Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

$3K loss in value over night? UGH

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
A car manufacturer singlehandedly manipulating the depreciation value of a 10-day old car by 5% in an attempt to fuel sales is disingenuous at the least and potentially very much an act of consumer fraud at the most.

All I'm saying is, there should be some level of reparations layered in for the 20,000 or so consumers that just got fleeced because they fell into the wrong side of their deceptive sales tactics.

That's not how any of this works.

If you think the car is worthwhile to buy at $50,000, then you buy it. If you don't think its worth it, don't. They didn't force you to buy it.

And if the price drops by $3000 10 days later, if it was worth 50k to you 10 days earlier, its still worth 50k to you now.

If you are going to get all upset about possible price drops, then don't buy anything. All prices change. Even if the price doesn't change, you have inflation, strength of currency, and other factors that change value all around you, constantly.
 
If you want an investment, buy an investment.
If you want a car, buy a car.
Except in the rarest of circumstances, these two are mutually exclusive.

I largely agree but but that doesn’t mean resale values shouldn’t be a financial consideration as much as or more than discounts/rebates, interest rates, insurance, fuel costs, etc.

With an investment, it's more about trying to maximize value increases while with something like a car, it can be about trying to minimize expenses or value decreases.

If investment "A" gained $10k in a year while investment "B" only gained $5k, you did $5k better with investment "A."

If car "A" lost $10k in a year while car "B" only lost $5k, you did $5k better with car "B" (as far as resale).
 
  • Like
Reactions: raggedy
No doubt, every penny counts and $3k is not chump change regardless of what your income bracket is. But this happens on almost everything we buy, from $10 books on Amazon to $500k homes. The vast majority of the time, the price it what it is when you buy it, and if it was worth it to you then, then be happy! No regular auto dealership is going to retroactively go back and refund $3k on every Volvo it sold last week just because someone came in and negotiated a $3k discount on the one they just bought today. No auto dealership is going to retroactively apply a new manufacturer incentive to prior sales.

And if it's resale value you're worried about, take comfort in the fact that Tesla is crushing the competition in that area too: Tesla Model 3 retains almost 90% of its value over 3 years, study shows - Electrek It may be premature to suggest that a lower MSRP affects long-term value. The legacy car industry had fixed MSRP and yes, that could be tied to future residual value. But Tesla has a new take on this too... they don't have fixed MSRP, just like they don't have fixed model year iterations (though they do now in name). The market hasn't caught up yet it terms of how do deal with that calculation for a car whose MSRP is variable.

In the scheme of life is $3k worth getting bent out of shape about? Life's too short, enjoy your new car!

Your example is not apples to apples. I specifically said, it ISN'T like some people are negotiating below MSRP. Of course that is legit and no I would not expect a dealership to come back to me and say "hey, we just landed this sweet deal for one customer so we want to make you whole". That is VERY different than straight-up dropping the MSRP by $3K 10 days later. The value of a car is not determined by what you negotiated the purchase price to be, it's based on the MSRP and then depreciates based on other factors from there. So it is not remotely the same thing.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: APotatoGod
Your example is not apples to apples. I specifically said, it ISN'T like some people are negotiating below MSRP. Of course that is legit and no I would not expect a dealership to come back to me and say "hey, we just landed this sweet deal for one customer so we want to make you whole". That is VERY different than straight-up dropping the MSRP by $3K 10 days later. The value of a car is not determined by what you negotiated the purchase price to be, it's based on the MSRP and then depreciates based on other factors from there. So it is not remotely the same thing.

Even MSRPs are adjusted regularly. I bought a MINI F54 when they first went into production. Shortly after taking delivery they changed up the base price and reworked some of the packages and I could have gotten the same car for ~ $2k less if I had just waited. The car was still worth the original price to me so meh. I happens. Tomorrow the price may go back up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: APotatoGod
Sale.
Dealer Cash.
Manufacturer Rebate
Employee Pricing
Price Reduction

They are all the same thing. This reminds me when a major retailer (I think it was Wal-Mart or Lowe's or Home Depot) got rid of the term "Sale" some years ago. Instead of putting sale tags on the products highlighted, they put tags that said "NEW LOWER PRICE". I guess this was to make people feel like they could trust a store that was proactively reducing prices.

Of course, when the price of the item went back up a finite period of time later, it's not like they put up a sign that said "NEW HIGHER PRICE". It was the same thing. A reduction in price from what it cost previously. Maybe one day it would return, maybe it wouldn't.

So all of you that are getting worked up about this being a price change and not the same as a sale or rebate, maybe you'd also have not been okay with the retail setup I just described (even though it's functionally identical to a sale). So you could go back to the old way in your head...just pretend that it's a sign that says "MODEL Y SALE - $3000 OFF, LIMITED TIME ONLY" and we don't know how long the time is.

Feel better?
 
MSRPs do go up. Hyundai raised the base price of the Palisade in February, and then they also started offering "free" maintenance for 3 years for cars sold February 1st and later. Better believe owners who bought their cars prior to 2/1 were displeased and vocal, with some asking for something in return.

I'm in no way a Tesla fanboy, far from it, but I think it's not only perfectly reasonable for Tesla to adjust their pricing, but it should have been expected. Maybe not so soon after launch, but I'd bet this was their plan all along and it might have been accelerated a few months because of covid and the impact it has had on sales (Elon needs to make his bonus goals after all).

Early adopters always pay more. We can't look at Tesla as a traditional car company. Don't people always say "Tesla isn't a car company. They're a technology company."
 
  • Like
Reactions: APotatoGod