Tesla Trade-in Offer a Joke

[K5ING]

The KBB means little when trading any car to a dealer. Back in the early 90's, I tried to trade in a vehicle at a dealer. KBB said it was worth $5,000. The dealer offered $2,100 trade in. I told him that the book said it was worth more than twice what he was offering. He gave me a look of disdain and said "Well, is "The Book" buying your car?"

 

[Zybane]

Anyone who trades-in a vehicle is throwing money out the window. Even after tax savings, selling private party you will come out far far ahead.

 

[TexasEV]

The KBB means little when trading any car to a dealer. Back in the early 90's, I tried to trade in a vehicle at a dealer. KBB said it was worth $5,000. The dealer offered $2,100 trade in. I told him that the book said it was worth more than twice what he was offering. He gave me a look of disdain and said "Well, is "The Book" buying your car?"

I'm sure they teach that look and line at scummy dealer school.

 

[msnow]

I'm sure they teach that look and line at scummy dealer school.

Like I said, sleazy stuff.

 

[sitter_k]

The KBB means little when trading any car to a dealer. Back in the early 90's, I tried to trade in a vehicle at a dealer. KBB said it was worth $5,000. The dealer offered $2,100 trade in. I told him that the book said it was worth more than twice what he was offering. He gave me a look of disdain and said "Well, is "The Book" buying your car?"

He's right, appraisals and valuations are great but the true value of anything is the price someone is willing to pay for it.

Kbb says x tesla is worth this. Is that in an area with lots of superchargers? Lots of service centres? Was that price after or before auto pilot was released and all non ap cars got dinged on resale value. You can however argue that Tesla CPO is selling the used cars at the highest mark up and ought to be buying used cars at a price that reflects their profitability, infrastructure and economies of scale in prepping cars and selling back value added services. But try telling a company losing money, to give up more revenue.

 

[pox]

Tesla only offered me 11k on my Volt, KBB was 20k, I still owed 17k. I decided to keep it Volt for my wife to use. She is happy.

 

[jimtelsa]

I think that a thread should be started to track the offers that Tesla is giving out on trade ins so that people can see what they are talking about...or just tell us what Tesla offered you. Based on options, condition of vehicle, and miles and play allot it to our vehicles when its time to sell. Also warranty does as well. Show us the numbers. Was there an accident on carfax? Salvage title?

 

[Cattledog]

I was offered $43,200 for our 2012 with 42k miles, 85 kWh Model S with most all options except the rear seats. Looking at Ebay, I might expect very low 50s from a private sale. Might go to CarMax and see what I get offered.

 

[benfrank3]

List your car on the classified forum here for $59 and you'll sell it real quick, somewhere in the $50's. Write out your email address in the description and you won't have to close the deal from there. Bob at yahoo dot com.

 

[brianman]

I was offered $43,200 for our 2012 with 42k miles, 85 kWh Model S with most all options except the rear seats. Looking at Ebay, I might expect very low 50s from a private sale. Might go to CarMax and see what I get offered.

Sig?

 

[islandbayy]

Just got $36k from Tesla on trade in, and $31 from Carmax. KBB Says ~$55k not even counting all the extras.

 

[cwerdna]

However, with the tax treatment of the trade in, the Tesla offer easily beat the most likely private sale value.

Not all states provides ANY tax benefit for trading in. California doesn't. I never even heard of this until I lived in WA state, which does.

What New Car Fees Should You Pay? on Edmunds.com has a table of which ones do/don't under "Trade-In Sales Tax?".

Trade-In: In many states, if you trade in your old car, you can get a nice tax break. If there is a "Y" in the "Trade-In Sales Tax" column of your state, you are only taxed on the difference between the new car and your trade-in. So, if your new car costs $25,000 and you are getting $10,000 for your trade-in, you will only be taxed on the difference, or $15,000. If sales tax in your state is 10 percent, this will save you $1,000. If there is an "N" in the column, it means that you will pay tax on the full amount of your new car purchase, and the trade-in has no bearing on the sales tax you are charged.

- - - Updated - - -

The KBB means little when trading any car to a dealer. Back in the early 90's, I tried to trade in a vehicle at a dealer. KBB said it was worth $5,000. The dealer offered $2,100 trade in. I told him that the book said it was worth more than twice what he was offering. He gave me a look of disdain and said "Well, is "The Book" buying your car?"

In the past, I'd find that often (on non-Teslas) KBB was too high and Edmunds was too low.

If a dealer gives you a crap low value, then it's likely that they don't want the car for themselves to resell and thus will have to send it to auction. They're going to give you less than what they think it'll fetch at auction.

In some cases, they could give you a "good" deal on trade in by inflating the price on the new car instead.

I actually got a good price on my former Nissan 350Z that I sold to a Nissan dealer. I wasn't trading in nor buying anything from them. It was higher than what I was advertising for in Craigslist (and getting little response) and higher than an offer from another a Nissan dealer along with a used car dealer that responded to my CL ad. The dealer that bought my car said it was one they could easily sell.

FWIW, that Nissan dealer went out of business a few years ago.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

this is exactly the way i did it when i bought the black one

Just so you realize, Kelly Bluebook means absolutely nothing when it comes to Tesla valuations. Those figures were pulled out of someone's rear end. Before the D's actually arrived the beginning of this year there was not much of a used Tesla market to begin with.

If you want some idea about Tesla vehicle valuations that have any basis in fact and reality just look up sold listings on eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cars-Trucks..._salic=1&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=25&LH_Complete=1

 

[Zythryn]

I was offered $43,200 for our 2012 with 42k miles, 85 kWh Model S with most all options except the rear seats. Looking at Ebay, I might expect very low 50s from a private sale. Might go to CarMax and see what I get offered.

So this would have had no parking or auto pilot sensors.
No power folding mirrors.
No winter package.
Type A battery?

If it was a sig, you may have found a better deal from a collector, but that is a big if.
Was it Sig Red? If so, a private sale would be easier as it is a rarer color.

 

[FloridaGary]

+1, if you don't want to deal with the edentulous characters scoping out your property, go Carmax, they sell the car directly so sometimes you get above KBB, my neighbor did.

You wouldn't happen to be a dentist?[emoji16]

 

[Steve S]

I just went through this. Tesla now uses local brokers who essentially offer what they would pay at an auction. In other words way below wholesale KBB (i.e. dealer trade-in value). You are better off going to AutoNation or CarMax or optimally selling it yourself. Tesla makes nothing off these trade-ins, that isn't their business. It's just a convenience for buyers.

I just did the same when buying my CPO Tesla. Tesla rated my trade-in 2k less than what CarMax did and matched it. The experience was great overall, and the trade-in was very close to what I would have received selling it outright when you include the trade-in tax incentive. Not having to deal with tire kickers was an added bonus.

 

[Sparktz]

Tesla is screwing with me on my trade in. I got a full appraisal done on my car on October 21st for $15,000, which I was happy with so I let my order confirm.

Now that we are closer to delivery they have reappraised my car today at $10,500. They didn't come back out to look at the car, they are going off of the previous appraisal but adjusting the mileage from 53k to 56k (2 months worth of my driving on the car).

Not sure what I am going to do right now. I am considering just letting them keep the car which is currently in production.

 

[msnow]

Tesla is screwing with me on my trade in. I got a full appraisal done on my car on October 21st for $15,000, which I was happy with so I let my order confirm.

Now that we are closer to delivery they have reappraised my car today at $10,500. They didn't come back out to look at the car, they are going off of the previous appraisal but adjusting the mileage from 53k to 56k (2 months worth of my driving on the car).

Not sure what I am going to do right now. I am considering just letting them keep the car which is currently in production.

That doesn't sound fair. I assume you spoke to your Ownership Advisor and DES and told them they need to escalate this.

 

[Sparktz]

That doesn't sound fair. I assume you spoke to your Ownership Advisor and DES and told them they need to escalate this.

I did, they haven't responded yet. We'll see what happens I guess.

 

[Kandiru]

Carmax all the way, they gave me KBB private party price on the S4.