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Owner Frustrated with Tesla Depreciation

Discussion in 'Model S' started by MelvinLee, Dec 21, 2018.

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  1. Pinot.Noir

    Pinot.Noir Member

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    Hell, spelling is your friend!
     
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  2. Pinot.Noir

    Pinot.Noir Member

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    Don't go throwing out facts.....you might get a disagree from the OP!
     
  3. Pinot.Noir

    Pinot.Noir Member

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    Don't rent a car in Europe until you know how. You can get an auto, but the price is more than double!
     
  4. evp

    evp Nerd

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    Hmmm. Mine went from 93K new to 31K when I traded it for a new Model 3 almost exactly 4 years later. 116,000 miles on it. That's about 24% per year. Same ball-park number, maybe a little higher due to driving 29,000 miles per year.
     
  5. MarcusMaximus

    MarcusMaximus Active Member

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    Yes, but a 6 year old car will be compared to a 5 year old car, which will be compared to a 4 year old car and so on until you get to a new car. Eventually, of course, the effect of any price change is lost in the noise.
     
  6. Evil Twin

    Evil Twin Member

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    I bought I 2 year old sl550 for over half off the sticker price, CPO.

    That's why I don't buy new cars, but I thank you for doing so.....
     
    • Like x 2
  7. P85DBeast

    P85DBeast Side tEsLa

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    My 16' P100D was about $164k brand new (give or take a grand) and with it having almost 45k miles it's worth about only $89-95k (I think). I may sound crazy for saying this but I don't really care about depreciation as much as I should (Or as much as other's). Although I always lose my $$$ on car's because I buy them brand new and suck up the depreciation and move on.
     
  8. Laurenf00

    Laurenf00 Member

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  9. Laurenf00

    Laurenf00 Member

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    Mike's two years old too. Just got it serviced. I plan to drive it at least 8 more years so what do I care about current market?
     
  10. MDR SEA

    MDR SEA 2015 Model S 85D, 2016 Model X 90D

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    You bought your Model S as an investment?
    Silly boy.
    Buy TSLA for investing.
    Buy a Model S to drive.

    There, I hope this assists your decision process.
    You're welcome...
     
    • Like x 1
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  11. Annie1980

    Annie1980 Member

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    We agree. Ours depreciated tremendously also when we tried to 'upgrade' with Tesla only to a Model X
     
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  12. Familyfirstj

    Familyfirstj President/Co-Founder TOC San Joaquin Valley

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    Such is life, i like my car but then again i didn't buy it hoping to sell it lol
     
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  13. Tribaltech

    Tribaltech Member

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    I agree with and feel the same frustration. My Model S value has tanked in two years and even though I’ve tried trading up to a model X Tesla’s dumb sales reps have given me a trade in value almost $8000 lower than what KBB and other websites recommend. They’ve had a strong hand in devaluing their own fleet that is out there. And as much as I love my Tesla I am struggling to justify ever buying a new one again. Plus given the numerous problems my S has had I shudder to think what things would look like once the warranty expires.

    There are a lot of ardent blind Tesla fans on this forum who will trash you for raising your voice against Tesla. It’s the wrong audience unfortunately that does not look at things objectively especially when it comes to criticism for Tesla.

    I hate how much my car value has tanked and I’m now stuck with it and cannot trade up or trade down for another car and have to keep making payments for this until it gets totally paid off. The good thing is I love driving the car so that’s a saving grace.
     
  14. bettegruben

    bettegruben Member

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    Early adopters always pay more. First TVs, first microwaves, first cell phones, first computers. A Tesla is more of a computer with wheels than a car. You got one before many other people, that's your "equity." Lesson learned: Wait a bit and research what will be popular when you are ready to sell, if you buy to keep depreciation down. I don't plan on EVER selling my Tesla so I don't care if it depreciates.
     
  15. Tribaltech

    Tribaltech Member

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    That’s an odd response. Just because one loves something doesn’t mean that they want it’s value to tank. Just because I love living in my house doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care for what’s happening to its value. If the value of my beloved house starts to tank it’ll worry me endlessly and make me question my decision and make me strongly consider the factors that led to that situation with my house and never go for something like that ever again. See how that works?

    The devaluing of a Tesla feels particularly offensive when Elon made tall claims about how these would hold their values very well.

    I’m a Tesla fan too but I keep an open and objective mind about my car and this company. And a lot of things I’ve discovered about Tesla while owning one, have been much less than optimal.
     
    • Like x 1
  16. pdq

    pdq Member

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    MelvinLee:

    I feel your pain -- same here.

    I took delivery of my new Model S P90D in September of 2015 with a sticker price of $120,500. I am a long time buyer of Mercedes S class sedans paying cash, but I leased my MS because I had no idea what the car would be worth in 3 years due to the rapidly evolving technology, and I wanted the safety of a guaranteed $70,000 dollar residual amount where I could either buy the car or walk away.

    I had a terrible ownership experience. Main battery defective twice. Door handles failed. Wiring harness failed. Sensors failed. Replacement parts often took weeks to arrive and in the case of the wiring harness that arrived, it was the right part number but a redesigned harness that didn't fit. That took them weeks to figure out The entire drivers seat needed to be replaced due to failed heating element. This was diagnosed in early January this year and couldn't be fixed as they had no parts availability and had stopped making gray interiors the prior year. I hope that whoever buys that car doesn't need a heated drivers seat, assuming that Tesla discloses the problem to the buyer.

    As I approached my 45,000 mile lease maximum in April, and the warranty ending at 50,000 miles, I decided to dump it, wrote a check for $9,000 covering the remaining lease payments, handed over the keys and got an Uber ride home. I looked into buying and flipping it, but equivalent cars were selling for $50 - $55,000 at the time.

    As you may suspect, I went out and again bought a Mercedes for cash. They know how to run a car company whereas Tesla doesn't.
     
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  17. mspohr

    mspohr Well-Known Member

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    It might be useful to introduce some facts into this rather polarized discussion:
    [​IMG]

    Teslas hold their value better than comparable ICE cars.
    This is from a study of used car prices from Autolist.com covering Jan 1, 2012 through Nov 5, 2018
    The Model X SUV performed even better. It was up against the Audi Q7, Mercedes GLS, Infiniti QX80, Cadillac Escalade, Lincoln Navigator, BMW X5, and Range Rover. With 50,000 miles on the odometer, a Model X is worth just 23% less than it cost new. The Navigator was second best at 34%, while the X5 was worst at 37%.

    The Autolist study was based on copious amounts of data. More than 1.2 million listings for large luxury sedans were included. 35,442 of those were for Model S sedans. On the SUV side, nearly 1.7 listings in the large luxury segment were included, of which 4,242 were Model X vehicles.

    You can’t know the true cost of ownership of any vehicle until you consider all the factors that go into the ownership experience, including original cost, insurance, maintenance, fuel, and depreciation. What the Autolist study shows is that Teslas have some of the lowest total cost of ownership numbers in the industry — welcome news when it comes time to trade or sell.
     
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  18. ydw1988913

    ydw1988913 Member

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  19. NRGrin

    NRGrin Member

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    The real lesson here is; only buy used Tesla’s.


    I disagree. I was looking at CPO cars for months. I also looked at used from individuals. At the price point of used late 2016 or early 2017, the cars I saw had too many paint chips/issues, or hadn’t been properly cared for by the previous owner.

    To me, it was worth it to spend the extra $25K-$30K to get a brand new beauty that no one else has driven. Got my 2018 MS 100D last month. I’m going to put 20K miles plus per year on it. I don’t care what it’s value is tomorrow, next month or next year.

    I love the car, and will drive it until I sell it for scrap and then buy another one.

    And this is from someone who got out of a depreciating Audi A8L and Nissan GT-R. Talk about sucking money. Not only did they depreciate like crazy, the maintenance costs were astronomical. $3500 for a brake job on the Audi!

    In factoring your expense on your car, don’t forget to subtract all that money you would have spent on gas, oil changes, brake pads, etc.....
     
  20. pinball_player

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    There is the one good thing you said. For people who want the latest and greatest all the time, a lease is the best solution.

    And something is 'worth' a certain value only if you wish to sell it. My Model S is two years old and of course has lessened in value if I were to sell it. But I plan on keeping it and enjoy driving it too much to sell it. So even if it were worth nothing I would not care because I do not plan on disposing the asset.
     
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