inventory vs CPO vs New

[No2DinosaurFuel]

I know making a tesla purchase is probably a really bad financial decision for me but reading this forum and all the news and being in a tesla have really convinced me of getting this car. It is far superior to ALL cars I have been in. The most expensive car I have been in in terms of luxury was the Audi A8 and that is pretty nice. But the Model S outshines it in every way IMO.

I am not looking for the best deal but am not willing to go with a S60. 208 miles in not enough and say 10 years down the road when you have 80% capacity left, you are looking at a dismal 166.4 miles. You probably wouldn't be able to make it from supercharging stations to supercharging stations. Now compare that to an S85, @ 80%, the EPA is still 212 miles which is still respectable and easy enough to get you from one supercharging station to the next.

Here is what I research have told me: get an INVENTORY S70D car if available. If not, get an INVENTORY S85. If still not, then get a NEW S70D. Then finally get the CPO if all else fails.

Here is my reasoning:

Lets take this CPO model S as an example:
85 kWh Model S P07709 | Tesla Motors

CPO S85
S85, 265miles when new. After 25K miles and 2 years, lets assume 5% battery degradation. This car is essentially 252 miles car @
$60,300

NEW S85
The closest NEW car to this would be the S85 with exact options. This comes out to be 89200 after doc and destination fees. Factor in State (CA) and federal tax credit, you are at $79,200

NEW S70D
However, I think if I had the money for a new S85, I would rather get a 70D instead. The 70D would cost 84200 with the exact configuration. It also have 240 miles which is around 10 miles less than the CPO S85. Factor in State (CA) and federal tax credit, and you are at
$74,200

Inventory S85
This one is tricky. I am not sure if they even exist now. I think we can safely check this off the list. Even if I don't I would estimate this to be a few thousand below the New S85. My guess would be $7000 below with similar configuration. This will be 82200. Factor in state and federal tax credit and you are at
$72,200

Inventory S85D
This one is also tricky. If there is one, my guess would be it's around $5000 off the price of a similarly configured S85D because it being higher demand so people will pick it up faster. The similarly configured S85D cost 94200 after destination and doc fees. Subtract the state and federal credit and you are at
$84,200

Inventory S70D?
I am not sure this one would exist yet, but if so it would be slightly less than the 70D.
$70000?

Looking at the prices and using the CPO S85 as baseline, if I got:

CPO S85 - $60,300
NEW S70D - Price premium of: +$13,900
NEW S85 - Price premium of: +$18,900
Inventory S85 - Price premium of: +11,900
Inventory S85D - Price Premium of: +$23,900
Inventory S70D? - Price Premium of: +$9,700

As you can see if I can find an inventory S70D, I would be best off because I get a NEW car and AWD. The next best thing if I cannot find an Inventory S70D or S85 would be to get a NEW S70D and I would have to pay $13900 more. But I think that will be well worth the extras I am getting: AWD, new car, etc.

What do you guys think?

 

[Blu Zap]

NO2, All good analysis. Thanks.

I have a unique vehicle and one aspect you have not considered. Which of these choices include AutoPilot hardware? In my mind that is as big or bigger than the D feature. I have a P85+ that has AutoPilot hardware, delivered 9/30/14. Lucky guy, I know. Yet consider MSs not D, delivered in Q3 and Q4 of 2014 and you may get more options.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

@Blu - Yeah that is a big one too. I know all the NEW teslas will have the autopilot hardware installed. You just have to pay to activate it either before delivery ($2500) or after delivery($3000). Personally, I don't know if I will need it. Worst case, I can always enable it afterwords. Yes this is a major features on top of buying CPO.

This is the main reason why I don't see much incentive to buy CPO over inventory. Sure you have to fork over more money initially, but the tax credit is what really brings the cost down quite a bit.

Personally I would rather get a NEW 70D over the CPO S85 any day. I get a NEW car with close to 0 miles, Autopilot hardware which I can activate later, AWD, better handling. Sure I pay the 10-15 miles penalty, but I get a vastly more efficient and better car. Who knows, maybe down the road when the 70KWh battery is no longer any good, I can upgrade to the latest 150KWh battery and have the better hardware compared to the CPO S85.

Unless the CPO S85's price drops another $5K - $10K, I don't see myself getting one. Instead I will be hunting for an inventory 70D or if I am impatient, splurging for the NEW 70D.

 

[marty2112]

NO2, All good analysis. Thanks.

I have a unique vehicle and one aspect you have not considered. Which of these choices include AutoPilot hardware? In my mind that is as big or bigger than the D feature. I have a P85+ that has AutoPilot hardware, delivered 9/30/14. Lucky guy, I know. Yet consider MSs not D, delivered in Q3 and Q4 of 2014 and you may get more options.

Make that two of us... :smile:

Went through the same analysis and ended up finding an inventory P85 with Autopilot (Dec 2014 build). Plan was to wait for the X, but after driving a couple of MSs, I couldn't hold out...

Was very close to ordering an 85D, but was able to get into the inventory car in about 4 days. No regrets not having AWD since we are in sunny CA.

Now my question is how close is the P85 to the P85+ (suspension, driving characteristics, etc.) on these last builds...

 

[nh-srt8]

I went through the same anxiety of what to do. In the end of took a 85D inventory car. That I was able test drive it and placed the order after my drive. It was a February build and had all the options I was looking for. 10% off new but the main factor was time to delivery.

 

[Blu Zap]

@marty
Yes its a big difference on the P85 vs. the the P85+ suspension. + is a huge difference in handling characteristics. Also the wheel staggered sizes. 265 in the rear and 245s in the front. So no rotating capability. But I can tell you first hand that that the bigger traction in the rear is critical to performance handling. It will oversteer when you punch it through a corner, but better controlled. Great to have increased grip where it is needed. AKA Porsche 911.

 

[exLeaf]

Wonder if it is good idea to consider inventory car from remote location. Pictures listed do not represent actual car. Knowing Tesla service reputation it is hard to believe that they will not recondition the car. As of now I had no success of getting pictures of actual CPO car. This is what I heard from person that wants to do private sale.

I've seen CPOs that are plagued with body issues (scratches, dents, bent wheels...)

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

I am not sure, but I would think tesla do some reconditioning to their cars before selling them. Just the usual stuff like detailing and components replacement (the cheap stuff) This might be cost prohibited, but you can put the deposit on the website and ask for pictures or what-not of the car. Or maybe you can as your local tesla showroom for CPO and to see the pictures of the cars.

Just FYI for people reading this thread:

I was able to find a few 70Ds in pretty low options, i.e. no air suspension, no premium packages on some, etc. for about $75K here in San Diego. So far only a few thousands at most off the sticker price. I guess where you get the most discount is the months it's in inventory. I guess I will have to wait it out a bit longer before jumping in... hopefully before California runs out of money on the clean air rebate!

 

[Cyclone]

Wonder if it is good idea to consider inventory car from remote location. Pictures listed do not represent actual car. Knowing Tesla service reputation it is hard to believe that they will not recondition the car. As of now I had no success of getting pictures of actual CPO car. This is what I heard from person that wants to do private sale.

My local service center manager said they do recondition the cars, included scratches, paintwork, dents, rash, etc. It could very well be the person you quoted looked at cars destined for the CPO program that hadn't yet been reconditioned. My biggest worry about my CPO purchase would be if, all of being humans of course, something needing reconditioning needed to be fixed. They told me that I get a full inspection upon "delivery", just as if it was a new car delivery. If anything is wrong, it will be noted on a punch list and I can have my local service center attend to it. That was really a big one for me as my pickup is in DC while my local service center is in NC. I told them that if anything would be found at pickup, I wouldn't be able to wait around or reschedule for another day. Hence why I wanted to make sure it could be addressed at a different service center. Obviously I have some apprehension about buying a car I haven't physically seen myself, but Tesla Service is making this process a breeze and I honestly do not feel I will have anything to worry about.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

My local service center manager said they do recondition the cars, included scratches, paintwork, dents, rash, etc. It could very well be the person you quoted looked at cars destined for the CPO program that hadn't yet been reconditioned. My biggest worry about my CPO purchase would be if, all of being humans of course, something needing reconditioning needed to be fixed. They told me that I get a full inspection upon "delivery", just as if it was a new car delivery. If anything is wrong, it will be noted on a punch list and I can have my local service center attend to it. That was really a big one for me as my pickup is in DC while my local service center is in NC. I told them that if anything would be found at pickup, I wouldn't be able to wait around or reschedule for another day. Hence why I wanted to make sure it could be addressed at a different service center. Obviously I have some apprehension about buying a car I haven't physically seen myself, but Tesla Service is making this process a breeze and I honestly do not feel I will have anything to worry about.

Well let us know if everything is picture perfect. I would like to know what conditions these cpo are turn out to be.