Not long ago, this EV owner was going Tesla and bought a Rivian. After a month, the tables have turned, and there are good reasons for that.
March 12, 2023 on 12:06 p.m. ET
EV owner and YouTube influencer Ryan Pineda recently took delivery of a Rivian R1S electric SUV. He admits that he had also recently talked “a whole bunch of crap about Tesla” in his last video about the Rivian. But now the tables have turned, he sold Rivian and picked up a brand new Tesla Model Y.
If you are not familiar with Ryan, he is a former professional basketball player who is now a successful entrepreneur. Most of his success comes from real estate investments. He flips and rents homes, and he even wrote a bestselling book about it. Ryan’s YouTube channel shares his successes with the world so others can take his insights and tips and tricks to hopefully manage and invest their money more successfully.
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That said, you can probably come to the conclusion that the reason Mr. Pineda sold his Rivian R1S and bought a Tesla Model Y was because it made good financial sense. To be clear, Ryan essentially flipped the R1S since it was significantly overvalued, then bought a discounted Model Y and pocketed the difference.
Ryan paid $78,000 for the R1S and got the full $7,500 US federal EV tax credit. Meanwhile, the SUVs sold on the used market for well over $100,000. Knowing that he could make a quick buck off of it, he admitted that it really didn’t make sense to keep it unless he was blown away by it. Ryan didn’t have any major issues with the electric SUV, but it didn’t perform as well as other SUVs due to its large size, and he just couldn’t justify keeping it.
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Around the same time, Tesla discounted the Model Y significantly. Ryan picked up a fully loaded version for $58,000. What’s more, he was able to get full self-driving beta capability for free by purchasing the Model Y under his cousin’s account, who is a Tesla employee. Despite Ryan’s issues with the Tesla, he’s happier driving the smaller, sportier Model Y than the bulky, off-road R1S, so it’s a win-win.
The video focuses heavily on the unique wrapping Ryan had put on the Model Y. He also had the R1S wrapped, although it was done with a more conservative matte wrap. If you’re into wrapping cars, you’ll want to watch the full video. As Ryan shows off the work, he reveals other details about why he sold the Rivian and bought the Tesla.
As always, we encourage you to let us know what you think about the video and the topic. Do you think Ryan made the right decision? Knowing what you know about why he sold the R1T and bought the Model Y, would you have done the same? We look forward to reading your opinions.