh, I. You. You've probably not gone through the buying process, but it's quite interesting where it's literally, you hop on a website or an app, you just select what you want and then you just get up there and pick it up.

So it's super like, e commerce. Like, there's no, again, paperwork. There's no slimy salesman trying to like, upsell you into the next thing. It's like. No, you just put in your credit card details, you sign up, you hit pay, you wait for the car to come, you say you put down a deposit to hold your spot in the waitlist for the car, then once the car arrives, you pay it, it arrives. It's like. And it's basically online. You upload your license. It's just like proper tech process. Love it.

Yeah, fantastic. That's kind of the worst thing, dealing with the salesman. All the bullshit and wasting your time and it's ridiculous. And what color are you going to get, mate?

So all black. Getting the black rims, black, black paint.

And then black interior, black on black on black. Amazing. I can't wait to see this thing, mate. You can take me a drive for a drive when I come over. Are you gonna get this soon or what? Or is there a bit of a wait?

A bit of A wait says between February and March. So basically he's gonna wait for a phone call and then we'll sort of do the finances and. Yeah, put it all together. But yeah, mate, how about you?

What do you.

What I might. I. You know, yours is probably the opposite of an EV car. That thing is.

It's like a. I'm destroying the planet, mate. Va. Commodore Wagon. Can't beat it. I have not found a car that I would upgrade to.

Maybe a cybertruck like that.

Like, because that car is just so far out there. Like, my wife's car is a full drive. She's got a forester. So I've got everything covered. Like, my car's fast enough. I love it. I love the sound it makes. I love the way it dries. I'm just a bogan at heart. And until something eclipses that or I have other needs, I don't see myself changing, mate.

So it's fascinating. I was talking to an Uber driver this morning who was saying that Uber are now leasing Tesla cars to Uber drivers, where they have to pay 500 bucks a week, no down payment for a car, and they have to pay those repayments back, and then at the end of five years or four years, they get to keep the car. So it's like. I think it's like a way to like, increase supply of Uber cars, maybe Uber premium, and also to meet the demand of Uber. But then also Uber drivers can. Can lease cars through it, which is kind of an interesting model.

Yeah, it's because what they're doing is reducing barriers to getting more Uber drivers and also increasing the quality of their fleet, so you no longer need to own that asset yourself. So I remember back in. Geez, this would have been 2016, maybe even 2015, one of. One of the heads of Uber Australia came to talk to us at the business school and he was talking about this. And their ultimate goal was to get.

What? Get a. So there were two. One was to have a perpetual trip, so the driver would just keep going around and around and always have someone in the car and always delivering, like, you know, taking someone somewhere. And the second one was then to have automated cars that go around. So think about this. You've got a Tesla beam. It's. You drive it around all day and then it just sits in your garage. What if you could just leave it on your driveway and it would just go pick someone up, drop them off, next person, next person. You wake up, your Tesla's in your driveway. It's now got wireless charging, has Plugged itself in and you've got an extra $300 in your bank account.

It's. That's. And I think that autopilot feature like you said, like, I think that's probably what they're building towards. I actually really like that. That's actually interesting because like the other, the other part of this is like buying the Tesla piece. I travel a lot, so what I'm going to do when I travel, you can. There's a really big like rental car market for Teslas in, in Melbourne where, you know, international people come over, business guys, whatever, come over and need a break, a TESL and like the rental value on. On that if you wanted to rent a car to someone else, I really thought that through. But you know, now another way you could try and justify the cost because I think a lot of Uber drivers as well get a Tesla to. But then drive Uber to justify the cost because they can earn the Uber premium.

Dollar value on the train, on the, on the bookings versus. Yeah, the lower Uber transactions is just not worth it.

Yeah, it's. Yeah, it goes into premium. It's also a green Uber as well.

Yeah.

Yeah. Fascinating. Love Tesla.

So I'll give an update once it arrives and shout out to those on my Instagram. I put out a poll whether I should get a Model y or Model 3 and it was 51% to 49%.

Oh, what's the difference between them?

The Model Y is like basically the family edition. So it's bigger, bigger boom, bigger backspace. Looks like sort of like.

I like, I like the look of that car more than the normal Tesla because it's got the big higher roof and it's just. It just looks different.

Yeah, it looks, it's much more of a family version. Yeah, I definitely like the Model three more like the sport, minimalistic, like. Oh, yeah, you.

You don't have a family. Like the biggest thing you've got in your life is your golf clubs, mate. To put in the boot. Like you're fine. Right?

I didn't sit in there. I just opened the boot to make sure that my golf clubs will fit.

Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah, I would definitely go that. That's more your style.

Yeah, for sure.

Fantastic, man.

Awesome, guys. Well, thank you so much for listening. If you've got any feedback on that you recommend making a horrible choice, please let me know. You can tweet at us at Phantombergs on Twitter or if you're on Spotify, you can actually leave a little comment in the episodes notes. We love listening and, and just hearing from all of you, if you have any ideas of your podcast or you just think we're we're just terrible blokes, we'd love to hear from you.

Oh, just online and I don't know if we're going to post a video of us driving around the car. Cuz I refuse to get in a car with you driving, mate. So maybe if I drive it. Or on autopilot.

No, I'll pick our mate. I put on autopilot, drive us in.

It's a lot safer, I think.

All right, everyone, thanks for listening and I will catch you next time. Champions. Bye.

Bye.