Why this teenage Tesla owner got buyer's remorse (2025)

Main Character of the Week is a weekly column that tells you the most prominent “main character” online (good or bad). It runs on Fridays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, subscribe to web_crawlr, where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.

It’s the 19-year-old whobought a Teslaand

.

Ateenagerin Utah called the dealership andcomplained about his purchase. The dealer posted this recording and it went viral on

.

And while his complaints about

’s limitations arecompletely valid, viewers had adifficult time mustering sympathyfor someone who did notdo their homeworkbefore purchase.

The buyer discovered that his Tesla couldnot be chargedat his apartment complex. The teen also realized that charging his vehicletakes longerthan filling up at the gas station.

These areeasy concerns to Googlebefore investing.

During the call, which played out like afather-son conversationmore than a customer-business interaction, the teen’s dealer held firm. As the dealer, Alex, said:

“You’re going to ask me to lose thousands of dollars because you didn’t do your homework. That’s not fair to us. You need to take some responsibility here. You don’t just get to return a car after driving an hour, many miles and days and changing your mind, getting cold feet. That’s not how it works. That’s not how the law works. That’s not how business works, and that’s not fair to us.”

Iturned 40on Sunday. I accept that conventional wisdom around everything from sock length to the Latino vote hasdramatically shiftedsince I was that young man’s age. What helps me not be rigid is remembering what it’s like to be 19.

Your friends are undergoing apersonal, existential crisis. No one works a job for more than six months. You live with 15 other people. You knock on doors for money.

I worked security at theAustin Convention Centeras a 19-year-old. I would show up after a long night of drinking for my midnight security shift, fall asleep in the events hall while I was supposed to be keeping an eye on speed boats for the boat show, wake up at 7am,call it a shift.

Nineteen-year-oldsare awful. We are embryonic thinkers who exist only as thecenter of our own myopic universe. We kick the PlayStation 2 when we lose a game ofMadden. We don’t realize that the gravy on our frozen Salisbury steak requires a saucepan, so we microwave the powder. Young men in particular cope with rejection as well as Bob Knight did.

One day,you realizethat you can cut class and not face detention. So, you skip class. You are callous and short-sighted.

Advertisement

Ifyou do it right, 19-year-olds drive cars that areunreliable, old, and unsightly. We must reckon with the consequences of our dumb, preventable fender benders. I.e., we can’t afford to get our cars fixed at 19, so we drive around in dented cans.

So I have alittle lovefor any teenager who isafforded the luxuryof driving a Tesla. New ones start at$44,000.

Even under the mostcharitable circumstances—say, a teenager comes from a philanthropic family who teaches him good moral values and rewards him with the means to buy a Tesla because of his overseas work for Habitat for Humanity—it iswrongfor teenagers to drive nice cars.

Pleaseemail me an exception, and tell me where I’m wrong. Seriously, I’mnot a parentanddon’t pretendto be an expert on raising empathetic people.

For the moment, however, I maintain that the neuroplasticity of a teen brain isfar too tenderfor them to be trusted with anything important. Moreover, driving a bad car—or being asked to take the bus—buildsresilience, foundational maintenance knowledge that will serve them forever,gratitude, andempathy.

Think about the friend of yours who rebuilt a 1967 Camaro in the garage with his dad for years in anticipation of his driver’s license. Think of the friend of yours who drove a Chevy Lumina from the police auction. Think about the $500 Dodge Neons paid in full after multiple Baskin-Robbins shifts.

And this kidgets to drive a Tesla and complain about it?

He comes off as sonaïveand entitled that it’s very difficult for viewers to do anything but point and laugh.

The “epic fail” is a tried, true formula for internet virality. Americans coalesce around one universal idea. In the main character columns that I’ve written over the past two years, Itry to find understanding and empathyfor the subject. Be it

or the teens who

.

So I’ll remind myself that a 19-year-old isnot a person quite yet. And I hope the next time he’s in a position to buy a car, heinternalizes this momentand makes aresponsible purchase.

Advertisement