My Two Weeks Old Tesla Model 3 Depreciated by 10% Overnight

[907XCP]

Strong representations were made to me about the resale value of the car within 12 months. I have quoted some of the emails with sales rep where she is making representations about depreciation of Tesla within 12 months as low as 5.5%. Given that my car has depreciated at least 10% overnight in two week, I think I have been mislead to say the least.

I can attest to the strong resale value, I just sold my 3 in August after almost 2 years of use and 20,000 miles on it for $43,500 when a brand new one for same/better features are $46,990. So that is the best known resale value I’ve seen in any car brand in its category and I’m very pleased that it held its value really well. So I’m still confused as to what misleading information Tesla gave you. It seems like you agreed to buy a product for a certain price with certain features and Tesla agreed to sell it to you. Buyer’s remorse is not misrepresentation by Tesla IMHO.

 

[vickh]

I’ve been waiting all day for this thread

It's like clockwork.I wonder when the next shoe (price) will drop here in the US

My strategy buy the cheapest SR (which is a loss leader and less likely to be breached $ wise) , upgrade the software as you go along when they drop prices. Pay with CC and get points too.

 

[dmurphy]

It's like clockwork.I wonder when the next shoe (price) will drop here in the US

My strategy buy the cheapest SR (which is a loss leader and less likely to be breached $ wise) , upgrade the software as you go along when they drop prices. Pay with CC and get points too.

My strategy was to buy the car I wanted, drive the sh!! out of it, and not worry about everyone else’s car. So far so good.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Classic First World Problem.

Buyers, of course, are not going to be happy is they buy something and it becomes lower priced later. Also not overjoyed to see additional improvements added that they are not getting, but it is just something that happens.

 

[RedWhite19]

I mean what is the real difference here? Slightly better range? How far do you ever plan on driving? To the moon and back?

Chrome delete? You can take care of that if you want.
Inside console change? Im sure Nikola Pro or those companies will come up with something that change it and make look like the 2021.

There really isn’t a huge leap from the 2020 and 2021.

And not to mention, the rims got much uglier. The new 19 inch sports wheels look awful.

 

[Vines]

I started reading this, fully expecting it to look just like the $5k refund to P3 owners thread from late 2018, I am not disappointed.

I was one of those early buyer P3D owners who got $5k refunded, I look a the price for my brand new P3D and know that if I had just waited 2 years it would have been better, faster, with longer range, I still don't care. It would also be more expensive.

If I had waited I'd have missed out on 55k miles of pure driving pleasure

Every single person buying a thing, and watching it go on sale 2 weeks later has a regret, get over it. Except some folks come along and post about how they were wronged because they bought what they agreed to, then it got better as all things should.

"THEY PUT IT ON SALE!"

By comparison I bought a 2018 Model 3 performance for $76,000 in September 2018.
I got a total of $15k back from the state and California refunds, plus the $5k over the Fred debacle. I paid 61k for my car in the end, then bought FSD on sale with my $5k refund when it went on sale for $2k. So I paid $63k.

Today if you order my car, its exactly $63,990.

Today its probably worth something like $45k but it really doesn't matter, I am not selling it. Its an amazing car and I just added $5k worth of suspension and Track Shoes. I am saving about $200 per month on fuel, since I charge for free and have a long commute. I hope I am saving some on maintenance, but honestly just not smelling gas all the time, dripping oil, and refueling at home makes it, even if the maintenance is the same.

Insurance is more expensive by about $70 per month, but the quality of life increase is invaluable. My commute is still a joy 2 years later and I look forward to road trips. I am planning a cross country trip just because of how awesome and cheap it is to travel this way. Last road trip was about 5k miles all around the Southwest.

 

[Chippin]

You can always trade-in and upgrade in a few years when another refresh comes , which I'm sure is the plan for the majority of tesla owners.

This cycle will keep continuing, but hopefully you can find some solace in the fact that every tesla owner feels your pain at some point in time!

 

[Siromnom]

And not to mention, the rims got much uglier. The new 19 inch sports wheels look awful

Agree! Happy with my Aeros from Sept...the new ones are ok. But man if I had gotten the 19" wheels instead I'd be super relieved I got them before the refreshed ones!

I've enjoyed all the responses to this thread. Your life will be far more enjoyable and less stressful if you spend less time worrying about other people and their things.

 

[vickh]

My strategy was to buy the car I wanted, drive the sh!! out of it, and not worry about everyone else’s car. So far so good.

i hear ya, to each his own. I love my SR too. OP/Thread is complaining about $/ depreciation, so I shared an obsolescence pricing strategy: wait a bit, buy the cheaper end.

Another way to was to buy used, but with the 3 I noticed used was MORE than new, with fed credits

 

[vickh]

You can always trade-in and upgrade in a few years when another refresh comes , which I'm sure is the plan for the majority of tesla owners.

This cycle will keep continuing, but hopefully you can find some solace in the fact that every tesla owner feels your pain at some point in time!

Not the SR yet, although the $25K all-inclusive version is coming

 

[sperkin]

Where did you use to get 'contact an executive team'? I don't seem to have that. I have never been able to get past my incompetent sales rep who seems to be no more useful than a recorded voice which keeps repeating, 'I am sorry sir, I understand but my programming does not allow to accommodate this request'

I don't have it anymore, but I think it was removed in summer 2019. There used to be a Contact Us section under my Account. You had an option to send it to a regular team or an executive team. I can't even find Contact Us anymore in my account.

 

[Rockster]

$69,420 today buys way more Model S than my $104,000 P85 Model S from 2015. That’s the nature of high tech. How is your iPhone investment holding up?

 

[Kevy Baby]

This was your first post

Okay, I am really not about quoting myself, but I can't figure out why @ForeverFree disagreed with this post. Not hurting my feelings, just cannot understand what about a short, factually correct (by the OP's own admission), non-judgmental, or negative in any way post there was to disagree with (or downvote, or however you look at it. Or was it a wayward click?

I mean, seriously?!?

Looking forward to the response from @ForeverFree

 

[Kevy Baby]

OK well I put about 5-8K on a stereo set up. By the time a got it out
of the boxes and played Stairway to heaven one time its value was about $300 bucks.

Well, then you shouldn't have played that song...

Not bashing on Zep at all (just recently repurchased their entire remastered catalog) - just so sick of THAT song. But I digress.

 

[Onshore]

Tesla just dropped the price of M3 by $8000 in Australia.

This is good news for motorists considering an EV in Australia and I am all for it. However, it short-changes the customers who recently bought a Tesla. My EV depreciated when I drove it out of the showroom (less than three weeks ago) as expected but I did not expect it to depreciate another 10% overnight. I have spoken to Tesla and they have no sympathy for customers like myself.

For others reading, there is an Australia specific aspect to this: Foreign exchange volatility.

In overseas markets, Tesla occasionally increases, or decreases their local pricing based on currency rate changes.

The Australian dollar plunged about 6 months ago, when the pandemic set in, dropping from its long term "normal" of 1AUD = 0.71USD. It plummeted about 20% to 0.57USD. Tesla upped the local pricing in Australia accordingly about 6 months ago.

In recent months the AUD has clawed back to its typical pre-pandemic value of around 0.70 USD, and importantly sustained this level for a few months. A significant price cut was always going to happen, even without the MY21 changes.

 

[M3OZ]

Unless you are about to sell your recently purchased car right now, the "depreciation effects me" argument has zero weight. You wont realize any depreciation until you actually sell the car. If you were planning on keeping the car 4-5 years, the amount of depreciation AT THE TIME YOU SELL IT is what matters, not what it is during the journey until you sell. 4-5 years from now there might be a 10% difference but that difference might be in the hundreds of dollars because both cars will be worth less.

Its like people think the price they pay (or more) should be the only price anything is sold for, ever. I simply do not get that argument.

As for the "purchasers now pay less than I did" argument, I have absolutely zero sympathy for that one because its the same as every other car deal. For every other brand, your neighbor could buy the exact same car from the exact same dealer on the exact same day and pay 15-20% more than you, or 15-20% less than you, depending on your (and their) negotiation skills.

If you and one of your neighbors had the same house floorplan and you sold your home for 300,000 and 2 weeks later your neighbor sold theirs for 350,000, you certainly are not going to the buyers and asking for more money.

As has been pointed out many times, if tesla raised the price, and they came to you and said "oh I know you bought 2 weeks ago, but we need more money from you now" you would laugh in their face.

On the "my salesrep said", thats a joke, really. Who believes a car salesperson? In most cases, they lie to your face to make a deal because they work on commission. In tesla's case, tesla just keeps them in the dark. They typically know less than we do about upcoming things. Your salesperson almost certainly DID NOT KNOW. "someone" in tesla did, but certainly the people assisting with selling cars didnt.

Like someone else said, I was waiting for someone to start "complaining" about this, because it happens all the time here, and its ridiculous. People buy cars and someone else buys the same car and pays less all the time. it sucks for that person, but it happens. You just didnt know about it before when you bought other brands, because everyone was negotiating in "private" and lying about what they paid for the car online.

You don't know what I was planning to do with the car. I was planning to trade-in the car for Model Y when it becomes available in Australia that could be in the next 12 months as we need the bigger space as the family car. So, I made that clear to Tesla rep and therefore were inquiring about the resale/trade-in value at the time of purchase.

The house example is not equivalent. No two houses even with the floorplan are ever exactly the same. Cars are.

The argument about Tesla increasing the price and then asking for more money is invalid. The obligations on sellers and buyers are not reciprocal and a simplistic roles reversal argument is trivialising the matter.

The fact that car salespeople may be dishonest is not a reflection of my naivety but the salespersons lack of moral compass. There are protections in place (at least in Australia) against misleading information that gets enforced often enough to help adjust compasses.

The simple fact of the matter is Tesla made this decision knowing full well that they will be disadvantaging a group of customers. Most reasonable companies, where customer matters, would take steps to manage the transition. Whilst there is a lot for other car companies to learn from Tesla (and the recent evidence shows that they are and they doing that fast). There is a lot that Tesla should learn from traditional car companies. They are catching up fast and customer service and customer-serving mindset is important.

Also remember that because something happens all the time is not good argument if you are trying to improve something, it is a recipe for stagnation and accepting the status quo.

 

[jjrandorin]

You don't know what I was planning to do with the car. I was planning to trade-in the car for Model Y when it becomes available in Australia that could be in the next 12 months as we need the bigger space as the family car. So, I made that clear to Tesla rep and therefore were inquiring about the resale/trade-in value at the time of purchase.

The house example is not equivalent. No two houses even with the floorplan are ever exactly the same. Cars are.

The argument about Tesla increasing the price and then asking for more money is invalid. The obligations on sellers and buyers are not reciprocal and a simplistic roles reversal argument is trivialising the matter.

The fact that car salespeople may be dishonest is not a reflection of my naivety but the salespersons lack of moral compass. There are protections in place (at least in Australia) against misleading information that gets enforced often enough to help adjust compasses.

The simple fact of the matter is Tesla made this decision knowing full well that they will be disadvantaging a group of customers. Most reasonable companies, where customer matters, would take steps to manage the transition. Whilst there is a lot for other car companies to learn from Tesla (and the recent evidence shows that they are and they doing that fast). There is a lot that Tesla should learn from traditional car companies. They are catching up fast and customer service and customer-serving mindset is important.

Also remember that because something happens all the time is not good argument if you are trying to improve something, it is a recipe for stagnation and accepting the status quo.

Buying a new car and planning to sell it in 12 months is ALWAYS a recipe for losing money, its just "how much are you going to lose". By saying you were planning to sell it in 12 months, you already decided to lose money.

your argument has zero validity.

 

[M3OZ]

Buying a new car and planning to sell it in 12 months is ALWAYS a recipe for losing money, its just "how much are you going to lose". By saying you were planning to sell it in 12 months, you already decided to lose money.

your argument has zero validity.

I did not say I did not expect depreciation. I said I enquired about the resale value and was given very strong assurances that resale value within 12 months would be in the order of 90-95%. But when the Tesla did what it did, I lost at least another 10% overnight.

My arguments are about misrepresentation, the need to improve change management and a customer-centric approach sales and support. You and other Tesla fanboys don't have to agree with me and can continue to put up with a behaviour that seems to hold customers in contempt. That is absolutely your prerogative.

 

[jjrandorin]

I did not say I did not expect depreciation. I said I enquired about the resale value and was given very strong assurances that resale value within 12 months would be in the order of 90-95%. But when the Tesla did what it did, I lost at least another 10% overnight.

My arguments are about misrepresentation, the need to improve change management and a customer-centric approach sales and support. You and other Tesla fanboys don't have to agree with me and can continue to put up with a behaviour that seems to hold customers in contempt. That is absolutely your prerogative.

There it IS! Was waiting for you to throw out the "Tesla Fanboy" argument that everyone seems to use when people dont agree with them. Just because I think that posting an argument about depreciation right after you buy a car is silly, and expecting a manufacturer to somehow make you whole because you lost money on a deal due to timing, doesnt make me or anyone else with reason a "fanboy".

Saying "this happens among all manufacturers, it has happened to you every single time you bought a car but you didnt know it" does not make one a fanboy, but hey, if it makes you feel better to think that anyone who doesnt agree with your position needs to be a tesla fanboy / fangirl, you do you.

 

[Snowstorm]

This is advancement. We have to get used to it. Think of your computer in the 2000’s, your Xbox or PS3.

Unless you are planning to sell your car right now, nothing is lost. In fact, with OTA updates your car probably will be better in a couple of months compared to when you bought it.

I bought one of the first model s 100d for >$100k 3 years ago and now the LR model S is only $69k better faster and longer range. I am still very happy and my car is better than new with all the updates (including MCU2 retrofit)

This is progress and we are all a part of it.