Tesla gets help with used car business - CNBC

[spy4007]

Tesla looks like it is trying to get some help in the CPO business. I hope this will help the CPO quality / delivery, but it will also increase the prices, even if upcoming supply outstrips demand.

thoughts?

Moderator: if this is the wrong thread for this, please excuse.

Tesla is turning to partners to help with a growing used-car business

 

[bomquito]

Not sure what I take from this news. I wish they would go back to the original CPO program where all the cosmetic issues are taken care of after inspection at delivery. What are your thoughts on future pricing and quality?

 

[3lectronica]

This isn't increasing the quality or service. It's simply a means to relieve the strain the volume of vehicles places on Tesla locations by moving them to the auction sites, which double as a service provider to perform minor repairs and take photos. If the cars don't sell in a certain amount of time to a retail customer, they will try the wholesale option since they are already at the auction. It's to simply create efficiency albeit at an additional cost.

Not sure what I take from this news. I wish they would go back to the original CPO program where all the cosmetic issues are taken care of after inspection at delivery. What are your thoughts on future pricing and quality?

The Service team was lean back then, and still is lean today. They simply can't be bothered to perform minor cosmetic reconditioning today due to the lack of bandwidth and team members to monitor/control the quality of that reconditioning. I think once they blowout Q4 numbers they will consider Model 3 production/sales a success, and shift resources for solving the next challenge which = used cars.

 

[PhilDavid]

Not sure what I take from this news. I wish they would go back to the original CPO program where all the cosmetic issues are taken care of after inspection at delivery. What are your thoughts on future pricing and quality?

Exactly.

Have standards ad offer customers a car they can pay and drive home in dignity that is comparable to a used car delivered by any other premium automaker. This will eliminate all the stories about disappointed customers and I'm sure the ensuing mess Tesla has to do with when customers reject deliveries of damaged cars and request the deposit back.

They can generate revenue from these CPO cars much more efficiently if they stop being so stubborn about delivering damaged cars like they are selling as-is furniture at a flea market. Sell quality cars, charge accordingly, and everyone will be happy.

 

[PhilDavid]

This isn't increasing the quality or service. It's simply a means to relieve the strain the volume of vehicles places on Tesla locations by moving them to the auction sites, which double as a service provider to perform minor repairs and take photos. If the cars don't sell in a certain amount of time to a retail customer, they will try the wholesale option since they are already at the auction. It's to simply create efficiency albeit at an additional cost.

The Service team was lean back then, and still is lean today. They simply can't be bothered to perform minor cosmetic reconditioning today due to the lack of bandwidth and team members to monitor/control the quality of that reconditioning. I think once they blowout Q4 numbers they will consider Model 3 production/sales a success, and shift resources for solving the next challenge which = used cars.

Perhaps the solution is to rather than overload the service centers with refurbishing used cars, they should establish a few CPO depots around the country that are geared towards refurbishing and selling CPO cars. A bit like a Tesla CarMax.

They can then have processes there to turn around and sell these cars sooner rather than incur ~ $1,500/month of per unit CPO fleet depreciation while they play the reverse auction listing price game on cars that are listed at 10-20K over market price with $900 daily price reductions. Even after all that, the car they try to sell might not even be accepted by a buyer due to the poor condition of some cars.

For a company as cutting edge and efficient as Tesla it is astonishing how poorly thought out and inefficient the whole CPO program is. What are they going to do next year when they will have twice as many CPO cars to sell?

 

[HankLloydRight]

Perhaps the solution is to rather than overload the service centers with refurbishing used cars, they should establish a few CPO depots around the country that are geared towards refurbishing and selling CPO cars.

I'm pretty sure that's what @3lectronica is saying -- Tesla is moving many (most/all?) of the used cars to a few car auction sites (not websites, but real car auction houses) where they already have streamlined refurb facilities to do all the minor repairs needed. They'll take the photos, and the cars in good/better/best? condition will be listed for sale on Tesla.com for a while. If they don't sell there, then the car is already at the auction house and will be auctioned off.

So Tesla only has to transport the cars once to the auction house, and either way, it's sold from there. I just don't know if the auction houses will allow a person off the street to come view a used car on the lot. I'm guessing that they most definitely wouldn't allow test drives.

This is relieving the strain on the service centers for those minor repairs and inventory storage.

 

[PhilDavid]

I'm pretty sure that's what @3lectronica is saying -- Tesla is moving many (most/all?) of the used cars to a few car auction sites (not websites, but real car auction houses) where they already have streamlined refurb facilities to do all the minor repairs needed. They'll take the photos, and the cars in good/better/best? condition will be listed for sale on Tesla.com for a while. If they don't sell there, then the car is already at the auction house and will be auctioned off.

So Tesla only has to transport the cars once to the auction house, and either way, it's sold from there. I just don't know if the auction houses will allow a person off the street to come view a used car on the lot. I'm guessing that they most definitely wouldn't allow test drives.

This is relieving the strain on the service centers for those minor repairs and inventory storage.

I totally agree they should not be using the overburdened service centers to run their CPO operation.

I understand what they are trying to do but wish they would bring the CPO business in-house. They can refurbish most of those cars for deep wholesale prices if they own the operation. They can then profit off of all those cars being sold at a premium as proper CPO cars.

Perhaps they should use their new Tesla body shops as a staging area for CPO cars? The goal should be to refurbish as many as economically viable and sell those cars quickly. This way Tesla gets the most revenue per car and customers are happy to receive a quality product.

Cars they deem are not worth their effort to refurbish can be auctioned of immediately.

They really need to have a way for customers to inspect a CPO car before purchase. I bet many of us would be comfortable with a $60,000 transaction where we can;t inspect what we are buying, especially considering the current circumstances.

 

[Alset4S]

Lord knows they need help. I'm one who cancelled my used car order due to complete frustration with the process. To call them incompetent is an understatement.

 

[PhilDavid]

Lord knows they need help. I'm one who cancelled my used car order due to complete frustration with the process. To call them incompetent is an understatement.

What they have now is awful.

It's awful for customers and really it's awful to Tesla as well. If they had a thought out CPO program program, like every one else in the universe, they probably will be turning each car around within a month.

It is really silly the games they play with CPO pricing. I have seen some cars go up in price overnight by around $20K. Yeah, if the car has not sold yet, adding $20K to the price will really make it sell quickly.

 

[tylerdurden]

I know of a bunch of dealers who are buying direct from Tesla and flipping them. Also there is a site where dealers + Private owners can sell a used Tesla to the public. Unlike the numerous other platforms who are made to sell ICE vehicles this is just for for Tesla market and this is ONLY the beginning, soon they'll have used roadsters for sale I saw a few people who won a roadster and want to even sell the prize Only Used Tesla | A Place Exclusively Dedicated To Buying And Selling Used Teslas

 

[PhilDavid]

I know of a bunch of dealers who are buying direct from Tesla and flipping them. Also there is a site where dealers + Private owners can sell a used Tesla to the public. Unlike the numerous other platforms who are made to sell ICE vehicles this is just for for Tesla market and this is ONLY the beginning, soon they'll have used roadsters for sale I saw a few people who won a roadster and want to even sell the prize Only Used Tesla | A Place Exclusively Dedicated To Buying And Selling Used Teslas

Their user interface is horrible as it allows no sorting or filtering of vehicles. Strange someone could build that site and it not occur to them that sorting and filtering is useful when looking to buy a car...

 

[tylerdurden]

Their user interface is horrible as it allows no sorting or filtering of vehicles. Strange someone could build that site and it not occur to them that sorting and filtering is useful when looking to buy a car...

I told them and they said they are working on a V2 and filter + sorting is the #1 requested feature. You are 100% correct! #real-talk