On the day Elon announced the one-time FSD Transfer deal, I ordered my Blue Model Y and was super excited. As the date of delivery approached, things started going out of sync for me. I got a very low Tesla offer for my Trade-in which put me in a bind. My Order date and delivery date were less than 7 days apart. Wanted to share a few tips and some lessons learned-NOT financial advise, YMMV:
(1) The Trade-in offer Tesla made me for my 2.5 yo Red LR, AWD, 7-Seater, Premium Wheels Tesla Model Y with FSD (with all Glass tinted, full premium PPF Wrap plus Ceramic coating outside and on the Leather inside) was such that I would’ve owed my Bank close to $16,000. You may want to explore the possibility of selling your Tesla to a Private Party rather than trade-in with Tesla.
(2) The PPF and Cermic coating gets you Zero $. It is discounted 100% if you sell it to Tesla or a Company like CarMax (and I’m sure they will charge a premium to the next buyer for these features - and I’m positive they would’ve dropped the purchase price further if there were dings and stone chips on the body because there was no PPF!) Another reason why you may want to try to sell to a Private buyer.
(3) When you sell your Tesla to a third party, you will need to sell it with “no FSD” (if you plan to transfer the FSD from your current Tesla to a new one).
(4) You have to walk into the Delivery Center about 3-5 days before the delivery date to sign a piece of paper to transfer the FSD on your current Tesla for it to be transferred to the new one. Check with your Tesla Delivery folks.
(5) The rate of interest from Tesla Finance was 3 times my current rate of interest (and 2.5% higher than that from another bank).
The $15,900 reduction from the price of the new Tesla for FSD did not help at all, plus the fact that I don’t qualify for the $7,500 (or any Tax) benefit did not compute well for me. I had to pull the plug on my order. Poor understanding and planning on my part plus the bad economy would’ve cost me a bundle if I had not canceled my order. I think I will be trying to sell my car to a Private Party and get my FSD transferred to a new Tesla before the September 2023 deadline.
On the other hand, I love my Red, and I wouldn’t mind waiting a few years and paying for FSD again when HW5 or HW6 is released. $TSLA all the way!