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Best Way to Get Rid of the Old Non Tesla Car

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Hi.

I’m just upgrading to a new model Y.

I have a 2016 Mitsubishi PHEV which I want to sell/trade in.

This has 75k on the odometer, is 6 years old and has a new battery (54km Range) - 2 weeks old.

What would you recommend?

1. Trade it in to Tesla
2. Sell it on Carsales
3. Other
 
Depends on your motivation “cash v conveniences”

A private sale is likely to result in a better return via a higher sale price of the vehicle. However, you will have to deal with people during the sales process, which can be annoying. You also need to keep in mind, the longer it takes to sell the vehicle, the more it can cost you eg rego, etc.

Trade-in is more convenient, but is likely to reduce your overall return. The added bonus is your old vehicle is handed over at time of sale/pickup of the new vehicle.

Generally, my preference is private sale as it provides the highest return on my asset. Also, the second hand car market is good at the moment, so you should be able to sell your car quickly on CarSales.

I am sure someone on the forum can help provide their experience on the Tesla trade-in process.

This time around, I plan to test out the Tesla trade-in process for my Model Y 😉
 
Tesla will give you the worst value, then Carvana (and others), then private sale.

Private sale will maximize your value. If you don't want to go that route, Carvana and others would be the next logical choice. I drove cross state in my previous car to pick up my Model 3, so trading it in to Tesla made the most sense... but I'm sure I left a few thousand on the table.
 
FWIW when I bought my S I obtained a trade in offer from Tesla but a week before collection put my 16 year old Honda CR-V on Gumtree at 0900, went shopping and returned to 27 replies 3 of which offered me more than I was asking.
Called the first, no reply. Called the second and by 1500 he had called with the cash and driven away - paid me 3 times the Tesla tradein offer.
 
In my experience in Tesla trade in values are terrible from my single sample UK experience. Shop around if you don't mind the minor inconvenience.

Tesla offered me 7.5k to trade in Nissan Qashqai, vs selling for 9.3k back to the Nissan dealer I bought it from without haggling. Probably Helped that it had full service history with them, good condition bar a few scuffed alloys and under 50k miles.

Private sale can get more but with a lot more hassle and uncertainties.
 
Trade-ins never give you value for money - avoid it like the plague in my view.

I sold my last 2 cars on eBay in 2014 and 2019. That way the market finds the price and the winning bidder must complete the transaction.

The cars were 18 and 16 years old respectively. When I inquired about trade-ins at the time I was only offered the minimum trade-in of $500 on both occasions, but on eBay both went for about $2000.

With the second hand market red-hot right now, you’d get a very good price selling privately.
 
I used Pickles DIY Inspect, you have to download the app which makes u take about 10 pics and a video of the engine running. Their response is pretty quick, within a business day (latest for me was a couple hours). If you accept they'll send a tow truck over, at their cost, and you'll get the cash in a couple days. I tried going back to the dealer I bought the car from as well as carsales instant buy (or whatever its called). Pickles gave about 20% higher, it was a couple grand less than selling privately but I hate dealing with tyre kickers..

I've sold 2 cars through them.
 
I reckon one of the best ways to get rid of the old non Tesla car would be some form of explosion, perhaps C4 ala Mythbusters Cement Truck style. Not sure on the amount required, but it should get rid of it.

Might be costly, but with suitable coverage and social media, you might turn a profit depending on the vehicle value.

YMMV. Good luck. :)
 
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I was fortunate
I bought my Merc CLA250 wagon in 2019 as a demo nine months old with 3000km, over $15k off the original price
sold it back to them this year with 30,000km for $45k - first time I had money left over after paying out the lease
such a deal is not available to everyone, but it indicates the inflated price of second-hand cars at present
 
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