Friday, December 18, 2015

Tesla Model S as a Birthday Surprise For Arian on 9th Birthday

Project #TSLA4Tesla successfully resulted in a purchase of the Tesla Model S for Arian on December 1, 2015. It was ordered in the first week of October 2015 when the balance was around $75k in project #TSLA4Tesla. After considering a tax rebate of $7500 by the Federal Government and $2500 cash rebated by California state, this was enough to purchase one Tesla Electric car. (On the delivery day, the profit stood above $90k in TSLA stock trading). It was a bit difficult, psychologically, to send over $80,000 for a car. I never thought I would spend this much money to buy a car. However, this was a deal with Arian so my hesitation was my problem LOL. I took some deep breaths and EFTed the last payment of approx 80k from my bank account a few days before the scheduled delivery.

At the time of placing the order, I wanted this car to be delivered on Arian's birthday which was on December 1st. The delivery agent from Tesla, Van Nuys, CA service station, Sophea Ing made it possible. Tesla is known for its excellent customer service. It fell a bit short though IMO LOL. I had asked Sophea to see if Tesla can add something like a Tesla cap or a sweatshirt for Arian so he can proudly show off his Tesla. Probably Arian is one of the leading Tesla fans among kids his age. That few bucks of generosity by Tesla would have proved to be the BEST MARKETING DOLLARS ever spent in terms of ROI. Arian would have proudly talked about how Tesla is a great car to his friends and whoever he met.  This could push them a bit towards becoming future customers of Tesla or some EV. Well, one who can pay for a Tesla car can sure spend a few bucks. However, I wanted to tell Arian that Tesla company gave that cap or sweatshirt to its special fan on his 9th birthday. I had asked Tesla Delivery Specialist the same but all she could get was a coffee mug and an umbrella for a customer in California where a chance of using an umbrella is as rare as winning a jackpot in some lottery LOL.

Arian didn't know his car was coming. A few days before his birthday, I was driving him to school. We were talking about Beats headphones. He was pursuing me to buy one for him. During our talk, at one point, I told him that for the money of one Tesla car, one can buy around 500 good headphones. I asked him what he would choose. He immediately said, "No, Tesla is the best". He wanted some video games too so (at the hint of another Tesla owner on MyTesla forums), I asked Arian if he still wanted a Tesla or would he like me to buy all video game systems in the world with all video games available. His answer was the same, "Still, a Tesla". Doesn't this prove he is still a big fan of Tesla as much he was when I made this deal #TSLA4Tesla at the beginning of 2014?

On his birthday, I left my car at the local Walgreens parking lot and a friend gave me a ride to work. I took delivery of the car, drove it back to Simi Valley. I parked and left Tesla in the same parking lot in the evening. I drove home in my Honda Accord. As this was his birthday, we were going to the local CPK as he wanted to celebrate his birthday there. He is a Pizza lover too ;) I asked my nephew Nihar Patel, 19, to drive us all to CPK. At that point, in privacy, I told Nihar about the Tesla. Nihar got excited and was surprised too. He also didn't know that I was purchasing a Tesla. Arian's mom didn't know it either. Only my older son, Miraj who is a UCSD student, knew it. He was unfortunately in San Diego preparing for his finals. Nihar was the third person in the family to know about this car. I asked Nihar to take some quick videos and some photos to capture the moment when Arian met his dream car. When we were driving, I told everyone in the car that I needed to pick up some photos from Walgreens. I had Nihar park next to our Tesla. As Arian spotted this brand new Tesla in the next parking spot, he was excited as always to see a Tesla. This was probably the closest he was to a Tesla. (Same was true for me when I went to test drive a Tesla on the day of ordering. I had touched a Tesla first time that day!). As we come out of the car, and when Arian sees his car, well, feel those moments yourself. Nihar is not a great camera person lol (I myself try to take better photos but that is a different story) but he did capture the moment very well. Here is the video.



With Arian finally in his Tesla, this project #TSLA4Tesla, #Tradingwithapurpose concludes successfully. If you are curious to see all trades made in Tesla stock, click on this link.

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