A car dealer admitted he briefly questioned his decision after betting his property money on a fleet of Teslas.
A British car dealer decided to put money originally set aside for a real estate purchase into a fleet of Tesla electric vehicles. In total, he bought 20 Teslas.
The owner of The Lovely Car Company reportedly made the risky move after a planned property deal fell through, leaving him with a substantial amount of money to invest.
A year later, the dealer explained on his YouTube channel how the gamble turned out. He said he had previously sold his house because he planned to buy a garage, but the deal never came together.
“I thought, ‘Screw it. I’m going to put the money into as many Teslas as I can,’” the dealer said.
According to the dealer, uncertainty surrounding changes to EV taxes made the situation more complicated. At one point, he even considered abandoning his plan to sell electric vehicles. He ultimately decided to stick with it.
The dealer said he sold 20 cars in January and 25 in February. By February, Teslas accounted for roughly 90% of the vehicles in his dealership’s inventory.
When he finally added up the results, the numbers exceeded his original target. Over the course of a year, he sold 302 vehicles and generated $6.6 million in revenue, compared with his initial goal of $6 million.
Teslas made up a huge share of those sales. Of the 302 vehicles sold, 213 were Teslas, meaning the EVs accounted for about 71% of the dealership’s total sales.
The dealer also said that during his time dealing with those 213 Teslas, the dealership encountered only two serious warranty-related issues. One involved a heating system and cost about $1,142 to repair, including VAT.
The other involved a customer's heat pump. According to the dealer, Tesla estimated the repair at around $4,640. Instead, he found a used replacement part for roughly $530 and sent the vehicle to an independent Tesla specialist for the repair.