After hearing the success stories on the forum, I took my 2016 85D in excellent condition to carmax for a quote. They offered $58K. They said they don't directly sell Teslas so they offer based on what they could get from auction. I was shocked. My price guarantee from Tesla at 3 years is higher!
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Carmax lowball offer
- Thread starter jmsurpri
- Start date
TexLaw
Member
Skotty
2014 S P85 | 2023 F-150L
Carmax offered me a peanut butter cup for my 2012 Volt when I was upgrading to my Tesla. I do like peanut butter cups, but I turned down their offer.
for mine, Tesla stated they appraise vehicles on a formula based on 80% of retail price you paid, then 80% from that number to come up with the trade-in offer price. Regardless of how clean your car might be, they use that 20% margin as a reconditioning expense and profit margin of course). So use that formula and you should get something similar to what Tesla will offer you.
Example:
$100,000 original price
$80,000 what they would sell your car as a CPO
$64,000 what they would offer you for your car + or - adjustments for mileage, condition, etc.
i think the timing of the sale/trade-in can greatly affect the value as well, including the model. I opted to private-sale mine and got what I asked for it without much issues... Had several inquiries on the same day.
In my case, Tesla did offer slightly below the trade-in value (here in Los Angeles) and my mileage was a tad above average, however for giggles I went to Carmax and I did get the same explanation as the OP and their bid came in $6,000 below Teslas.
On the flip side, Tesla did confirm that they honor Carmax appraisals (so if you happen to get lucky and get a higher bid from Carmax, Tesla will match it).
In my case, Tesla did offer slightly below the trade-in value (here in Los Angeles) and my mileage was a tad above average, however for giggles I went to Carmax and I did get the same explanation as the OP and their bid came in $6,000 below Teslas.
On the flip side, Tesla did confirm that they honor Carmax appraisals (so if you happen to get lucky and get a higher bid from Carmax, Tesla will match it).
cgiGuy
Active Member
What year and how many miles did you have? I find it hard to believe that there would be an across the board equation like that, since people still look at things like mileage when considering market value.
Super_Popular
Well-Known Member
there's no point, Tesla would offer lower than Carmax. Generally Tesla's offers are thousands below wholesale.
K-MTG
Sunshade Captain of TMC
Tesla offered $24k for my Cadillac ELR. So I decided not to get an S until I get my $$$ out of the ELR. GM offered $38k if I trade in my ELR for a CT6
They offered me $6k for my Audi A4 years ago, and wrote it up that it had evidence of being in a wreck... but yet when questioned couldn't show me said evidence which led them to believe it was in an accident. It was NEVER wrecked and in excellent condition. I sold it for $15.5k a few weeks later, private party book was $17k but I had to flip it quick. I'll never set foot on a Carmax property again.
Carmax will always low ball offer on a car they don't sell. Watch the Doug Demuro videos on YouTube. He's very entertaining, but he takes exotic cars into Carmax to see what they will offer as a kind of running joke. He's made that point with Carmax, if you bring in a car they would want to sell themselves, they will make a pretty good offer, but if they don't sell that kind of car, they give you their "go away" offer.
Similar threads
