35% Depreciation at One Year Old?

[Kbra]

So out of curiosity I requested a trade in quote for my 2015 60kwh with Autopilot. They came back with a quote of $53,300. It was around $81k new in Feb 2015.

That seems like a huge drop to me. Obviously new cars slam down as soon as you register them but 35% seems like a steep curve. Now I've noticed private party appears to be holding a much better value than that, around 10k more. Maybe that's just the luxury brand crux. Figured I'd add that tid bit for readers knowledge.

 

[Max*]

$81k - $10k rebates in CA = $71k. Down to $53k, only depreciated 25%, right?

 

[Kbra]

I don't think you get to count rebates into the depreciation.

 

[Dynastar]

Rebates clearly have an effect. Is the rebate was (let's say) 50% of the base price then no one would buy a used Tesla for more then 50% of MSRP.

 

[supersnoop]

I always expect private party to be 20% higher than trade in. So, that's a big part of it.

A "normal" car loses 10% when you drive it off the lot, and drops to 20% at a year. Luxury cars depreciate faster.

 

[eye.surgeon]

One single (unaccepted) offer does not determine resale value. If I offered you $20 for it, would you declare your car to have depreciated 99%? Sell it, deduct your tax rebates, and come back and tell us what the real depreciation was. It will be more or less the same as any other 6 figure car.

 

[Zybane]

Rebates count against EV car resale value since a buyer would have to choose between new and get the rebate, or used and not. That's why is "appears" EV's have particularly bad depreciation. Any used EV, you take a $7500-$10000 chuck right out of it's value.

 

[widepipe]

Rebates count against EV car resale value since a buyer would have to choose between new and get the rebate, or used and not. That's why is "appears" EV's have particularly bad depreciation. Any used EV, you take a $7500-$10000 chuck right out of it's value.

This has been my experience with our Leaf. I decided to keep it when I saw how far it fell.

 

[eye.surgeon]

A big part of that fall landed right in your pocket.

 

[calisnow]

If you really want to get rid of it OP I'll give you $54,500 for it. Send me a PM.

 

[green1]

A big part of that fall landed right in your pocket.

I think this is the part people are missing. They never paid the full price to start with as they got money back. You have to deduct that from your original purchase price BEFORE you calculate depreciation as you already were paid that money.

 

[Camera-Cruiser]

If you really want to get rid of it OP I'll give you $54,500 for it. Send me a PM.

I'll go $54,550 :wink:

 

[Kbra]

One single (unaccepted) offer does not determine resale value. If I offered you $20 for it, would you declare your car to have depreciated 99%? Sell it, deduct your tax rebates, and come back and tell us what the real depreciation was. It will be more or less the same as any other 6 figure car.

Tesla doesnt just think up an offer. They enter the info in their calculator and it tells them the offer. Its not like some service center guy just made up a price. From what i can tell private party goes for ~10k more than trade in, which matches their markup that they would likely list it at. Havent seen any CPO 60s with AP recently to compare.

- - - Updated - - -

I'll go $54,550 :wink:

Keep the bids coming. You havent hit the reserve yet

 

[tstafford]

While it sucks for sure, I think it makes sense given the current pricing for a base 70. A 60 simply has to be at least $15K or so less than the cheapest new 70 IMHO. Tesla's offer gives them some room to work on the car a bit (clean it, tires, whatever) and put a modest mark-up. Much more than that and they bump in to the 70 pricing.

 

[Zybane]

I like to think of the tax rebate as "differed payment". Unless you drive the car 10+ years and into the ground, it's not free. You will be paying some of that rebate back when you sell the car due to it being rolled up into depreciation. That's why its particularly i'll advised to buy a low mileage, high value used electric car. You don't get the tax rebate when you buy it, and you pay for the tax break the original purchaser got when you sell it. Avoid.

 

[CHG-ON]

I found this article on Teslarati by Rob M. to be interesting:

http://www.teslarati.com/cost-selling-tesla-buying-newer-model/

 

[calisnow]

I like to think of the tax rebate as "differed payment". Unless you drive the car 10+ years and into the ground, it's not free. You will be paying some of that rebate back when you sell the car due to it being rolled up into depreciation. That's why its particularly i'll advised to buy a low mileage, high value used electric car. You don't get the tax rebate when you buy it, and you pay for the tax break the original purchaser got when you sell it. Avoid.

I think of the rebate as simply lowering the new price of the car - it's that simple. Any new Tesla is not priced at sticker - it's $10K lower (for Californians). The depreciation starts from the after-tax price. And there's no reason to avoid a Tesla that's almost new with a few miles on it - as long as you make sure you are paying less than the after-tax price when new and figuring the depreciation from there.

 

[Wknapp0924]

Does it have Cali HOV stickers? Might be interested for 56,000 only if it comes with stickers.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

As others have mentioned the rebates play a big part in really damaging an electric cars resale value. In WA state up till July of last year one didn't have to pay Sales Tax on a new Tesla, but you had to pay sales tax on an old one. That with the $7500 rebate was a double whammy to anyone trying to sell a used one.

In the OP's case another factor is the 70 replaced the 60 for the same amount of money so that damaged the 60's resale.

With this car I've accepted what the resale guarantee says, and I'm content with that. I also accept that autonomous car technology is rapidly evolving, and each level of AP will get better and better. My AP 1.0 will largely be obsolete once AP 2.0 hardware comes out.

Maybe I'll do what I do with cell phones and skip a generation.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

I am not sure why people don't expect the depreciation to be higher? Like the iphones once the 6s came out, even new iphone 6 lost value. The 60KWh version to me is a relic now if you are speaking in the cell-phone time-frame. 70KWh versions have been out a while now. I say you are getting a deal from tesla at that price.

IMO, here are the things to consider that will affect depreciation for teslas:

1) Luxury car depreciation - Not all luxury cars depreciate fast, but most Luxury cars depreciate at a much higher rate compared to non-luxury cars. Also note the 1st year depreciation is the highest for all cars save for those rare occasion where the manufacture can't get their act together like the Model X. But that is a conversation for another time.
2) State and Federal Tax rebates - Sure not everyone qualifies, but the majority of the buyers do so you need to factor that in
3) Outdated technology - 60KW have not been produced for sometime now. It is like having an old iphone. Sure there is demand for it, but only at a much reduced price.
4) Undesirable model - Sorry to say it, but the 60KWh version is like the iphone 5c. It is the cheaper more undesirable model with limitations. So demand for these at higher prices will be limited.
5) Lower value from trade-in vs private sale - I think this one should be easy. Trade-ins are almost always lower than private sale so if you want the max out of your car, sell it yourself.

Once you understand the above, you will realize how much a deal tesla is giving you so that you don't have to spend time and labor selling it yourself and them assuming the risk of lower price when the car sits on the market for too long.