Dream may be dead

[MalRak]

Kind of stuck in a rough place. Been looking at a Tesla for awhile and after complaining about spending another $100+ filling up gas for my 2014 Infiniti Q50s, went down the rabbit hole. Long story short, with the $8k rebate, great price on the SR+ we ran the numbers and made sense for us to trade in our car and get a model 3.

Went by the dealership, did a test drive (fell even more in love) and talked about trade in. sales rep said they use auto trade pricing and after looking it up with them range was $18k on the low and $23k as the high. Said they usually go on the low side which is fine, $18k + tax savings of a trade in is about $21k, perfect.

Fast forward, we submit pics and all that and trade in offer comes in at $13,500

Numbers no longer make sense..

Few options I looked at, can sell privately and hope to collect $18k, but then im out of a car for 6-10 weeks which is not an option.

Go ahead with purchase, finance the $18k-$20k and sell after. But then what if I can't sell it? Seems like quite the gamble.

Now im sitting here wishing I never test drove this damn beauty of a car

 

[DOCAL]

Do you have a carmax or similar company nearby that you can try?

 

[MalRak]

Do you have a carmax or similar company nearby that you can try?

We have auto trader and they have online instant cash quote thing which I believe sends the info to local dealerships who make an offer, it came in at $15,500

 

[Biscuitman]

We have auto trader and they have online instant cash quote thing which I believe sends the info to local dealerships who make an offer, it came in at $15,500

Have you tried Kijiji? I have my Lexus on it and autotrader and am getting many more enquires on Kijiji.

 

[wethenorth]

Sell it privately. List it safetied about 2 weeks (more if ur not in a major city) before you get the Tesla for something reasonable. As your pick up date approaches, lower the pricing. You'll get way more than $13 500 privately.

 

[pcons]

Kind of stuck in a rough place. Been looking at a Tesla for awhile and after complaining about spending another $100+ filling up gas for my 2014 Infiniti Q50s, went down the rabbit hole. Long story short, with the $8k rebate, great price on the SR+ we ran the numbers and made sense for us to trade in our car and get a model 3.

Went by the dealership, did a test drive (fell even more in love) and talked about trade in. sales rep said they use auto trade pricing and after looking it up with them range was $18k on the low and $23k as the high. Said they usually go on the low side which is fine, $18k + tax savings of a trade in is about $21k, perfect.

Fast forward, we submit pics and all that and trade in offer comes in at $13,500

Numbers no longer make sense..

Few options I looked at, can sell privately and hope to collect $18k, but then im out of a car for 6-10 weeks which is not an option.

Go ahead with purchase, finance the $18k-$20k and sell after. But then what if I can't sell it? Seems like quite the gamble.

Now im sitting here wishing I never test drove this damn beauty of a car

That sucks. You could try and list it for sale and explain to the buyer that they can't take possession until your new car shows up. Kind of like when you have a possession date on your house. It might limit your market, but you would be surprised. I sold my 2017 volt like this and the buyer was really understanding about when to transfer ownership. We sealed the deal 2 weeks before my model 3 showed up and he was willing to wait thankfully.

But, I'll also say that while taking the financial hit of getting less for your car may sting, that effect will wear off as you drive your new tesla, and proceed to forget what it was like to fill up on gas, hear engine noise, etc etc Even if you net out at 16k for your car, plus not getting the tax break on the 3 that would be a delta of around 4k. Amortized over the years you'll drive the tesla and be saving on gas and maintenance that might not be as bad as you think.

Also, your car being a 2014, make sure you factor in any upcoming repairs or maintenance because youll have 4 years bumper to bumper on the tesla, plus pretty much zero maintenance. Not sure you factored that into your numbers, but that can make a big difference for a 5+ year old car vs new.

 

[Ludalicious]

Just trade it in on one of their demo vehicles. They are sold the same as new vehicles with only a few thousand kms on it. Full warranty and all. This should offset the lowball trade in value. Cheers... hope it works out for you.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Not unusual to have used car prices drop when the first snow falls. Prices tend to pick back up in the Spring.

Have 3 choices.
1. Trade in to Tesla. Turn in your old car the same day you pick up your new one. Super convenient. (But lowest price)
2. Sell to a dealer or another wholesaler, like carmax. They give you a period of price protection. (Get more money, but gotta shop around)
3. Sell to a private party. (Get more money, but gotta do the work, arrange delivery, payment and paperwork)

Everybody wants to get full retail for their trade, but have all the convenience, no hassle, and easy payment. Doesn't often work out that way.

 

[X.l.r.8]

Everybody wants to get full retail for their trade, but have all the convenience, no hassle, and easy payment. Doesn't often work out that way.

This is the ugly truth of car buying/selling

 

[mymak]

i sold few car privately on facebook marketplace... very little effort and sold them within 2 weeks at much higher price.

 

[DaddyMac]

Tough one. I know it's hard to pull the trigger on a purchase when you've psyched yourself up then the "price goes up". I wonder if you would have psychologically felt the same way if they hadn't originally given the impression you'd be getting the 18K trade in (ie. If they told you trade in was worth 12K then offer was 13.5K??).

You gotta do what's best for you - financially and otherwise.

I'll echo the sentiment that once you test drive all other cars are ruined. Also will echo others when saying that despite my eagerness to get a "deal" on my Model S 4 years ago, I've never had buyer's remorse - best car I've ever had!

 

[MalRak]

Hey guys,

Really appreciate all the advice and positive feedback.

Everybody wants to get full retail for their trade, but have all the convenience, no hassle, and easy payment. Doesn't often work out that way.

Not entirely true, looking at listings and auto trade assessments, average price was about $21-22k, I was expecting around $18k trade so definitely not full retail.

I did post on CL just see what interest would be like, definitely helps that there are very few listings up on my car as is, so hopefully demand would be high. I got a few bites off the bat when listed at $21,500 and got an offer already last night for $20,000.

Problem we were facing was if we sold now, we still have no car but then realized that Tesla has the car we want as existing new stock.

Going to call today to see if we can grab that one and we still qualify for the federal and provincial rebates, if so, I will be able to sell now and grab my new tesla in a few days.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[malou]

Not sure if that been said before, or if it apply to BC, but in Quebec there's a tax thing to consider when selling privately. If you sell privately, the money you get will be applied to your loan (as a cash down), so on the price of the car after taxes. When you trade-in, the trade-in value is applied directly to the price of the car before taxes.

In my case, Tesla offered ~12 000$ for my 2015 Prius C, which means I had to get a price of ~13 800$ (before taxes, as QC collect TVQ each time a car is sold !) selling privately to get the same monthly payment for my M3. As most Prius where priced between 14 000$ and 15 000$ on the internet, I decided to trade-in anyway, as the less than 1000$ difference wasn't worth the cost of selling privately and didn't make much difference on the monthly payment.

Another tip, don't forget to consider in your calculations a budget for winter tires, PPF (if you want it), other accessories you want, and a couple more just in case . It goes up real quickly with this car ! Plus in my case the 8000$ provincial incentive was mailed a month after delivery, and the HPWC incentive was received last week (~3 months later), so another thing to figure out in your budget.