Recent trade-in experience?

[citivolus]

For anyone using Driveway, what was your experience? They gave me a decent offer online after I submitted my details, but I don’t know if I should waste my time with them where they will lowball after the inspection.

 

[PNWLeccy]

For anyone using Driveway, what was your experience? They gave me a decent offer online after I submitted my details, but I don’t know if I should waste my time with them where they will lowball after the inspection.

I'm selling my 2018 LR RWD to Driveway since they offered ~$1500 higher than the next highest offer which was from a local dealer.

It's been somewhat of a drawn out process for me so far:

• 1/19 - Driveway sent estimate
• 1/19 - I responded with all required documentation (photo of registration, title, driver's license, odometer, loan info including 20-day payoff
• 1/20 - 'Tier 2' agent contacted me and let me know that paperwork would be sent out 1/27
• 1/28 - Received paperwork including bill of sale and DMV forms
• 1/28-1/30 - I repeatedly texted my contact and called Driveway (with no answer) to clarify a few questions I had about DMV forms before sending them back
• 1/30 - Finally received a response from my agent as he was out of office
• 1/31 - I sent out completed paperwork
• 2/1 - Driveway confirmed they received completed paperwork and informed me I will receive payment in 3-5 business days. Once I receive payment, I can arrange pickup of my vehicle with Driveway

A couple of observations so far:

• Communication has not been super responsive and has been entirely through text. This has been mostly fine except when I wanted to call and speak to someone so I could quickly clear up some questions
• I like that they pay me BEFORE scheduling pickup which seems to be even more generous than the Carvana (pay at pickup) model and MUCH better than the Vroom (pay a few days after pickup, pending inspection) model
• Driveway required NO inspection or pictures of the vehicle and confirmed my quote is guaranteed and will not be adjusted.
• One of my questions was about the odometer reading in the bill of sale since it would continue to be driven until pickup. They told me that as long as I was within 5,000(!!) miles of the mileage I claimed when quoted, I would be fine

I will update once I receive payment and deal with pickup but it seems pretty convenient so far as long as you're ok with slowish response time.

 

[VangaR]

Forgive ignorance but trying to look into trade-in options. Ordered my MY in October without asking for trade in. Now 4 months and 9 EDDs later (still no VIN and no updates…), I’m considering a trade in.

Can I do this now? How? I see that some people have gotten trade in estimates through the app but I don’t see how to do that. And I have had no contact yet from a SA so I don’t have any communication or way to discuss with Tesla.

Help?

You need to contact through chat and provide your Reservation number to activate the Trade-in options and login into your account and you can start Trade-in Process.

 

[lUtriaNt]

For anyone using Driveway, what was your experience? They gave me a decent offer online after I submitted my details, but I don’t know if I should waste my time with them where they will lowball after the inspection.

driveway was the highest offer out of several cats i hit up ( give me the vin, carvana, shift, vroom, car buyer usa). they offered me 55k for my 2020 m3p/20s/fsd with 19k. the next highest offer was vroom i think with 54500.

they are a big entity. they are owned by lithia motors.

i accepted their offer on 1/22. after i sent copy of title, photo id, i was sent to the next lady. she will send me the documents. thats where i am at now. my docs are set to show up on feb 9th, so yeah thats a bit of time, but it helps me because i keep my car and its less time i need to rent a car. im also in no rush because my car s date range is currently 2-20 to 3-20 so i welcome the wait.

ive emailed them when i needed a question and got an answer same day, within an hour or two. i dont mind email because its a paper trail for me.

they are a large company and with folks working from home, and people buying and selling crs, i can see the delays in paperwork. ive also read some posts on reddit where people have also had similar delays.

so they are legit! i would recommend.

id stay away from vroom, carmax (this depends on your location) since they need to inspect and would nickel and dime you for every little thing.

 

[citivolus]

Thanks for the replies re: Driveway. Is it accurate that they pay you BEFORE they come to even loo at the car? I spoke with them yesterday and they said that after I send in the documentation they requested, they will come to evaluate the car and give me a check if it checks out.

 

[lUtriaNt]

in my case i was not told that. even in the email i was sent they would not do any inspection prior. i did send in photos of my car but i think that was unnecessary. my car is in mint condition so im not worried about anything.

i will update here on feb 9/10 once i get the paperwork to see if they tell me anything different.

 

[citivolus]

in my case i was not told that. even in the email i was sent they would not do any inspection prior. i did send in photos of my car but i think that was unnecessary. my car is in mint condition so im not worried about anything.

i will update here on feb 9/10 once i get the paperwork to see if they tell me anything different.

Thanks, I'm very interested in hearing about your experience. I am moving forward with Driveway and am expecting to have them come to pick up my car on Feb 17th.

 

[lUtriaNt]

follow up --

i got a call this morning stating that the "virtual inspection" part was not done

i call them back right away and told them had i known about this i would have done that nearly 2 weeks ago when i accepted your offer. no one gave me that link,. and i was in contact with 2 different people.

she apologized and totally saw they messed that up, so i went ahead and did it. my car is near immaculate so it was no problem but wish they just would have not dropped the ball on this earlier.

so in case you have not done this, there is an app on your phone (she texted me the link) that asks you to take 13 photos of your car -- it gives you a template "outline" of roughly to shoot. it was simple.

after that i text the lady (that was her direct number) and she saw the ding on her phone. i asked her if my paperwork would be sent out today and she messages yet ANOTHER lady who handles that. that lady then text me saying she got the virtual inspection and i was g2g, so she sent out the paperwork via ups. i should get it tomorrow.

so ive been in contact with 4 ladies to get through this. its not a big deal and i realize they are a large company -- after all it took them like 2 weeks just to get my paperwork out because the acquisitions department was swamped with work.

@citivolus ,

have you done the paperwork already? did they force you to choose a specific day or did they give you a range of days? curious what car are you selling/ mileage to them and what was the offer, if you dont mind sharing?

 

[PNWLeccy]

I received payment yesterday (auto loan paid off and check for remaining amount) from driveway a few days after sending back the paperwork. I wasn’t required to do any inspection whatsoever, including pictures of the car.

I’ll contact them tmo to schedule pickup but they haven’t even followed up. Now that I’ve been paid, I’m far less stressed about it but will provide an update on this last step.

 

[lUtriaNt]

@PNWLeccy ,

thanks for the updates! initially i was told i did not have to have any inspection done as it was in the email i was sent, but it was no issue just a bit perturbed they let this slip through the crack until it came time for my paperwork to be sent.

can you give more detail on how long it took you to receive the check? did they send payment to the bank you had your loan through or do they send you the entire amount? did you keep your old plate? ive got a california legacy plate.

also let me know how the pick up goes. i want to spread this part out as much as i can..

 

[thill444]

I have used Vroom twice and they did not even ask for pictures. Everything was done online and then they send someone to pickup the car and the driver does a quick inspection (I was with him and it was like 60 seconds of him just walking around the car and and then checking the inside and mileage). I then signed a release and in 2 business days the money was in my account. I would not buy from Vroom but selling to them was painless. Carvana is the same and you do get the money faster I believe, but both times I sold Vroom gave me substantially more than anyone else, but this depends on region and vehicle.

 

[EVO X]

Tesla sucks with trade in!!
I didn’t get extra money for
My FSD when I traded in my MYP, then they paid off the car late!!!

 

[citivolus]

@citivolus ,

have you done the paperwork already? did they force you to choose a specific day or did they give you a range of days? curious what car are you selling/ mileage to them and what was the offer, if you dont mind sharing?

I got an email yesterday from them saying that they will be mailing me the paperwork on Feb 19th (earliest). I haven't yet sent any pictures or had an inspection done, so I explicitly asked them what was the process going forward. Here is their response:

"Once the paperwork arrives, please complete it and return to a UPS dropbox. It will be overnighted to us and then we'll initiate your wire transfer payment (takes 3-5 business days to clear). Once your payment clears, let us know and we'll order the transport for the vehicle."

Sounds like they will be buying my car sight-unseen...similar to what @PNWLeccy reported. Pretty amazing if that comes to pass!

I am selling my 2015 Mazda CX-5 with 68k miles in good condition. Driveway was the highest offer at $14,757.

 

[lUtriaNt]

thanks for the update. the whole virtual inspection thing just caught me off guard. still just be aware -- i got the same info as you from 2 different people and then this past tuesday i got a call saying "we see you didnt do the virtual inspection...."

to update:

got my paperwork as intended on feb 9th. i filled it out, took 10 minutes or less. they supply you with the return ups packet with the label already printed out and attached, so all you have to do is sign your name on the dots and put the paperwork back in. they also sent you a bill of sale as a copy you keep.

i paid ups to come by and pick it up -- 18 dollars. i did not feel like driving around looking to drop it off.

driveway got the paperwork today, on schedule. driveway texted me and told me it was submitted. they , driveway, will send the payoff to the credit union and i will get the equity into my bank account probably by monday , due to the weekend.

after i get the funds, i am to text driveway it was received. driveway will then schedule a courier to come pick up the vehicle.

they will ask to put a voided check on the paperwork to verify your account and routing. i don't have any checks so i entered my info on the paperwork (there is a section to list this info) . i texted the lady i was in contact with that i did not have any checks, and she said that was fine, just to make sure my account info was accurate.

i will follow up on when i get the funds and also how the transport process works out too.

 

[Rodney!]

... Tesla offered the highest trade-in value compared to Vr*om, Car*ax, Carv*na...etc

Re: Tesla trade in prices, is this common? How was everyone else's trade in pricing?

I want to order but them not giving me a trade in price, not even a rough idea, is making me feel like the $250 order fee will be a gamble.

 

[lUtriaNt]

depends on the area to a certain extent, but at the end of the day tesla dont want your old car, even if its a tesla. although anecdotal ive read more and more people who have had low ball offers from tesla, more so than the 2 or 3 who said they got more. in 2020 when i got my first tesla, the low balled my offer on my trade in. it was internal combustion engine vehicle, but it had good equity due to the model and trim. so i went to carvana at the time who had the highest offer.

i guess you want to trade in for tax reasons yes? then i understand your question.

 

[lUtriaNt]

update on my progress:

got my funds 24 hours after them getting the paperwork, so that friday. as of today my loan has not been paid off on the car but due to the holiday yesterday i assume that may delay it a day. i will send a text to driveway to let them know i got my funds and they can proceed to come pick up the car. ill follow up on that process as well.

 

[Rodney!]

i guess you want to trade in for tax reasons yes? then i understand your question.

correct, i should have stated that. Tax credit for my trade should be about $3k. I am lining up other offers through carfax and kbb just to get a better idea on actual trade in cost before i submit my tesla order.

from reading various posts on this site for the past ~8 hours, it seems that Model 3 performance show up in 1-2 months from order? So it happens relatively quickly?

 

[sTuKat]

from reading various posts on this site for the past ~8 hours, it seems that Model 3 performance show up in 1-2 months from order? So it happens relatively quickly?

It appears to be happening relatively quickly at the present time. It might have something to do with the quarter ending in March. Presently, I am looking at five weeks even with the car coming to CT. Pretty quick considering I have a lower requested configuration- Blue/white.

 

[citivolus]

update on my progress:

got my funds 24 hours after them getting the paperwork, so that friday. as of today my loan has not been paid off on the car but due to the holiday yesterday i assume that may delay it a day. i will send a text to driveway to let them know i got my funds and they can proceed to come pick up the car. ill follow up on that process as well.

good to hear! I am anxiously awaiting the paperwork on Saturday...still no mention of any "virtual inspection"...