Owner Frustrated with Tesla Depreciation

[RossBrindleyAU]

Wow, I am lucky to be living in Australia.

I purchased my CPO P85D just under 2 years ago when it was 18 months old and had only 5,000km on the clock.

At that point it had depreciated by approximately 18% (in 18 months from approx. A$190,000).

I purchased it for A$156,000 22 months ago (and Tesla threw in a reset on the Warranties so I got a New car/battery warranty).

When I look online for my model now they are ranging from A$124,000 to A$135,000. Even using the lowest price (A$124,000) it has only depreciated by approx. 21% since I purchased it and only 35% on the original purchase price after almost 3.5 years.

I have owned lots of BMW's and have lost significantly more in depreciation. My brother purchase a reasonably high spec (not AMG) Mercedes 2 years ago for around the A$70,000 mark and it has lost more than 50% in depreciation.

 

[Zorg]

AP2 and loss of HOV stickers on pre 2017 cars have killed values in CA lately. I was thinking about upgrading my 2014 S bought last year and depreciation was significant. Instead, sold the SUV and ordered a 3. I figure that it will level out in the coming year.

 

[Naekuh]

no one needs a performance model since they are all performance models anyway.

looks at my P tag...

nope.. i definitely needed that P model.
Don't care how much she depreciates, as long as its not a depreciation of her 0-60.

And lately its been total comedy in LA with model 3 owners.
They keep tempting me at the light to test how fast there cars are compared to that P on my MS.
And well, they go away and change lanes while being humble once they realize how badly they stood no chance.

 

[CarlK]

I googled for "depreciation site:www.autolist.com'" and that is the only article that came up with this subject.

I'm just an engineer, who hates when numbers or facts are represented falsely. This is why we can't agree on the human vision as well.

"Engineer" is a vert broad term. A mechanical engineer, for example, has a very different knowledge set than a computer engineer. You strike me as someone who wants to argue things in fields outside your knowledge base but with the personal agenda that Tesla is not up to the industry standard. Your comments here in this thread is along the same line. That's why I'm really curious of what's your beef with Tesla. Are you a Tesla owner, considering to be one, or you just come here to prove you are should not be one?

 

[Tic-tac-toe]

looks at my P tag...

nope.. i definitely needed that P model.
Don't care how much she depreciates, as long as its not a depreciation of her 0-60.

And lately its been total comedy in LA with model 3 owners.
They keep tempting me at the light to test how fast there cars are compared to that P on my MS.
And well, they go away and change lanes while being humble once they realize how badly they stood no chance.

Same. I get such a kick that my “kid hauler” can smoke this: costs over 3x as much and seats 2.

Love my MS P100D - such a blast to drive. It may not be a supercar but accelerates the same as the Porsche 918 Spyder that cost 800K +.

The “P” in Tesla is a bargain compared to similarly performing supercars/hypercars... and no gas!

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

Really? Are we still feeding this troll?

 

[seattlite2004]

View attachment 363278

Same. I get such a kick that my “kid hauler” can smoke this: costs over 3x as much and seats 2.

Love my MS P100D - such a blast to drive. It may not be a supercar but accelerates the same as the Porsche 918 Spyder that cost 800K +.

The “P” in Tesla is a bargain compared to similarly performing supercars/hypercars... and no gas!

But...the 918 did NOT depreciate....and the Lambo prob had less depreciation than a similar year P100D.

 

[CarlK]

If Tesla limits the new Roadster to only 500 copies I guarantee you it will not depreciate.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

It is always suspicious to me when someone changes the usual metrics when comparing things. People compare depreciation in years. This article came up with miles. Why?

There's a bit of evidence that depreciation is also heavily linked to mileage - if you look at this car, there's a chart that shows price points for the 115 other 2016 P90Ds for sale, there's a definite trend lower as mileage increases

Tesla Info: 2016 MS P90D listed at $85900

But the OPs premise that the only reason for depreciation is Tesla selling cheap and not because of supply and demand doesn't square up on the basis of the number of cars for sale. CPO Inventory is into the thousands - if they were "cheap" they'd have all sold.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Back when I bought my 2015 Model S 70D I knew exactly how much Tesla was going to give me when I signed the paperwork because it had a resale guarantee.

That resale guarantee put the price at about 50% after 3 years so I knew going in what to expect. After about 3 years there was a time right when the 3 had just started to trickle out that I could have gotten significantly more (to a private party) than the resale where it would have been worth the hassle, and not being able to use the money to lower the sales tax owed on the new one.

But, I didn't end up selling at the time and ended up trading it for a Model P3D+ while everyone else was as well. So I didn't get anything more than a couple thousand over the resale guarantee.

I still consider that car to be the best car I've ever owned, and I've owned a lot of nice cars.

Sure I've had anger at Tesla/Elon for decisions they've made over the last couple years.

The outright lie about AP2 being FSD capable. This really took a toll on the resale of an AP1 vehicle because everyone assumed that AP2 would quickly surpass AP1. As a former AP1 owner I'm still waiting for the day where I can take a road trip in my AP2 vehicle just on TACC without a false braking event like I could with my AP1 car.

The myth of the $35K Model 3 because this benched a lot of prospective buyers who would have paid a bit more for a used CPO Model S.

In the end it's all about supply and demand, and Tesla played games by overpromising.

Will I buy another one?

It depends on what Tesla has to offer at the time compared to other manufactures. The market has also shown that people want SUV's, and Crossovers.

When I bought the Model S I really wanted a long range EV with a supercharging network. I compromised on it being bigger and more expensive than I wanted.

When I bought Model 3 I was really buying what I wanted when I bought the S (I wanted small, fast EV). It was a tough decision because I grew to love what the S was. I mostly traded it in for what I hoped the 3 would become over time. It's gotten a little closer, but its still far from what I look forwards to.

Now days I've accepted the word has gone to hell so I want an EV better suited for the reality of our situation.

 

[MelvinLee]

There is something odd about the last 90 days and the Model S from every year except the 2017. All have tanked in value in 3 months by roughly 10% for some reason.

I agree, I keep track of the values of the P90DL and the P100D and in the last 3 months is exactly what I am referring to as far as the huge depreciation. Ever since they finally started to roll out software for AP2, EAP, FSD the prices have plummeted for the ones with Ap1. Even though they really haven’t realized anything that different yet it the 2016.5 P90DL has dropped $15k-$20k. It started only for Tesla’s CPO cars, most other dealers and private sellers still have them listed around $90-$95K and some have changed their prices accordingly to Tesla’s CPO price range.

 

[MelvinLee]

I agree, I keep track of the values of the P90DL and the P100D and in the last 3 months is exactly what I am referring to as far as the huge depreciation. Ever since they finally started to roll out software for AP2, EAP, FSD the prices have plummeted for the ones with Ap1. Even though they really haven’t realized anything that different yet it the 2016.5 P90DL has dropped $15k-$20k. It started only for Tesla’s CPO cars, most other dealers and private sellers still have them listed around $90-$95K and some have changed their prices accordingly to Tesla’s CPO price range.

*released

 

[seattlite2004]

If Tesla limits the new Roadster to only 500 copies I guarantee you it will not depreciate.

Tesla sold like 2450 Roadster 1's......did those depreciate?

 

[Tic-tac-toe]

But...the 918 did NOT depreciate....and the Lambo prob had less depreciation than a similar year P100D.

Those cars are only driven in nice weather never in snow or rain and not driven to the grocery store or school drop off/pick up. The whole point of a car like the 918 is to take it out on the weekend during nice weather for a drive. Keep mileage low. Detail and admire it.

I use my S P100D for all of the above and long road trips. I have never enjoyed a car more in my life and don’t give a *beep* about depreciation.

If I cared about cost/depreciation, I would have bought another Honda Civic. My 1997 Honda is still running with zero issues and never had a repair bill over $400. If you want a great basic car, go with something like that instead of a high performance luxury car.

The Tesla Performance cars are a bargain when you compared it’s stats to similarly performing cars with similar mileage.

Planning on buying the 2020 roadster and have a blast with that too.

 

[ucmndd]

Tesla sold like 2450 Roadster 1's......did those depreciate?

It may not seem like much, but the difference between a couple hundred and a couple thousand copies is extremely significant when talking about depreciation and resale value.

Exotics like the aforementioned 918 or lamborghini have very little if any initial depreciation because of their severely limited supply and collector appeal.

Something like the Tesla Roadster, with more copies available, will follow a more typical collectible car trend, with values bottoming out somewhere between 10 and 20 years after production and then starting to increase again as supply gets more scarce due to less cars being on the road or in decent condition.

Exotics really have no place in this conversation as their value is entirely based on limited supply. A Model S, even a $150k one, will never be subject to those economics.

 

[CarlK]

Tesla sold like 2450 Roadster 1's......did those depreciate?

A little too many to make it a limited production collector's car. Only 918 copies of 918 were planned and perhaps a few extra produced. Some of them were never driven. That is still more than many other super/hyper collector's car with production numbers in the tens or low hundreds. However if you own a low mileage Roadster in good condition you might want to hold it for another twenty years. You can never predict how cars like that will go when the rest are driven to the ground.

 

[Tic-tac-toe]

It may not seem like much, but the difference between a couple hundred and a couple thousand copies is extremely significant when talking about depreciation and resale value.

Exotics like the aforementioned 918 or lamborghini have very little if any initial depreciation because of their severely limited supply and collector appeal.

Something like the Tesla Roadster, with more copies available, will follow a more typical collectible car trend, with values bottoming out somewhere between 10 and 20 years after production and then starting to increase again as supply gets more scarce due to less cars being on the road or in decent condition.

Exotics really have no place in this conversation as their value is entirely based on limited supply. A Model S, even a $150k one, will never be subject to those economics.

Yes, not subject to the same economics but the MS P100D is called a “supercar killer” for a reason. Very few SuperCars/HyperCars can do 0 to 60 in 2.3 secs.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

Dunno, I wouldn’t hold my breath on this.

Impossible to tell by how much, but it essentially raises the price of new cars by $3750 on Jan 1. That should be upward pressure on 1-day old used prices, which puts upward pressure on 2-day old used prices, etc. Used cars ultimately compete with new ones, with a discounted price for their used-ness.

 

[CarlK]

Impossible to tell by how much, but it essentially raises the price of new cars by $3750 on Jan 1. That should be upward pressure on 1-day old used prices, which puts upward pressure on 2-day old used prices, etc. Used cars ultimately compete with new ones, with a discounted price for their used-ness.

True. What you can buy in a new car always influences price of a 2~3 year old used one. On the other hand after four or five years price of the car will be compared to all similar used cars on the market. People don't usually cross shop a 6 years old car and a brand new one. A 2018 Model S that is more desirable than a 2018 S Class or 7 Series in 2018 will still be more desirable than those cars in 2024 (but likely even more so due to OTA updates) and commanding better price regardless of what a new Tesla is like.

 

[mrbulk]

I have long resigned myself to accepting my car as a depreciating asset, an oxymoronic term in itself. But much like when I got my first one back in high school, my Tesla rekindled that same feeling now, and it is worth every penny.

Of course i am leasing though, since ya never know.