After low ball offers by Carmax and Tesla, sold it myself - Huge Difference!

[MorrisonHiker]

This was actually bought from Tesla (had to go down to Houston from Dallas to pick it up at their location there), with regular title. I was worried a bit about the flood of flood-damaged cars down there, but I don't think this was likely in this case. I didn't think to ask about access to Supercharging. They mentioned it was available, asked how I planned to charge (since I'm about to move in several weeks, currently just using 110V at home, and Supercharger when available/needed), and didn't mention any upcoming or current need to pay for use of Superchargers. And used 2 on drive back from Houston to Dallas. Thinking I should have clarified more here with them, but maybe it's standard to continue access with cars bought from Tesla? The warranty is for 4 years or 50k miles.

A 2016 Tesla would come with free Supercharging for the life of the car.

 

[tontod]

Are you in so cal?

NorCal

 

[tpedwards]

If paying $3k out of pocket for a new MCU you should be entitled to receive the old broken one back as well. It's the law.

I agree. Most won't even think about it, nor would they consider paying somone to replace the chip. Also, there is difficulty trying to replace the chip after it has already failed. If I still have this car at ~135,000 miles and I have not experienced this problem, I would consider having the chip changed out.

What's crazy is that there is NO WAY to tell if your chip is one of the cheap Hynix versions or a better version less likely to fail, or would fail much later in life.

 

[whitex]

This will be a big service deal for Tesla. They had better get their act together in regards to an alternative to $3k per MCU. What you are paying for is a new MCU when all you need is a refurb’d daughter card hosted in the MCU. Tesla should stockpile the bricked MCUs and get a contract in place to refurb the board that has the eMMC chip on it ~ $150-200. Charging $3k to replace the MCU and getting no credit for the core is irresponsible on Tesla’s part.

I just had my MCU changed out for this reason (I believe) on my 2015 P85D at 85,500 miles... under warranty.

Such a shame for what is otherwise such a solid car.

People who do pay for a new MCU, should:

1. Insist on a new, not remanufactured item for $3K
2. Insist on the old one back, you can Ebay them to someone who is willing to refurb it and resell back

 

[yobigd20]

so my 2013 P85 has 184k miles. who wants it? lol I dunno if I'd even sell it for $25k. Definitely seems like a steal at that price regardless of miles you're still getting a super fast 200+ mile range EV. you can't beat that. it's no wonder they sell quickly. I'd buy it too.

 

[computerchuck]

I second this post—I sold my 2013 S with 170,000 miles for $26k. It took over a month but if you’re the cheapest S in the market and your car is in good shape the right buyer will come along.

Same here. My MS P90D Tesla trade in value came in at just over $33k. Will sell it Friday for $49k. Took a month like you, but it was the lowest P90D for sale within 200 miles.

 

[iqless]

Tesla offered me $26,000. On private sale I got $40,000. I'd rather have kept the car as a completely useless second car than give it away for $26,000. It was really outrageous.

 

[jegs]

Tesla offered me $26,000. On private sale I got $40,000. I'd rather have kept the car as a completely useless second car than give it away for $26,000. It was really outrageous.

Their cavalier attitude towards their current customers with Tesla trades has just about convinced me to sell mine privately and wait for a main stream manufacturer to come to market with a nice electric car.
I went into the showroom and told them I'd be interested in trading in my 2013 P85+ with 75k on it. The representative told me he would get a "final" price from the remarketing team and get back to me before the end of the day. I told him I was interested in the S that was on the showroom floor. I asked him the price of the car and he wouldn't or couldn't give me a straight answer. I looked at the Monroney that was in the glove box. The online price of the car was about 13K less than the Monroney. Like I said the salesman either didn't know or didn't want me to know. Kind of shady if you ask me.
Three weeks later he finally contacts me via text and says he has just emailed my trade in value to me. They offered me $24,500. I recently retired from the car business and still have access to some of the tools I used while running my car lot. I can see the Manheim Market Report that lists all the cars sold at dealer only wholesale auctions in the last 30 days. Tesla has sold hundreds of their trades at these auctions. So I replied to their offer with this email. It expresses some of my thoughts about this company.
"
"The offer is an insult to my intelligence. A 2013 P85 with 73,000 miles sold at the
Riverside Auto Auction just last week for $30,800. It may or may not have been a plus like mine.
For crying out loud a P85 with 150k on it sold at the auction in Chicago for more than you offered. Your
remarketing team has access to this information and more.
You waited three weeks to get back to me and then this. Are you guys trying to alienate your customer base?
Do you think we are all stupid?"

 

[Dithermaster]

What a car sold for and what anyone offers for a car are two different things, when they are reselling it. Of course there is a difference. That said, I get where you are coming from. They also low-balled my P85+ and I'll be selling it myself; probably get $10K more than their offer. We'll see.

 

[Krazaak]

"The offer is an insult to my intelligence. A 2013 P85 with 73,000 miles sold at the
Riverside Auto Auction just last week for $30,800. It may or may not have been a plus like mine.
For crying out loud a P85 with 150k on it sold at the auction in Chicago for more than you offered. Your
remarketing team has access to this information and more.
You waited three weeks to get back to me and then this. Are you guys trying to alienate your customer base?
Do you think we are all stupid?"

As long as Tesla is reselling their own cars and not sending them to auction, trade-ins through them are going to suck. They beat CarMax on both of my BMW trade-ins. They should partner with a national used car dealer like CarMax for their pre-owned sales and focus on their new cars. It'd be better for all of us.

 

[daniel]

Tesla does not want to take trade-ins. So they offer very low prices. As long as they're not claiming to offer fair market value, there's nothing wrong with this. If they are claiming to be offering a fair price, that's dishonest. Whether they're sending the car to auction or refurbishing it for re-sale themselves, they don't want to have to deal with it. But they will if there's enough profit in it.

 

[ChadFeldheimer]

Their cavalier attitude towards their current customers with Tesla trades has just about convinced me to sell mine privately and wait for a main stream manufacturer to come to market with a nice electric car.
I went into the showroom and told them I'd be interested in trading in my 2013 P85+ with 75k on it. The representative told me he would get a "final" price from the remarketing team and get back to me before the end of the day. I told him I was interested in the S that was on the showroom floor. I asked him the price of the car and he wouldn't or couldn't give me a straight answer. I looked at the Monroney that was in the glove box. The online price of the car was about 13K less than the Monroney. Like I said the salesman either didn't know or didn't want me to know. Kind of shady if you ask me.
Three weeks later he finally contacts me via text and says he has just emailed my trade in value to me. They offered me $24,500. I recently retired from the car business and still have access to some of the tools I used while running my car lot. I can see the Manheim Market Report that lists all the cars sold at dealer only wholesale auctions in the last 30 days. Tesla has sold hundreds of their trades at these auctions. So I replied to their offer with this email. It expresses some of my thoughts about this company.
"
"The offer is an insult to my intelligence. A 2013 P85 with 73,000 miles sold at the
Riverside Auto Auction just last week for $30,800. It may or may not have been a plus like mine.
For crying out loud a P85 with 150k on it sold at the auction in Chicago for more than you offered. Your
remarketing team has access to this information and more.
You waited three weeks to get back to me and then this. Are you guys trying to alienate your customer base?
Do you think we are all stupid?"

Thanks for sharing.

Perhaps the remarketing department is being extra conservative because they are afraid of getting canned by Elon while he is reviewing every 10th expense!

 

[ZestyChicken]

I tried to sell my 2.5 non-sport Roadster on eBay for $65K and then for $60K, no takers. Took it to CarMax, and now I don't remember what they offered, but it was peanuts. Maybe $23K or something like that? They told me they could not sell it on their lot and would just send it to auction. I finally sold it to an EV dealer (Current Automotive in Illinois) for $50K because it was either that or ship to to Maui and have two cars, and because they offered (and made good on) a very fast cash sale. They're still listing it for just under $65K. I consider myself lucky to have gotten rid of it because even though it was tremendous fun to drive, the Model 3 is much more comfortable and EAP (used properly: eyes on the road, hands on the wheel) is safer and less stressful.

Glad you had a good experience. Personally I found them to be very unscrupulous. I would warn Tesla owners away from Current Automotive. Lots of red flags. Their founder Seneca Giese is a scumbag.

 

[daniel]

Glad you had a good experience. Personally I found them to be very unscrupulous. I would warn Tesla owners away from Current Automotive. Lots of red flags. Their founder Seneca Giese is a scumbag.

In what way? He was straight-up with me. What he offered me seemed very low to me but it matched the best offer I had had in a year of trying to sell it. True to his word he sent me the money immediately and arranged to have the car picked up promptly. Other than my feeling that the car was worth more, I am 100% satisfied with how Seneca treated me. I have no experience of him personally.

Did he fail to pay you what you were owed? Did he sell you a lemon? You say "Lots of red flags." Care to elucidate?

 

[Seneca_Chicago]

Glad you had a good experience. Personally I found them to be very unscrupulous. I would warn Tesla owners away from Current Automotive. Lots of red flags. Their founder Seneca Giese is a scumbag.

Wow - this one hurts.

Anyone reading, refer to my post here for more details - How do I sell a Model S?

 

[MAW13]

I was offered $45,000 and sold privately for $60,000. Had many many backup buyers as well

How did you sell it yourself?

 

[MAW13]

So we've discovered here that a private sale price is higher than a trade-in value? It has always been that way, this is nothing new. Car resellers don't work for free.

Another lesson, new cars depreciate fast. Well, nothing new here either. A new car that drives off the lot, loses approximately 2 years worth of depreciation, which is 25-50% of its value, depending on which car. Think about differently, let's say we look at $100K Model S. Say it costs Tesla $70K to produce one (not including R&D and all the other overhead, because they are irrelevant for example as they are fixed total cost). A customer after a month of ownership want's to return it, so Tesla is facing a question of how much is the car worth to them? They can make a brand new one, custom color and options, for $70K, so obviously the car with fixed options and a month worth of use (and not eligible for new EV rebates) has to be worth a less.

Value, or worth, of a car is always what you can get someone else to pay for it. There is no absolute or somehow "fair" value. If you can't find a buyer for your car for a price you want, unfortunately that means your car is not worth that much, no matter what you read on the internet or what you feel the value is.

So, if you want to prove to yourself you car is worth more than offers you are getting, find a buyer for more, make sure you add to the price the cost of selling it too, including any seller costs and of cost your time. If you think your time is free, then next time you want to trade a car, offer to work 20hrs a week until the car is sold for free for the dealership you are trying to trade the car in to, you might get a higher offer, but you''ll have to work washing cars, etc.