Woman who 'splurged' on a Tesla Model 3 reveals the true cost of ownership after five years

A woman who ‘splurged’ on a Tesla Model 3 has revealed the real cost after owning the EV for five years.

Five years back, she was considering either a Tesla Model 3 or a used luxury sedan like a BMW or Audi.

Ultimately, she opted for the Model 3 and has spent the last five years driving it. 

But was the purchase worth it?

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The Tesla Model 3 had much lower fuel costs

Plenty of EV owners are more than happy to share exactly how much the switch from gas-powered to electric has saved them, such as this man who saved around $12,000 after traveling 100,000 miles or this Tesla owner who showed how much a whole year of charging at home cost him. 

Meanwhile, YouTuber Shelby Church recently decided to tell her 1.84 million followers the true cost of running a Tesla Model 3 after five years of ownership. 

She revealed that including taxes, registration fees, and some additional financing costs the Model 3 cost around $50,000 but was able to claim more than $6,000 in tax rebates, which brought the purchase down to $45,000. 

Of course, the main money saver for EV owners is fuel costs and Shelby was no different, revealing she’s spent $2,250 over the five years and 42,000 miles – using both her home’s energy supply and Supercharging. 

As you may have guessed, this was a lot less than gas would have cost her, with Shelby estimating it would have cost around $8,000 to travel the same 42,000 miles in a gas-powered vehicle

But fuel wasn’t the only saving she made

She also made some huge savings when it came to her insurance – across five years, Shelby spent $8,200 on insurance, a lot less than a used BMW sedan, which would have cost $14,400. 

Maintenance for her Tesla amounted to a new set of tires at a cost of $1,000. 

Shelby reckons had she gone for the used BMW she’d have forked out for numerous oil changes, brake pads, new tires, and scheduled maintenance – amounting to around $3,000. 

However, she does note that she had an ‘unplanned maintenance’ when her Tesla’s autopilot suddenly stopped working and she had to hand over $2,000 to get it fixed. Ouch. 

Crunching the numbers, Shelby says she spent $58,000 to buy her Tesla Model 3 and keep it on the road for five years. 

She then estimated that buying a used BMW and and driving it for five years, would have cost around $63,000. 

In total, Shelby thinks she saved $4,769 with her Tesla Model 3 and the savings don’t end at five years as she’ll continue to save on fuel and insurance.

While Shelby’s happy, not everyone’s been happy with their decision to buy a Tesla.

One woman was so unhappy with certain aspects of her Tesla Model 3 that she sold it after only a couple of days.