Why I’m Subscribing to a Tesla Model 3

Mobility as the next evolution of subscription. 

I’m not new to subscriptions, and neither are you. We all love music and our favorite shows, and many of us have access to them through Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify. We have welcomed subscriptions for entertainment purposes and for other resources, such as groceries and pet food. I remember my transition from buying songs on iTunes to subscribing to Spotify, and I’ve been a Spotify enthusiast ever since (because it seems outdated and wasteful to spend $0.99 on a single song). Now I’m used to being a subscriber. Some newer subscriptions surprised me at first, like Daily Harvest: “Frozen ingredients delivered.” But I can get behind it. Life is fluid. And convenient, low-commitment alternatives feel like a natural evolution. 

Personally, I have dabbled in beauty products subscriptions, like IPSY, and am a new adopter of the grocery delivery app Instacart. I’m primed and ready for the next best thing to subscribe to, and now I’m hearing about car subscriptions. Let’s explore them. 

Would subscribing to a car make sense for my life? How is this different from renting or leasing? Are car subscriptions for a Tesla cheaper? I’m trying to reduce my carbon footprint, so can I subscribe to an electric vehicle?

You don’t need to own a car to drive one.

You need to get from A to B, and buying a car is just what you do, right? Maybe the car you own is a reflection of your hard work, and you like that. But can all this be true without owning? For younger generations, owning has less of a social emphasis than using. Zoomers (Gen Z) and younger millennials may be more interested in making financially empowered choices with an environmental emphasis, and accumulating stuff just doesn’t represent the same feeling of safety it used to. I want to use something, I don’t need to own it, and I certainly don’t need it to own me.

People need cars to get to work, to get to doctor’s appointments, to get to movie night, to get to coffee. You need a car to move around, especially if you live in L.A. Public transport just doesn’t cut it; Uber is expensive, and you’ll eventually break your leg on a Bird. But just because you need to use a car doesn’t mean you need to buy one. Because you actually have a different, better option now. And if you want to try an electric vehicle without the commitment of buying or long-term leasing, now you can do that too. 

No lease, no problem.

Although a car subscription is similar to a lease, canceling a lease is usually a difficult and expensive process. Something uniquely magical about a subscription is the fact that you can easily cancel it! You don’t have to be noncommittal to love having a guilt-free “out.” We should be allowed the flexibility to change our minds. If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that we have no idea where we’ll be a year from now. We can’t change the unpredictability of life, but we can free ourselves from the burden of long-term commitment and debt so we can move gracefully from one season to the next. 

Are EV car subscriptions the future?

Many of us are looking for more ways we can help heal the planet and reduce our carbon footprint without having to give up some non-negotiables (burgers, hot showers) or drastically increase our spending. Switching to a car subscription service, especially an EV  subscription service, gives you an easy way to drive affordably while going green. An Autonomy subscription affords me the freedom to drive a Tesla Model 3 short term to see if it’s the right fit for my life. I like that I can keep driving, or walk away anytime after the first three months with only 28 days’ notice. New innovations around convenience, sustainability, and financial wellness always excite me. It’s time to try this one.