[Question] Trade-in experience

[Bobly]

After a bit a a fiasco last year I'm considering a Tesla again.. (short version is Telsa "accidentally" sold "my" car to someone else which resulted in a delay on my order which subsequently caused my trade-in offer to expire, conveniently (for them) the new one was several thousand lower and they wouldn't budge, so I told them to shove it and walked away).

Since then. I've looked at all the other EVs on the market and nothing is really pushing my buttons so thinking of a Tesla again - my question is, given the bad taste the last experience left I'm not so confident it will be as straightforward as trade-ins I've done in the past - what's the situation like when they don't screw up that badly. If you've traded in, what's the experience been like? as it's all done remotely should I expect something like the WBAC stories and they'll nit-pick and penny pinch over any stonechip/scuff/crease in the leather to knock me down when I come to drop it off, or are they actually going to stick to what's been quoted?

 

[Fred2]

I don’t think they did much more than ask for the keys and look through the building window to see whether there was a car there. Mine wasn’t a very valuable trade in & it was the penultimate day of the quarter.

 

[NewbieT]

+ Motorway

 

[DJP31]

I haven't traded in personally but have read the experiences of many. I don't think I can remember any where they even gave the car a cursory look over. They are shipped straight off to auction. Apart from the problem you've experienced the only other problem I have read about is where there's cash due back from the trade in - that can take a while.

 

[Talllbloke]

I don’t think they did much more than ask for the keys and look through the building window to see whether there was a car there. Mine wasn’t a very valuable trade in & it was the penultimate day of the quarter.

Same here, just took the keys. Was on the back of a transporter and gone while I was still waiting to collect the Tesla. Price offered was quite low compared with a WBAC quote, but after 10 weeks waiting for the ship from Fremont, I took it to WBAC and their offer was lower so went through with the trade in.

 

[bctomuk]

+ Motorway

Only used motorway once before, i wasn’t selling a Tesla, but my experience was horrendous. I needed up selling to WBAC.

 

[peige]

Sold mine via Motorway and it was fine, you just need to time it right. Its not as easy as driving in and away with your new car but then you get better money for your car.

 

[SpareHeadOne]

Traded mine in at the end of last year, in October Tesla suddenly offered me £5k more than they had in January and £1k more than Land Rover had offered me a few weeks earlier.

I had to take four external pictures of the car and one of the drivers seat, they then confirmed the offer and it was good for 60 days.

Picked up my new M3 58 days later (close or what?), they took the keys and paperwork for my old car, checked the mileage and that was it. Found the car at on a nearby dealer's web site a few weeks later for about £3k more than I got - which I think is fair because they did a refurbish of all the wheels and sorted all the stone chips and stuff by the looks of it.

 

[G4WFT]

We traded in my partner's BMW i3 and I don't think they hardly looked at it. I sold my Golf R through Motorway, got more than I expected and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

 

[billuk]

Same experience for me, parked my trade in a carpark behind the pick up area, there was no pre-inspection beyond the photos.

When I was given the keys and shown to my new M3 they didn't even look then, in fact I had to remind them to take my old keys.

 

[Jason71]

They have a reputation for low balling but WBAC gave my parents a fair price for a car recently. Better than the estimates from Motorway. Always go in assuming you will get £500 less than the offer due to something they will claim to find but so long as the offer -£500 is reasonable they are fine and very convenient.

 

[AnthonyLR]

Tesla made me the best offer for my VW Sharan and I had no problems at all.

 

[NATO]

Tesla offered me the best offer (by a big margin) for my VW ID.3 compared to WBAC or other trade in places. Very straight forward process and from what I read the actual handover on the day is very easy.

 

[Doudeau]

Interesting experiences above.

I was speaking to Tesla earlier and I was advised that WBAC will almost certainly offer a better price on my Tesla then they would and so I shouldn’t even bother to get a quote. I’m guessing they’re busy with qtr end and that’s priority over dealing with 2nd hand cars.

 

[DJP31]

Interesting experiences above.

I was speaking to Tesla earlier and I was advised that WBAC will almost certainly offer a better price on my Tesla then they would and so I shouldn’t even bother to get a quote. I’m guessing they’re busy with qtr end and that’s priority over dealing with 2nd hand cars.

The reality is Tesla are just not interested in the second hand market of their own cars. Some would argue they don't care much about the new ones either!!

 

[Somex]

The reality is Tesla are just not interested in the second hand market of their own cars. Some would argue they don't care much about the new ones either!!

Many would argue that it’s their customers they don’t care about!

 

[dakaix]

If you have one nearby I would recommend selling to Arnold Clark. They bought my ICE with basically no-notice after Tesla moved up my order by a quarter.

Got a better price than WBAC et all, and no quibbles about condition.

 

[Lleo]

Tesla offered me £1 for my car WBAC gave me almost £5K

 

[Drew57]

I recently talked with an SC sales advisor involved with my original purchase and when I mentioned WBAC, Motorway, R Symons, Simon Jones etc he agreed that any/all are very likely to make a better offer than Tesla.

I also asked about carry over of supercharger miles and got confirmation that it is only possible if the account remains open, ie the original car remains active at the time a new car is registered. So if the previous car is already sold to a third party when you use the 'remove car' option on the Tesla account then all remaining miles will disappear. Only if both cars are still active on the account will they carry over.

As I have a lot of miles that are unlikely to be used before they expire in 2024 & still intend to purchase a Model Y before then, my only option to retain them would be to buy it outright & sell the Model 3 afterwards (unless Tesla make a very competitive offer).

 

[HenryT]

Tesla offered me £1 for my car WBAC gave me almost £5K

Was the Tesla £1 offer 'subject to inspection'?