I recently completed sale of my 2018 LR DM Model 3 and wanted to share some general insights that might help others who are selling their cars now or in the very near future.
First off, my car was a very good condition garaged vehicle with blue paint, premium white interior, Maxpider floor mats, wrapped center console, PPF on the bumper/lights/front 24" of hood and fenders, and ceramic window tint. The car also included the factory mobile charger and a Nomad wireless phone charger that had been added to the center console in place of the original charging solution.
The car was listed on FB Marketplace, Auto Trader, and here at TMC. The buyer ultimately connected with me via Auto Trader.
First off, my car was a very good condition garaged vehicle with blue paint, premium white interior, Maxpider floor mats, wrapped center console, PPF on the bumper/lights/front 24" of hood and fenders, and ceramic window tint. The car also included the factory mobile charger and a Nomad wireless phone charger that had been added to the center console in place of the original charging solution.
The car was listed on FB Marketplace, Auto Trader, and here at TMC. The buyer ultimately connected with me via Auto Trader.
- Give yourself as much runway as possible, the more the better. I was selling my Model 3 in preparation for receiving my new Model Y which I'm scheduled to pick up on Monday. Due to Tesla scheduling & timing, my delivery window shrunk dramatically going from a vague four week window down to "here's your VIN" and then "come get your car or give it to someone else" in an extremely short amount of time. If at all possible sell your car sooner so you can meet with more buyers and reduce time between price drops.
- Piggy-back onto #1, it takes time to pay off loans and get titles. In my case I had my title in hand, but the timing got so close to needing to take delivery of the new car that I felt I was really in a bit of a rush. I could have bought the new vehicle and kept this one until I could find a buyer but logistically this is even more of a nightmare for me and probably others too.
- Tesla resale values have gone off a cliff, literally. I could have sold this Model three a few months ago, easily, for well over $40K. You still can't find many listed for under $40K, but the reality is that nobody wants to pay $40K any longer for a non P non FSD Tesla, even if it is in excellent condition with low mileage. It's worth mentioning that Tesla is offering wholesale prices, their offer for my trade was literally $32,000.
- I scoffed at numerous early low-ball offers of $35K-$36K but ultimately my sale price was only bit higher than that. Take clues from what offers you are getting to get a feel for if you are priced for the market (in the SF Bay area alone there are over 200 M3 and MY vehicles currently available for sale so that market will be even worse than the market I am in).
- Additional options on Teslas, like most cars, don't really affect resale in any substantial way. In particular, EAP adds nothing or nearly nothing to resale, which was shocking to me. I used EAP very little so this is a valuable lesson for optioning my next Tesla. Premium white interior, paint choice that costs additional money, paint protection film, ceramic coating, all pretty much worth nothing.
- It's just my personal opinion, but resale will get worse in the coming months. With a soft economy, more cars being built or re-sold than ever, and a looming $7500 tax credit we have surely seen the best resale prices on Teslas more "common" cars ever earlier this year.
