heysteveh
Member
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In my opinion that is absolutely correct. I used to sell cars for a living and the general rule of thumb is that factory options depreciate MUCH faster then the base car itself. Example: I just sold my 2013 Mercedes C250 sedan and bought a Model 3SR+. On the Mercedes original window sticker "diamond white paint" was a $1,515 option. When I did an online appraisal 2 weeks ago to determine the value of my used Mercedes the "diamond white paint" increased the value of my car by less then $50. That is a depreciation of 97% in 6 years. The car itself stickered at $42,935 and I sold it for $10,000 which is a depreciation of about 77% in six years. Most options would be similar to this example, for instance on my model three I paid $2,000 for red multi-coat, $1,000 for Black & White interior, and $1,500 for 19" Sport wheels. I fully expect that in 4-6 years those options will hardly increase the value of my Model 3 at all compared to a Model 3 without those options. One option on Tesla cars that bucks this trend would be the larger battery options which tend to hold there value better.
The history of car depreciation proves that, generally speaking, base models depreciate at a lower percentage then their highly-optioned brethren. So most likely, a base model 3 SR will depreciate at a lower % then the other more expensive model 3's. Of course there can always be exceptions, but generally speaking this holds true with all cars.
