Selling our M3, need advice [on any gotchas regarding vehicle transfer]

[a1machinista1]

We have sold our M3. We will be driving 220 miles to meet the buyer. He has a 500 mile return trip home. I am trying to make this a smooth transaction for all parties. My plan was to do the following,

Day before meeting:
Add buyer as a driver
Remove current credit card and add prepaid card for roughly $60-$100

Day of meeting:
Meet, and get paid
Factory reset car
Give buyer two "keys"
Question?: I would guess that Factory reset will only reset car settings and not affect supercharger payments? (With prepaid)

24 hrs after meet:
Remove car from my account
Transfer ownership to buyer

Good plan? Any issues? Any better ideas?
Selling a Tesla requires a lot more forethought.

 

[nobznss]

Makes sense. I've recently sold 2 and as soon as I've got cash in my hand I commenced the transfer. No reason to wait IMO unless you need to. When you remove it from your account it automatically gets rid of your credit card (at least from what I saw). One of the sold cars showed up on the buyers account within hours, the other took a day.

 

[dmurphy]

Makes sense. I've recently sold 2 and as soon as I've got cash in my hand I commenced the transfer. No reason to wait IMO unless you need to. When you remove it from your account it automatically gets rid of your credit card (at least from what I saw). One of the sold cars showed up on the buyers account within hours, the other took a day.

The only reason to wait is to allow the buyer to Supercharge against the prepaid card @a1machinista1 is attaching to his account. I think that's VERY thoughtful on @a1machinista1's part! Great way to alleviate the buyer's concern about doing the 500 mile drive home.

 

[Silicon Desert]

Curious why the buyer is not coming to you? I sold a car last year. The buyer flew in from Salt Lake City and took the car back for the 8 hour trip.

 

[RayK]

Curious why the buyer is not coming to you? I sold a car last year. The buyer flew in from Salt Lake City and took the car back for the 8 hour trip.

Ah, maybe the seller is 220 miles from a major airport (Portland?) and is willing to drive there so the buyer doesn't have to rent a car to get to the seller's house or have the buyer ride with the seller to return to their home (with the additional mileage added on for the buyer when driving home?).

Makes a lot of sense to handle the credit card exchange like this since we've heard here about the many times a new buyer has been impacted by a denial of Supercharging because of no valid CC on the car's account.

 

[a1machinista1]

Curious why the buyer is not coming to you? I sold a car last year. The buyer flew in from Salt Lake City and took the car back for the 8 hour trip.

It would be a 11.5 hr trip not including charging. I made the offer to meet figuring I could see my daughter. She is not available but the wife and I decided to go ahead and help the guy out. He will be able to drive home same day if we meet him. Road trips are fun.

 

[a1machinista1]

Sold!!
We drove the 220 miles and the buyer flew in. The buyer caught an Uber to the local Supercharger and arrived 1 minute before we rolled in (great timing).
He gave the car a quick look over and we did all the paper work and he handed us a cashiers check. He downloaded the Tesla app the night before and I added him as a driver to give him full access to the car. I figured he really couldn't do much being almost 800 miles away. We went ahead and left the car as is and let him charge the car using our credit card that was listed on the account. He said he would Venmo the total when he got home and I figured the car was still in my name and I had full access to the car. I told him after he got home and paid the charging cost I would transfer ownership to him. We did have fun watching his 12 hr drive home. He had times he was doing 95 and pulled into two Superchargers with less than 20 miles on the car. Haha, I text him and warned him not to completely trust the range indicator. He made it home safe and paid for the Supercharging right away. We transferred ownership and the car was his in about 30 mins. I would say I caused myself more stress over the sale than was needed. It was actually quit easy for both parties.

 

[dmurphy]

Sold!!
We drove the 220 miles and the buyer flew in. The buyer caught an Uber to the local Supercharger and arrived 1 minute before we rolled in (great timing).
He gave the car a quick look over and we did all the paper work and he handed us a cashiers check. He downloaded the Tesla app the night before and I added him as a driver to give him full access to the car. I figured he really couldn't do much being almost 800 miles away. We went ahead and left the car as is and let him charge the car using our credit card that was listed on the account. He said he would Venmo the total when he got home and I figured the car was still in my name and I had full access to the car. I told him after he got home and paid the charging cost I would transfer ownership to him. We did have fun watching his 12 hr drive home. He had times he was doing 95 and pulled into two Superchargers with less than 20 miles on the car. Haha, I text him and warned him not to completely trust the range indicator. He made it home safe and paid for the Supercharging right away. We transferred ownership and the car was his in about 30 mins. I would say I caused myself more stress over the sale than was needed. It was actually quit easy for both parties.

Congrats on a nice smooth sale! That's really great news, and I think you've given us all a good protocol to follow. Meeting at a Supercharger, coordinating the charging and transfer of ownership etc. Really well done - thank you!

So I have to ask -- did you replace the 3? If so, with what?

 

[a1machinista1]

Congrats on a nice smooth sale! That's really great news, and I think you've given us all a good protocol to follow. Meeting at a Supercharger, coordinating the charging and transfer of ownership etc. Really well done - thank you!

So I have to ask -- did you replace the 3? If so, with what?

Yeah, we ordered a MY AWD LR on 5/24. EDD currently is Jul 29- Aug 18. The sales associate said our car is slated to be delivered the last week of Aug. ( I'm sure that's a guess on her part) Hopefully we get it soon as we are down to one car.

 

[dmurphy]

Yeah, we ordered a MY AWD LR on 5/24. EDD currently is Jul 29- Aug 18. The sales associate said our car is slated to be delivered the last week of Aug. ( I'm sure that's a guess on her part) Hopefully we get it soon as we are down to one car.

Awesome! Would love to hear your 3LR to YLR comparison... I'm beyond thrilled still with my 2019 3 LR but come 2024, I'm going to be looking to exit ... my son gets his license and I think he's going to "buy" my 3. Can't imagine putting him in a gas car at this point.

Best of luck -- keep us posted on the delivery please! I need to live vicariously through someone