Tesla no longer matches Carmax on Tesla Trade-Ins?

[Mattzilla]

Title says it all.

Decided to pull the trigger last night on a Model 3 before the price increase Monday. Tesla valued my Model S trade-in significantly lower than Carmax. Told the rep this morning when they called to confirm and they told me they do not match Carmax on Teslas. Has anyone else had this experience?

Appreciate it.

 

[trident]

Past experience with a 2007 Camry Hybrid. CarMax was $2 grand higher than residual. Sold to CarMax and paid Toyota off.

 

[Knightshade]

FWIW Tesla actually offered me more than carmax (though they did say they'd match them if carmax came in higher)- but it was for a non-tesla, and it was in September....

 

[ChadS]

Four months ago Tesla offered me a LOT more than Carmax did on my Model 3 trade-in. So, sorry, I didn't have a reason to ask if they'd match Carmax...

 

[shifteru]

My current car is old and not worth much, but I ordered a Model 3 two days ago, and when Tesla offered me only $1300 I went to Carmax who offered $2000. I'd rather go through Tesla so that I can get the tax benefit of the trade-in, so I called the main number and the person I spoke with seemed to say they'd match it and had me send over a copy of my appraisal. Maybe it's based on the delta? Or maybe I was mislead. I don't have a VIN or coordinator assigned yet, so maybe that will change. FWIW, even though I was told the appraisal was added to my account, my account page still has the $1300 offer it's asking me to accept.

 

[bsf29]

Tesla only puts your car out for bid on various auctions and isn't really buying it. Back in 2017 our sales group did accept Carmax's offer and handled the transfer when we were getting our MS. But they were no longer providing the Carmax transfer service when we got our M3 last July. Carmax's offer was really poor for our Fusion Hybrid and we found Carvana to be MUCH better. Carvana came to our house, inspected the car, gave us a check, and hauled it away. Very nice experience and I highly recommend them if they are in your area. Don't forget to check with your DMV about transferring tags and other items so you don't end up with any unexpected surprises.

 

[trident]

All good to know.

 

[Grassright]

then just sell it to carmax

 

[LoL Rick]

The price match to Carmax is only on non-Tesla vehicles. If you try to trade in a Tesla to Tesla, they will use their own internal valuation and will not match anyone else's.

 

[MP3Mike]

Title says it all.

Decided to pull the trigger last night on a Model 3 before the price increase Monday. Tesla valued my Model S trade-in significantly lower than Carmax. Told the rep this morning when they called to confirm and they told me they do not match Carmax on Teslas. Has anyone else had this experience?

Appreciate it.

It has been that way for a long time.

 

[BerTX]

@MP3Mike is correct on this. It is easy to get confused, as CarMax will buy a Tesla at a price higher than Tesla, usually, but Tesla will not match that price. You do not get the sales tax advantages of trading in (if your state has this) so you have to compare the adjusted value.

 

[Mattzilla]

Thanks dudes. I have seen a lot of posts about Tesla matching Carmax, but I guess all of those cases must have been for non-Tesla trade-ins.

Thanks again.

 

[schnieds]

My OA told me I can go get a Carmax price for my BMW 3 series and they will match. So yeah, non Tesla trade in.

 

[Vern Padgett]

Title says it all.

Decided to pull the trigger last night on a Model 3 before the price increase Monday. Tesla valued my Model S trade-in significantly lower than Carmax. Told the rep this morning when they called to confirm and they told me they do not match Carmax on Teslas. Has anyone else had this experience?

Appreciate it.

bsf29 tells the truth.

Mattzilla, we had the same experience as you.

In December I took delivery of my Model 3 Midrange. I've waited for that Blue Star since before Elon was with the company. Tesla offered me $49,700 for my Model S90D as trade-in. I e-mailed back and told them to keep the Model 3 because the trade-in offer was an insult.

Two days later I put on a suit and drove the S90D over to Buena Park and talked to Russell, who patiently explained that Tesla was not a used car dealer (see bsf29's post) and to go down the street to CarMax, where he sends all trade-in customers.

They offered me $51,000 for the car.

So I decided to sell it myself. I looked up Kelly Blue Book and priced it at $58k. I put it on Adam Q's www.OnlyUsedTesla.com site. I've had 4 come over to see the car and have an offer for 54k.

I don't think I really want to sell it.

 

[Mattzilla]

Just an FYI - after talking with Tesla again about their low offer, remarkably they did come up significantly, to the point that the math worked in favor of just doing the trade-in through Tesla instead of messing with Carmax or private party. The convenience of dropping off the car and picking up my new one is also valuable.

Side note - I ordered my M3 the same night the Y was unveiled (03-14-2019) and the next morning Tesla called to arrange delivery for the following Monday (03-18-2019). I'm in Washington and the car has to come from California. I ordered the standard range plus and left everything else standard ($37k). This makes it seem like Tesla has some of these cars just sitting around.

Either way, I'm blown away by that fast order-to-delivery time. When I ordered my MS just 3 years ago, the whole process took about 2 months. From 2 months to 4 days in just 3 years time. Wow.

 

[jbolus]

Just an FYI - after talking with Tesla again about their low offer, remarkably they did come up significantly, to the point that the math worked in favor of just doing the trade-in through Tesla instead of messing with Carmax or private party. The convenience of dropping off the car and picking up my new one is also valuable.

Side note - I ordered my M3 the same night the Y was unveiled (03-14-2019) and the next morning Tesla called to arrange delivery for the following Monday (03-18-2019). I'm in Washington and the car has to come from California. I ordered the standard range plus and left everything else standard ($37k). This makes it seem like Tesla has some of these cars just sitting around.

Either way, I'm blown away by that fast order-to-delivery time. When I ordered my MS just 3 years ago, the whole process took about 2 months. From 2 months to 4 days in just 3 years time. Wow.

How much did you end up getting for your Model S trade-in and how many miles did it have? Thanks.

 

[Tjhappel]

Tesla sells cars at auction just let carmax does, the only difference now is carmax used to “not” retail any tesla’s at all and now they do so if you have a clean car they want for retail they will pay big money for it. On non tesla trades usually anyone will March carmax.

 

[avp72]

Title says it all.

Decided to pull the trigger last night on a Model 3 before the price increase Monday. Tesla valued my Model S trade-in significantly lower than Carmax. Told the rep this morning when they called to confirm and they told me they do not match Carmax on Teslas. Has anyone else had this experience?

Appreciate it.

I recently sold my Model S P85 to Carmax because Tesla offered me almost $6k less. I was told by my sales advisor that Tesla will not match Carmax on Teslas, but may match on other car makes.

 

[Leafdriver333]

I had the best offer from Shift.com

 

[TheTonester]

So for those of you who got Tesla to match Carmax on your trade, I assume you did this prior to your delivery day? And if so, how did you go about getting them to match? Who did you contact, and how?