Ever found your Model S for sale on Texas_direct? (ebay)

[kwjayhawk]

It's always weird for me to see a Model S either asking, and not selling, on Tx Direct, when you can get a CPO for sometimes the same price or less depending on features...

So I ask this question to those who have traded their Tesla back to Tesla when upgrading: Have you ever seen your vehicle for sale later? And what do you think about it when you see it? Asking more than you thought they would? Did they repair any curb rash, fabric wear, etc?

Just trying to put puzzle pieces together.

Thanks!

 

[Mike K]

I sold my car directly to them. They are also Vroom.com and that's who I got the quote from.

They beat Tesla's offer by $5000. I only really expected to get $49,000 private party for my car. So when they gave me $47,000 for it and it was a cash deal I took that and ran. From the perspective of someone selling a car to them, I have nothing but praise. They negotiated their offer, they sent the paperwork promptly, paid off my bank and wired me money the same day and overall made the entire process stupidly easy.

But the businessman in me can't fathom how they're making money. I estimate my car to be worth $49,000 on a good day. It was an early 2013 S85, fully loaded but no parking sensors or folding mirrors as the older cars didn't have them. It had 45,000 miles. It had some upgrades direct from Tesla (Continental TPMS system, alcantera headliner, etc) but nothing that would really add value unless someone knew to look for them.

So if they could sell it for $49,000, they paid me $47,000, probably another $500 to ship it from LA to Texas and another $500 in overhead and they're left with $1000 profit maybe. But they're tying up a lot of money to get that and they likely won't. In fact, as it sits, the car has been there for over a month (it's still in my Tesla App) and hasn't really moved. They're tying up huge amounts of money to scalp a thousand or so in profit.

Maybe my car was a fluke. Maybe they overpaid. I wish them the best. There is a real need for that business model. People don't want to deal with the lowball offers that come with trading their car in but also don't want to deal with the bottom feeders that the private party market is full of. So they offer a really good service. I just hope they're making money.

 

[kwjayhawk]

Thanks for this write up. I appreciate it.

That sounds like a lot of work with a lot of overhead for a little profit. But I'm not an auto dealer so I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I just know when I look on their website (and thanks, I was confused about vroom, too!) and then flip back to the Tesla CPO program, I just can't see how they can get their asking prices unless they are banking on people who don't know about Tesla's CPO program.

For me, their price would have to be low enough that I could self insure of sorts against small repairs (door handles, leaks, etc) that would make it worth taking a risk.

But alas I haven't seen a Signature Red color on the CPO program for a while now... so that may have to be an option. Love that cranberry red.