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CPO or Private Seller???
- Thread starter Mike Robinson
- Start date
CPO cars include a full 4-year/50,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty which begins the day of your purchase. Private sale cars may have expired warranties. If buying private party, I would look for a car that has the ESA (extended service agreement, aka extended warranty). While more limited than the bumper-to-bumper, it should give you some added peace of mind.
If you are like me, and are willing to dig in and find the holy $πi+ deal that pops up every now and again, the private party is for you.
Upside... Costs a lot less. Downside...warranty is limited to new car warranty with no current option to buy an ESA.
If I would have purchased my car CPO, it would have been about $7,000 more than the private party deal I was able to negotiate.
I enjoy the hunt and had a great time finding my car. It's not for every one. But that's my thing.
With all that said, paying the same price for a car PP as you can CPO...probably not the best move.
Upside... Costs a lot less. Downside...warranty is limited to new car warranty with no current option to buy an ESA.
If I would have purchased my car CPO, it would have been about $7,000 more than the private party deal I was able to negotiate.
I enjoy the hunt and had a great time finding my car. It's not for every one. But that's my thing.
With all that said, paying the same price for a car PP as you can CPO...probably not the best move.
+1 on making sure you get a car with the Extended Service Agreement (Warranty) if you buy private party and realize that if the car you buy is relatively new, you will end up with a greater warranty period than a CPO car because Tesla refuses to extend the warranty for CPO cars but private party cars can be purchased with an Extended Warranty.
Personally I would prefer to buy a car private party with the Extended Warranty over a CPO car due to the inability to extend the CPO warranty. If you buy a 2015 private party car with the extended warranty, you are covered through 2023 whereas CPO warranty coverage would end in 2020 with no way to extend it.
You can just ask the owner to purchase the extended factory warranty before they transfer title (as long as they are the original owner), yes? There are many Teslas for sale by the original owner because the car is so new.
As one example OP, I have a current offer on a 2014 P85D with 21" rims loaded with everything except pano roof and premium interior, 12K miles, for $89,900. I am 90% certain that if I agreed to $88K the owner would sell. Comparable CPO P85D's listed on ev-cpo right now are $10K-$15K higher. And this P85D private party is indeed the first owner - so I could add $4K to the price and I now have 90K more miles of warranty and an additional 4 years of coverage on top of the remaining 3 years of factory warranty.
As one example OP, I have a current offer on a 2014 P85D with 21" rims loaded with everything except pano roof and premium interior, 12K miles, for $89,900. I am 90% certain that if I agreed to $88K the owner would sell. Comparable CPO P85D's listed on ev-cpo right now are $10K-$15K higher. And this P85D private party is indeed the first owner - so I could add $4K to the price and I now have 90K more miles of warranty and an additional 4 years of coverage on top of the remaining 3 years of factory warranty.
Super_Popular
Well-Known Member
This was just discussed on another thread but the ESA transfer process is more convoluted than it has to be. Most disconcerting is that it is contingent on an "inspection" of the car by Tesla and proof that the car was maintained as stipulated by the original owner and the transfer can only be confirmed AFTER you buy the car. So if for whatever reason you buy the car and Tesla denies the ESA transfer for whatever reason you are stuck with a car with no ESA.
They must have a process to confirm that the ESA is in fact in effect and can and will be transferred to the new buyer BEFORE the transaction is made. With any other car with a manufacturer Extended Warranty, it is a piece of cake to obtain a statement of warranty coverage and you literally sign one form to transfer the warranty to the new owner and you are done.
J. Transfer of this Vehicle ESA
Contact Tesla and submit the following:
1. A letter requesting that Tesla transfer this Vehicle ESA to the new owner.
2. $100 transfer fee.
3. This Vehicle ESA.
4. Written evidence verifying all maintenance requirements have been met.
5. A copy of documentation evidencing change of ownership and mileage at date of sale.
6. Documents verifying transference of the Vehicle ESA, if applicable.
Conditions:
1. This Vehicle ESA cannot be transferred to another vehicle. It can only be transferred to a different private owner of the same Vehicle.
2. The Vehicle is subject to inspection.
3. Transfer must take place within 30 days of change of ownership.
4. You may not transfer this Vehicle ESA to a vehicle dealer or to the customer of a vehicle dealer.
5. All remaining underlying warranties also must be transferred to the new owner.
If you're looking to save some money, you could have a Tesla sales rep search for a vehicle in their private inventory for vehicles that didn't qualify for CPO. Tesla will inspect it prior to releasing it. You won't have a bumper to bumper warranty, but you might feel ok knowing the vehicle was inspected for major damage. Of course, you'll still have the 8 year power train warranty that started on the day the vehicle was originally sold.
Except there was a reason Tesla had already inspected that car and decided it did not qualify for CPO coverage.
There has to be a way to pay Tesla a fee for a "pre purchase" inspection (like any car dealer would) so that they can go over the car before purchasing from a private party and that will also allow Tesla to do their ESA transfer "inspection" so there are no surprises. The current system where a potential buyer finds out the transferability of the ESA only after buying the car is unreasonable and honestly a bit ridiculous.
Well, actually that is how we purchased our second Tesla. The first one is a CPO. The second one didn't qualify due to mileage. It was 20 grand less than the CPO model we purchased.
I am not arguing the warranty comfort (just to save folks from having to remind me that warranties are comfortable).
If you are a deal hunter...keep in mind...
A car with 12,000 miles might be $5,000 less from a private party than a CPO. The CPO does not qualify for ESA. There is a good chance the PP car also won't qualify. The CPO B2B warranty will be 12,000 miles longer than the PP warranty. That's about $.42 per mile for the warranty alone. That's an awful lot for a warranty.
I guess the better deal remains a private party purchase with assurance from Tesla that the ESA (extended warranty) will transfer. This way you get potentially much longer warranty coverage than with CPO and you also get to find out the detailed history of the car and the condition it was kept in before you buy it.
Everyone's personal value equation is different. I saved $7,000 buying non-CPO. My deal was from a Chevrolet dealer, the Tesla was traded in. They didn't want the Tesla, I did, they washed out, I washed in, we both won. I also had to burn over 2,000 of my B2B warranty miles getting it home.
For me? No regrets. I'm proud of my deal. And really, that's the only thing that matters to anyone. There is no rule of thumb because no two thumbs are the same.
Tesla is making it harder and harder to qualify for ESA. And I think that an original owner who hits the annual intervals within the mileage restriction is doing it for one of two reasons. Reason one - they intend to keep the car and want to buy the ESA in the future. Or reason two - they understand the game well enough to want to offer it up as a valuable feature when the turn around and sell the car. In that case, my bet is that cars with ESA will be worth considerably more than CPO cars. And they may be a bit of a unicorn.
I only add this last bit in to the thread to recommend - if you are an original owner and can get ESA - you may want to run (don't walk) and get it now. I sense that Tesla might be getting out of the extended warranty business?
Which leads to the question, if that prognostication is correct, why? The two vulnerable expensive items that aren't covered under the unlimited mile power train warranty seem to be door handles and the center display. Is that really what's at risk? What are the other risks in everyone else's experience?
For me? No regrets. I'm proud of my deal. And really, that's the only thing that matters to anyone. There is no rule of thumb because no two thumbs are the same.
Tesla is making it harder and harder to qualify for ESA. And I think that an original owner who hits the annual intervals within the mileage restriction is doing it for one of two reasons. Reason one - they intend to keep the car and want to buy the ESA in the future. Or reason two - they understand the game well enough to want to offer it up as a valuable feature when the turn around and sell the car. In that case, my bet is that cars with ESA will be worth considerably more than CPO cars. And they may be a bit of a unicorn.
I only add this last bit in to the thread to recommend - if you are an original owner and can get ESA - you may want to run (don't walk) and get it now. I sense that Tesla might be getting out of the extended warranty business?
Which leads to the question, if that prognostication is correct, why? The two vulnerable expensive items that aren't covered under the unlimited mile power train warranty seem to be door handles and the center display. Is that really what's at risk? What are the other risks in everyone else's experience?
I really hope your theory about Tesla getting out of the Extended Warranty business is not true because if it is, that would imply they have no confidence in the long term reliability of their vehicles and it would be unprecedented in the automotive business. Even Jaguar and Land Rover, who builds some of the least reliable cars offer easy to obtain extended warranties that fully cover the car.
Those who buy cars new might not realize this but extended warranties are key to maintaining the resale value of used cars. With Tesla being the only place you can take a Tesla in for repair this is all the more important. There are many components in a car that needs fixing such as door handles, door locks, center screen, sun roof, lift gate, air suspension, audio system, etc., There's no way I'd ever consider a Model S out of warranty and I bet many used car buyers who are price sensitive feel the same way.
I feel like it is even worse as Tesla would be pocketing the $4k that the buyer gave the seller to get the ESA. It seams like a late purchase ESA should have the same requirements as the transfer. Would they accept the money only to say "not so fast" a few months later? (In the case of an initial owner that plans on keeping their car and purchases it right before the warranty expires.
whitex
Well-Known Member
There is no universal answer. Look at your options, pick the ones you are interested in, compare the numbers ($ and warranty), then figure out what is better for you. Don't forget to consider new as well.
