Typically, when and if the world's richest man offers you a free gift, you'd be silly not to take it.
But that's not the case for Errol Musk, who shared in a recent interview with Business Insider that he rejected son Elon Musk's offer to gift him a Tesla (TSLA) -) back in January 2022.
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Musk was ready to eat the costs to ship the vehicle to South Africa, where his father currently lives, but the elder Musk says he told his son the cost was "just not worth it." Between the car itself, the shipping, and fees, it would have cost Musk $180,000.
Tesla does not yet have a presence in Musk's birthplace either, meaning that there's Tesla infrastructure to support owning a vehicle – so no charging stations.
Musk's father also already owns a Rolls-Royce and an unnamed sports car. But when Insider asked him why he turned down a car that's enormously popular in America, he chose his words carefully.
"I've always had Rolls-Royces, since Elon and Kimbal were babies," Errol said, referring to Musk and his brother. "I prefer to drive a Rolls-Royce. It's much better — I mean it's not better than a Tesla — but it's nicer for me anyway."
The elder Musk also said that he does not intend to read Walter Issacson's biography about his son, which alleges that he bullied and demeaned Elon's family regularly, with Elon drawing his father as a Darth Vader-like character.
"My father is a terrible human being," Musk said in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone.
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