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Another trade in value...
- Thread starter Kkubo12
- Start date
KBB is not known as the most accurate as far as trade in goes... and car dealers want to make money so in general will price their purchase price so they can make a few thousand dollars when they sell it.
Trading in a low mile almost new car is almost always a losing proposition.
Trading in a low mile almost new car is almost always a losing proposition.
AlanSubie4Life
Efficiency Obsessed Member
Exactly. The best way to get the value is to have the car declared a total loss. Obviously that has other potential downsides though! For comps the insurance companies will use dealer listed prices. Which you will find to be quite high.
I was looking at this recently, and especially for Performance, a total right about now is likely to pay out quite a bit more (2-4k) more than the price of a new Performance + tax, even before taking into account the credits and state incentives.
They were aware of fsd. I was offered 41.5$. I politely declined. While I fully understand how the car business works, almost 40% loss in value after 3 months blows my mind.
40% seems steep - what was your original msrp? An AWD with FSD right now without color upgrades is only ~$53.9k plus fees and tax, so a ~23% loss. Not ideal but still not horrible considering all factors. I truly don't think places like Carmax are valuing options like FSD much at all as I recently got a quote from them too, and they seemed totally clueless what EAP was. They said they all have it, and I politely said they were mistaken. Not really their fault though with how many permutations and changes in the Model 3 lineup. Also from their perspective EAP and FSD probably seem like vaporware, which largely they are as of right now.
jelloslug
Active Member
Did you subtract your tax credit from that calculation?
AlanSubie4Life
Efficiency Obsessed Member
Yes, please do a spreadsheet comparison and post it, as below, when quoting value losses! It's very easy to get it wrong by a bit.
KBB very unlikely factoring in state and federal rebates as well as not keeping up with the constant price lowering with the Telsa model 3.
Therefore moreso than any other car, I would expect KBB to be higher than you will actually get via a trade in to a dealer with any smarts.
It does not matter what you paid for the car, it matters what they can realistically sell it for today and they should only be comparing it to the new car costs, deducting any rebates and going from there devaluing it appropriately for being used and not new. Then deducting another 10% at least for what they expect to make on reselling the car. Honestly that makes the $41,500 number fairly close, maybe a low on the low side based on how much value they and future buyer puts on FSD.
They buy for $41,500 and hope to sell for $46,500
List it for a private sale if you want a fair price, you should be able to better the CarMax offer fairly easy that way.
Therefore moreso than any other car, I would expect KBB to be higher than you will actually get via a trade in to a dealer with any smarts.
It does not matter what you paid for the car, it matters what they can realistically sell it for today and they should only be comparing it to the new car costs, deducting any rebates and going from there devaluing it appropriately for being used and not new. Then deducting another 10% at least for what they expect to make on reselling the car. Honestly that makes the $41,500 number fairly close, maybe a low on the low side based on how much value they and future buyer puts on FSD.
They buy for $41,500 and hope to sell for $46,500
List it for a private sale if you want a fair price, you should be able to better the CarMax offer fairly easy that way.
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ChadS
Last tank of gas: March 2009
The last time I sold a Tesla (a Model 3 LR RWD with AEP) was in November. The KBB value was $56,500 (well, they give a range, but that was the middle of the range). Tesla offered me $46,200; my state gives me a tax credit on trade in so that was essentially worth $51,000. I quickly and easily sold it privately for $51,500, plus I got the federal tax credit so essentially I got $59,000 out of the car.
Carmax offered $36k - more than $20k less than the KBB value, and more than $10k less than Tesla's offer (which also would have a trade-in tax incentive).
I agree the KBB values are very often pretty inflated. And obviously many on here have gotten larger offers from Carmax than from Tesla. I'm not saying my experience is typical - only confirming that Carmax offers and KBB values do not necessarily track closely. The difference between Carmax's offer and what I sold the car for also indicates that you can't calculate depreciation just by looking at a Carmax offer.
Carmax offered $36k - more than $20k less than the KBB value, and more than $10k less than Tesla's offer (which also would have a trade-in tax incentive).
I agree the KBB values are very often pretty inflated. And obviously many on here have gotten larger offers from Carmax than from Tesla. I'm not saying my experience is typical - only confirming that Carmax offers and KBB values do not necessarily track closely. The difference between Carmax's offer and what I sold the car for also indicates that you can't calculate depreciation just by looking at a Carmax offer.
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Bill Foster
I'm going home!
Will Kbb buy your car? no.
but Carmax will.
Easiest way to shut down that objection when I sold cars lol.
but Carmax will.
Easiest way to shut down that objection when I sold cars lol.
mact3333
Member
I have sold many cars in the past...you will be lucky to get KBB wholesale/trade in price in open market and that's if car is a great condition...cars like Hondas and Toyotas will fetch more...no dealer will you anything close to KBB trade in value.
I was looking to trade in my LR AWD model with 200 miles on it and it was a 51K car and Tesla offered me 39K for it lol.
I was looking to trade in my LR AWD model with 200 miles on it and it was a 51K car and Tesla offered me 39K for it lol.
For some strange reason, when many people here start to talk about their losses in when trying to sell their almost new tesla model 3s, they never count the tax credits that are available. They seem to think "well that was separate, that was my money so it doesnt count".
What they forget is, while it exists / existed, every potential buyer for their car (dealership or otherwise) is figuring that in, because for a used car they DONT get them. You see that a lot in the tesla for sale portion of this site (along with the fact there are several people here who seem to enjoy jumping in "tesla for sale" threads and critiquing price vs just ignoring it if its too expensive).
@AlanSubie4Life shows a REAL evaluation of money / value lost.
Anyone selling cars makes $ on the buy not the sell. Trades will always be low or attempt to get it lower than market so they can turn a profit on the deal. Sell private applies to all car sales.
My 2016 Subaru Legacy cost me $32k new and when in looked to trade it in 6 months in I was offered sub $20k. I ended up trading it in it 1.5 yrs later for just under $20k. Drive a car off the lot and it depreciates as much as 2 yrs.
My 2016 Subaru Legacy cost me $32k new and when in looked to trade it in 6 months in I was offered sub $20k. I ended up trading it in it 1.5 yrs later for just under $20k. Drive a car off the lot and it depreciates as much as 2 yrs.
vjason
Member
I haven't seen a site yet that can account for FSD (KBB, Vroom, Carvana), so I suspect that it doesn't increase the value at all unless you are selling to a private party.
Remember if dealers can't check a box when judging your trade value it becomes difficult to get an offer that truly represents your car. Plus lets be honest, FSD isn't exactly raising the value of a car right now.
Remember if dealers can't check a box when judging your trade value it becomes difficult to get an offer that truly represents your car. Plus lets be honest, FSD isn't exactly raising the value of a car right now.
Thank you! A $3200 price difference in 7 months on a $65k car really isn’t much. Less than 5%.
We routinely see “traditional” dealerships run programs all the time - anything from “we pay your tax” to employee pricing to 20% on the hood.
All the fussing and fighting over pricing, when you boil it down, is a tempest in a teapot.
AlanSubie4Life
Efficiency Obsessed Member
Just note I am a special case (and it depends on how you account for FUSC) and for most P3D+ owners around that actual purchase time the difference is around $8k (or even higher, I think, if they ordered and took delivery in early Oct 18 - hard to say exactly without the detailed purchase contract info). Depends on the color of the vehicle, FUSC, etc.
Order around but before Sept 18th, 2018 and deliver before Oct 26th, 2018 - gave up FUSC, paid about same price as me. So +$5k.
Order and deliver after Sept 18th but before Oct 26th. Paid ~$5k more and also don’t have FUSC. So +$10k.
Order and deliver after but around Oct 26th - Same price, no FUSC - So +$5k.
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