New to Forum - almost ready to order

[flixden]

Hi All!
I am new to the forum, this is my first post. Thanks for reading!

I am close to placing an order for a model Y, trading in our 2021 Rav4 Prime.

Here are a few questions that I have left, I would appreciate any feedback!

- thinking about getting the third row, but not sure. We don't have small kids anymore, and it seems not too practical for adults. Both me and my wife are fairly tall also. What is the general consensus? Still order it for resale value? Or just skip?
- what are the current real life delivery times from the time of ordering? We are in the Pacific NW, Portland area
- I am sure that there is no negotiating possible and that there are no discounts available right now (aside of the tax credit), but would like to confirm.

Is there anything else that I should know, and/or check before going ahead?

Thanks a lot for all responses in advance!

 

[HankLloydRight]

- thinking about getting the third row, but not sure. We don't have small kids anymore, and it seems not too practical for adults. Both me and my wife are fairly tall also. What is the general consensus? Still order it for resale value? Or just skip?

If you don't need the 3rd row for for kiddos, then there's no reason to order it. Resale value doesn't matter -- for every person only looking for a 7 seat config, I'm sure there's another looking for only the 5 seat config. No need to lock yourself in for something you don't need.

My wife and I are also looking to buy a MY soon, and as empty-nesters (and no grandkids for the foreseeable future), there's no way I'd buy the 7 seater just for some unknown resale value down the road. We'd much rather have all that space for hauling stuff around.

 

[In4lo]

I’m with Hank, skip the 3rd row unless you have a small person or two to sit in it, just a few grand you don’t need to spend. The resale vale will be largely non existent. As near as I can tell the 3/Y doesn’t overly hold it’s resale value very well anyway (particularly when Elon drops the prices by $20k lol).

From the sounds of it, delivery times are running a couple months. But if you put your order in you can watch the inventory and if your not too picky you can probably find one relatively quickly.

No there’s not really any price negotiation, and often times the trade in offers are pretty bad too. But they’re not a traditional dealer either so any trade in’s they end up dumping to either a franchise dealer of some sort or an auction (except for teslas trade ins).

Keep in mind not only is there a $7500 tax rebate, but most states have some sort of rebate right now too. Also the car no longer comes with a charger, so you’ll want to order one of those as well. They usually show up in less than a week and ship separate from a car.

 

[flixden]

Thanks to both of you!
This brings up a follow up question: the quote I got for my trade ('21 Rav4 Prime) is really good IMO. How is Tesla with keeping their word on that, and not just at some point suddenly dropping the trade value by say $5k?

 

[larns576]

I don't believe that the 3rd row seat would bring much resale value to the car. For sure, you won't be able to recoup the money spent on it. If you aren't going to make use of them, I recommend against them. There is no negotiating in price.

When I got an online quote from Tesla before ordering, the offer was above average. Then when time came to get a real trade in estimate, they offered me half of what they originally quoted, stating that the vehicle history report claimed possible odometer rollback. I'm the original owner of that car, and there was no rollback. Carmax & Carvana both made solid offers and both were ready to purchase the vehicle. I ended up selling to Carmax. Neither of them mentioned odometer rollback or any problems with the vehicle history report. Is Tesla making stuff up just to lowball me?

My coworker also traded in his car to Tesla. Later, he found out that Carvana offered $1000 more than Tesla did, but traded in to Tesla anyway for convenience.

Point is, Tesla's initial trade in offer doesn't mean much. You get a real offer when you do the trade in quote, after placing your order. I suggest checking around. Carmax seems to give good prices, but may also lower the price after inspection (depending on condition of car and if it needs maintenance)

 

[flixden]

I don't believe that the 3rd row seat would bring much resale value to the car. For sure, you won't be able to recoup the money spent on it. If you aren't going to make use of them, I recommend against them. There is no negotiating in price.

When I got an online quote from Tesla before ordering, the offer was above average. Then when time came to get a real trade in estimate, they offered me half of what they originally quoted, stating that the vehicle history report claimed possible odometer rollback. I'm the original owner of that car, and there was no rollback. Carmax & Carvana both made solid offers and both were ready to purchase the vehicle. I ended up selling to Carmax. Neither of them mentioned odometer rollback or any problems with the vehicle history report. Is Tesla making stuff up just to lowball me?

My coworker also traded in his car to Tesla. Later, he found out that Carvana offered $1000 more than Tesla did, but traded in to Tesla anyway for convenience.

Point is, Tesla's initial trade in offer doesn't mean much. You get a real offer when you do the trade in quote, after placing your order. I suggest checking around. Carmax seems to give good prices, but may also lower the price after inspection (depending on condition of car and if it needs maintenance)

That stinks, that they cut your trade offer in half. Is that a common thing to happen, have others reported the same?
Especially after collecting the non-refundable deposit.

 

[BamaRed]

I believe Tesla's trade-in value is only good for 30 days, so you might want to shop around closer to your EDD. I could be wrong on that. I ended up selling my old vehicle to a buddy so YMMV.

 

[flixden]

Deleting, asking this question at the end of the "tax credit" thread (where it probably belongs).