Buying CPO vs Private Party

[tesiono]

I am looking to purchase a used tesla in the near future(few months from now)

my budget is around 50-60k and im looking at specifically the P85's(2013-2014) because they seem to be the best bang for your buck, 265 range and they are simliarly priced as the S85. some of the options id like to have are the tech package, air suspension and sunroof.

i have been looking at sites such as craigslist and the cpo ev page but i had a few questions of concern.

it seems like it makes no sense to even bother buying one from a private party(craigslist) because most listings i see are asking around the same price range as the CPO's offered by Tesla but the CPO's will come with 4yr/50k miles warranty unless i can find one from a private party with extended warranty. also it looks like from my reading, i cannot purchase extended warranty as a 2nd owner either.

is my thought process correct? why are private party asking so much for their cars especially when they are out of warranty or close to out of warranty? is this not a big selling point for a Model S? is it really no big deal to own a Model S outside of warranty? any advice or thoughts would be greatly appareiated. thank you

 

[Fiver]

Be aware the 265 range is only when at 100% charge and also when brand new. At 50k miles you realistically will be getting 226 miles on a 90% charge from a 2013 or 2014 CPO. (My late '13 with 50k miles gets 254 at 100% and 227 at 90%.)

 

[NAVALARCHITECT]

The model S is filled with tech as you know, and tech in cars going out gets very expensive. would hate to have to fix the screen, door handles, dead sensors when my warranty is up.

 

[tesiono]

Be aware the 265 range is only when at 100% charge and also when brand new. At 50k miles you realistically will be getting 226 miles on a 90% charge from a 2013 or 2014 CPO. (My late '13 with 50k miles gets 254 at 100% and 227 at 90%.)

oh yeah definitely i know about the degradation in battery but i meant to say P85 over S60 which has a lower range and cost only a bit less in the used market...

The model S is filled with tech as you know, and tech in cars going out gets very expensive. would hate to have to fix the screen, door handles, dead sensors when my warranty is up.

this is my exact concern.. i wouldn't feel comfortable owning one out of warranty and wanted thoughts from current owners how they feel about owning the car outside of warranty?

 

[tesiono]

does the summon feature come on cars that dont have auto pilot?

 

[Fiver]

Summon is only for cars with Autopilot hardware.

 

[Rahul]

Been down this hole before and it's a tough one. If P performance is not a top priority I'd put a deposit down for a 60 with a pushed out delivery before the 11/22 $2K price increase if you can stretch it.

- You'll have the latest AP 2.0 hardware
- 0 miles, brand new car smell
- full warranty
- since it's a 75 battery you can charge to 100%. Your daily range will be ~208 mi vs ~227 mi for 2013 P85 at 90%
- all the build improvements since 2013-2014

 

[DarkMatter]

I just went the other way on this one - I don't care about AP, and even if I do it adds a pile of money to the car cost. I could do a zero-mile car with tech I don't care about, or a fully loaded P85 for less. Ended up going with the P85.

 

[GSP]

If you buy a one-owner car from a private party, you can pay the first owner to purchase the $4,000 extended warranty from tesla before ownership is transferred. That is what I did when I bought my 85D, and it ended up less expensive than a CPO car.

GSP

 

[tesiono]

GSP[/QUOTE]

Been down this hole before and it's a tough one. If P performance is not a top priority I'd put a deposit down for a 60 with a pushed out delivery before the 11/22 $2K price increase if you can stretch it.

- You'll have the latest AP 2.0 hardware
- 0 miles, brand new car smell
- full warranty
- since it's a 75 battery you can charge to 100%. Your daily range will be ~208 mi vs ~227 mi for 2013 P85 at 90%
- all the build improvements since 2013-2014

P isnt a top priority but if its only a few thousand more, id rather get it over a S85 for ~2-3k less.

ive spec'd out a S60 with the options i want, came out to be ~75k(before incentives), kind of pricey for what it is. i dont really care about AP/0 miles either. doesnt the S60 get hit by the battery degradation too ?

I just went the other way on this one - I don't care about AP, and even if I do it adds a pile of money to the car cost. I could do a zero-mile car with tech I don't care about, or a fully loaded P85 for less. Ended up going with the P85.

you sound like you are in my similar situation, i also dont care much about auto pilot and rather get a used fully loaded or well optioned P85 for less.. if you dont mind me asking, what did you end up getting/how much did you pay? CPO or private owner?

If you buy a one-owner car from a private party, you can pay the first owner to purchase the $4,000 extended warranty from tesla before ownership is transferred. That is what I did when I bought my 85D, and it ended up less expensive than a CPO car.

GSP

if the car is over 40k miles, is the original owner still able to purchase the extended warranty?

 

[robby]

this is my exact concern.. i wouldn't feel comfortable owning one out of warranty and wanted thoughts from current owners how they feel about owning the car outside of warranty?

If you think it's expensive to own a Tesla out of warranty, wait until you see what it costs to keep a Tesla in warranty.

We have a March '15 85D with over 30k miles, and we plan to keep it until we can buy a car that lets us press a button, go to sleep, and wake up at our destination. It would be amazing if AP2 can do that in a year or two, but if that doesn't come for 10 years, we'll be driving our '15 S for over a decade.

I see no financial rationale to buy the ESA or trade up to a new vehicle under warranty. Our S has had some minor issues -- factory chrome trim misalignment, pano roof requiring a manual push to open (initially caused by a twig that fell into the side channel), and a seat rattle (caused by an insecure clip). None of these issues made the car unreliable or indicate larger looming issues. And even if they all had somehow not manifested until mile 50,001, they would not cost anywhere near the $4600 total cost of the ESA + 3 $200 issue fees to fix.

More critically, if you're trading up every 3-4 years to stay in warranty, you are resetting your depreciation clock and, if you live in a state like MA, resetting a very high excise tax clock. These tens of thousands of dollars dwarf any foreseeable repair you'd need to make to your S, including a drivetrain issue, which is covered by an 8-year unlimited mile warranty. If you make it into year nine, you're already ahead by enough margin to replace the whole drivetrain yourself and still be in the black vs if you had traded up 2-3 times to stay in warranty.

If money is no object and you value never having to think about repairs, by all means buy the ESA and trade up to stay in warranty. But if you're making a financial decision, doing that will almost surely cost you more.

 

[jra]

If you think it's expensive to own a Tesla out of warranty, wait until you see what it costs to keep a Tesla in warranty.

We have a March '15 85D with over 30k miles, and we plan to keep it until we can buy a car that lets us press a button, go to sleep, and wake up at our destination. It would be amazing if AP2 can do that in a year or two, but if that doesn't come for 10 years, we'll be driving our '15 S for over a decade.

I see no financial rationale to buy the ESA or trade up to a new vehicle under warranty. Our S has had some minor issues -- factory chrome trim misalignment, pano roof requiring a manual push to open (initially caused by a twig that fell into the side channel), and a seat rattle (caused by an insecure clip). None of these issues made the car unreliable or indicate larger looming issues. And even if they all had somehow not manifested until mile 50,001, they would not cost anywhere near the $4600 total cost of the ESA + 3 $200 issue fees to fix.

More critically, if you're trading up every 3-4 years to stay in warranty, you are resetting your depreciation clock and, if you live in a state like MA, resetting a very high excise tax clock. These tens of thousands of dollars dwarf any foreseeable repair you'd need to make to your S, including a drivetrain issue, which is covered by an 8-year unlimited mile warranty. If you make it into year nine, you're already ahead by enough margin to replace the whole drivetrain yourself and still be in the black vs if you had traded up 2-3 times to stay in warranty.

If money is no object and you value never having to think about repairs, by all means buy the ESA and trade up to stay in warranty. But if you're making a financial decision, doing that will almost surely cost you more.

thanks for sharing this. i'm in the same boat as OP debating CPO vs private sale and whether to purchase ESA for latter, and this is a helpful perspective.

 

[DarkMatter]

you sound like you are in my similar situation, i also dont care much about auto pilot and rather get a used fully loaded or well optioned P85 for less.. if you dont mind me asking, what did you end up getting/how much did you pay? CPO or private owner?

I have a deposit on a CPO car. It's 34098 if you want to look it up on the historical listings. 66k for a P85 with every option for the production date except for cold weather and 21s. I actually was lukewarm on air suspension but coil P85s are rare. The same amount of money on a new car would have gotten me just the PUP and glass roof, no autopilot, no self driving, no leather, no D. With the quality of the CPO warranty a car with 29k on it was a no brainer. There are much cheaper cars available if you don't care about all the options, but you will have to contact an advisor to see some of those listings. The ones with previous crash damage are even cheaper.