Tesla excited crypto enthusiasts earlier this year when they briefly allowed customers to buy their cars with bitcoin back in February. Unfortunately, they quickly backed out of this policy in May, saying that they want to wait until bitcoin becomes more environmentally friendly before they continue accepting it.
Still, there are other car dealerships and online car marketplaces that have begun taking the leap. The space is still fairly new, so you’ll have to search up local dealerships that accept bitcoin yourself. You might even have to travel quite a ways to find one that does.
As an alternative, online marketplaces such as CryptoExchange.com and AutoCoinCars.com are two platforms that allow you to buy cars with bitcoin online, getting you in touch with different sellers who are willing to part with their vehicles for the digital currency.
Recent Dream Car Sales
Back in 2017, early bitcoin adopter Peter Saddington posted a picture of himself with his newly obtained 2015 Lamborghini Huracan in matte white. He purchased it for 45 BTC from the MotorCars of Atlanta dealership in Atlanta, Georgia. At the time, this was equivalent to about $200,000.
His followers were thrilled, as they had been asking, “where’s the Lambo?” for years after he gained popularity due to his crypto fortune.
Since then, dealerships such as Post Oak Motor Cars Ltd. have been selling luxury cars left and right in exchange for bitcoin – including Bentleys and Rolls Royces.
Today, there are whole websites dedicated to connecting buyers and sellers of luxury cars with bitcoin. Recently, a Ferrari GTB 488 was sold for 4 bitcoins in the U.K., as well as a Ferrari 360 from a dealership in Italy. The Italian seller used the fintech startup app Tinkl to process the bitcoin payment.
The dream of buying your own Lamborghini with cryptocurrency is possible to achieve today, with more and more options coming down the pipeline every day.
Also Read: Turn Your Car Into A Luxury Vehicle With The Latest In-Car Gadgetry
How to Buy your Dream Car with Bitcoin?
You have two choices when it comes to how to buy your dream car with bitcoin: through a dealership or an online marketplace.
Dealership
Dealerships are safer due to the nature of the business, as the online marketplaces are essentially just advertisements for individuals selling their second-hand cars themselves.
Especially when it comes to the relatively new ability to transfer large sums of money using crypto, going through a dealership might be safer overall.
However, few dealerships allow bitcoin purchases yet, so you’ll have to look far and wide and maybe be willing to travel quite a ways to find one. And even when you get there, they might not even have your dream car.
A dealership can sell a car through bitcoin by keeping the price connected to their local fiat currency. That means the bitcoin price is updated constantly to match the current market exchange rate.
When Tesla was selling cars using bitcoin, they required you to sign within 30 minutes of their quoted price due to the price volatility of the cryptocurrency.
Hopefully, there’ll be a day when making purchases with bitcoin will be a fully-fledged currency in itself and not tied to the price of the dollar.
However, for now, you’ll mainly be dealing with contract situations like the one explained above. Otherwise, you’re likely overpaying for your products, as dealers will need to keep the fixed price of a vehicle in bitcoin well above the market value in dollars.
Online Marketplace
Compared with a physical dealership, there are many ways in which buying a luxury vehicle using cryptocurrency in an online marketplace can go wrong.
That being said, reputable crypto exchange marketplaces use a crypto escrow service, which better ensures the rightful transfer of goods and helps to avoid fraud. Therefore, you’ll want to make sure the marketplace you use has a well-vetted escrow service that will do this for you, even if it does add a little to the price tag.
With a crypto marketplace, you’ll have a lot more options when it comes to choosing your dream car when compared with a single dealership.
Once you’ve selected your dream car and agreed upon a price in bitcoin, you’ll begin the transaction through the escrow service, where outstanding debts and ownership of the vehicle are all verified.
If all goes well, you should have your luxury car shipped to you soon and be ready to ride in no time.