How to sell a Tesla with a loan?

[gocargo76]

Hi. Not sure if this is the right place for this question, so please forgive my newbie mistake if I'm messing this up.

I have a 1.5 yr old model S 70 I want to sell to buy a new model S. The trade in offered by Tesla is $51K, but the general consensus on this board seems to be that I can do better selling privately.

Here's the big question: if I sell privately and I have a loan on the car, what's the process to pay off the loan, traditionally? Should I pay it off myself and wait to get the title (a week or so)?

Thanks for any advice.

BTW, here's the table from my purchase agreement:

The showroom total was $79550 in Dec 2015 and it's registered in NJ. I've tried looking for comps, but don't see any S70's listed, so if anyone has some ideas there, I'd be grateful to hear.

Many thanks!
Greg

 

[BrettS]

If you can pay off the loan and get a clear title I think that's the best option. Then you can simply sign the title over to whoever buys the car without additional complications. If you can't easily get a clear title then there are options, but they do make things a little more complicated. I'm looking at options for buying a new (to me) vehicle and when I spoke with my bank they said that if the title for the vehicle isn't clear then the sale can still proceed, but they will need info about the payoff amount from the bank that holds the current lean as well as account numbers and an address to send the payment. With that information the buyer and seller can meet at a branch and sign the documents and get them notorized, then the bank will pay off the original loan.

 

[HankLloydRight]

If it's a bank-to-bank transaction, both banks will handle everything for you.

It's more complicated if the buyer is paying cash, he'll need to talk to your bank to figure out the title exchange procedure, but there will likely be a delay between him paying off your loan and getting the title (a few days to a week, usually, so he'll have to be OK with that).

I just did the opposite -- I sold my car with title in hand to a buyer getting a loan -- I had to FedEx my title with a power of attorney to allow the bank to sign the title, and once they got the title, they'd FedEx me back a check the next day. So it was a leap of faith to send the title off before getting any money in exchange, but I researched the bank, and it checked out, so I was confident it wasn't a scam. The buyer fly out two days later and just picked up the car, and the deal was already done.

 

[Bargo]

Bank to bank transaction is the way to go. They wire the money to the loan account. The bank releases the title within a day. Depending on your state your local treasury department may need to print a new, clean title and it is mailed to you in 2-3 more days.

It is about a 4-5 day process but is pretty simple really.

 

[Bargo]

Based on your original purchase price and Tesla's trade-in offer. I would guess that you could probably get around $53,000 - $54,000 as a private sale. Assuming maintenance is up-to-date and the car is in very good condition.

 

[MIT_S60]

I sold my Nissan LEAF private party to a buyer paying cash a few months ago and I had a loan out on it. It took two weeks from the moment I paid it off online for Nissan Finance to release the title to the California DMV, plus another week for the DMV to print it out and mail it to my home. Then we met at our bank to transfer the money, and walked over to the local automobile club to transfer the title. It was obviously more work than simply trading in to Tesla/CarMax, but I made $2250 more than CarMax's offer. You'll need to decide if the value you can get from private party is worth the added worth over simply trading it in. In California there's no benefit to trading in a car, but I believe some states deduct the taxable amount from the trade in, thus reducing the incentive for a private party sale.

 

[Markk993]

It seems like you are trading it in on a New Tesla so although the trade in value may be less than you can get privately there is a sales tax savings that should be considered at the same time. in a trade in you are only paying taxes on the difference. If you sell outright for 3-4K more that could be eaten up by the sales tax you pay on the entire amount... or it might be so little difference that trading in is just plain easier... I am not saying you wont come out ahead in a private sale but do the math with a sales tax calculation in mind

 

[Bargo]

If you offer to sell it here on this forum at a decent price. Someone will probably buy it. You'd be helping out someone else by saving them a little money over buying it after trading it in. Plus you might make an extra couple thousand yourself. Unless you need it gone by next week. What would it hurt to post it?

 

[gocargo76]

Well, they gave me a new offer of an extra $1500 on the trade-in if I do the transaction today. Seriously considering it.

I appreciate all of the above advice. It sounds like it is doable, but I'm so unfamiliar with the process, it makes me nervous.

There is no sales tax consideration in NJ, BTW.

I will get the car washed and post pictures if I don't trade in.

Thanks all for the helpful advice.

Greg

 

[Super_Popular]

Every time I have sold a car, myself and the buyer go to my local bank and pay off the loan and they hand or send them the title. If your bank is not local then their bank normally contacts your bank and they work out the pay off between the two banks. Normally it's a wire transfer. it's pretty easy, nothing to stress about.

 

[MIT_S60]

It seems like you are trading it in on a New Tesla so although the trade in value may be less than you can get privately there is a sales tax savings that should be considered at the same time. in a trade in you are only paying taxes on the difference. If you sell outright for 3-4K more that could be eaten up by the sales tax you pay on the entire amount... or it might be so little difference that trading in is just plain easier... I am not saying you wont come out ahead in a private sale but do the math with a sales tax calculation in mind

This is not true in many states. For instance, in California the sales price is based off the price of the car, and a trade-in is more like a down payment.

 

[patrick40363]

Well, they gave me a new offer of an extra $1500 on the trade-in if I do the transaction today. Seriously considering it.

I appreciate all of the above advice. It sounds like it is doable, but I'm so unfamiliar with the process, it makes me nervous.

There is no sales tax consideration in NJ, BTW.

I will get the car washed and post pictures if I don't trade in.

Thanks all for the helpful advice.

Greg

Sell it to them today.

 

[Terras]

They're probably making that offer since it's the last day of the quarter. They probably won't make an offer like that again for another 3 months. If you want to save yourself the trouble, take it. If you want the most money for your car, sell it privately. Best of luck and grata on the new S.

 

[Super_Popular]

Trade it in, so much easier then dealing with the general public.