Tesla Trade In Value Is Bizarre, What Is Our 2016 S P100D Worth?

[James*]

I was short on time with that last post. Sorry. I have several CPA's in the family and know the law well. You can only deduct what you owe the the Feds after doing your taxes at the end of the year, to a max of $7500. If you don't owe any taxes or get money back from the Feds for the year you buy your Tesla you can't take any of the 7500 credit.

Here is from an article in US News And World Report, a very well known publication:

"The federal electric car tax credit is only available in the year that you put the car in service, and you can’t carry the credit from year-to-year. It will only pay for any federal tax you owe, so if you are only required to pay $3,000 of federal income tax for the tax year in which you purchased the car, you can only take a $3,000 credit. Any remaining amounts cannot be carried over into future years."

Here is the entire article. The above section is about half way down the article.

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/how-does-the-electric-car-tax-credit-work


Max, I don't know how much more clear I could be......I was talking about the amount of taxes owed at the end of the year. You know when you file your taxes. Not what you paid over the entire year. I thought I was pretty clear when saying what you owe. I didn't say what you paid in over the year is what it is based on.

OMG This is so simple.......The credit is an up to $7500 amount and is only known after you do your end of the year taxes. So, I will spell it out so you can understand and then will post links to show I obviously know what I am talking about. Besides working for Toyota Motor Company in the legal department that handled the original setup of these plug in rebates I guess you just don't understand.

So, here goes...This may get long. Please feel free to jump to the multiple articles and sources below.

As you work during the year your employer taxes out taxes each pay period (I hope we agree on this unless you are self employed). The amount of taxes taken out of your paycheck each pay period is determined by the tax withholding document you filed when you first got your job, usually part of new hire orientation etc. Although, you can choose to have the taxes withheld by filing a new tax withholding form at any time you choose. At the end of the year, you have paid both state and federal taxes (some states don't have state income taxes). The rate at which you are taxed depends mostly on your income. So, I hope up to this point you agree with what I said.

I will use myself as an example for ease of use. My wife and I bought our Tesla model S, P100D at the end of last year (December 2016). As part of buying the car we paid the following (rounded figures)

$150,000 For The Car

$10,000 Sales Tax

$1,200 Doc Fees From Tesla

$161,200 Total

As part of buying the car we were eligible for up to a $7,500 Federal tax credit.

So, in March of 2017 we sent all of our tax info to the CPA which included items such as W2's that show how much was taken out of our pay over the year. We also sent in documents such as donation documents, medical expenses (medical expenses can only be claimed if they are equal to or greater then 7.5% of your gross earnings). So, after plugging in all the numbers such as:

1) How much we made.

2) How much taxes were taken out based on income/tax bracket.

3) Deductions

4) Federal Tax Credit For The Tesla

5) Additional Income (stocks, bonds etc.)

At this point your/my tax person (or you if you do them yourself) will know if you paid in to much and you are due money back or you didn't pay in enough and you owe additional money to the Federal or State.

So, as I said in using myself as an example. In March I found out we didn't have enough taxes taken out over the year in 2016 and owed the Federal Government about $2,500. This is where the electric vehicle tax credit comes into play. Since we only owed $2,500 to the Federal Government we were only eligible to use that amount of the electric vehicle tax credit. You can only use what you owe to the federal government after doing your taxes at the end of the year up to the max of the credit amount. So, in my case since I owed the feds $2,500 I was only able to use that amount of the car credit. Any unused portion is lost and can NOT be rolled over to the next year. In addition, if you do your taxes and find out you paid in to much in taxes so the Federal Government owes you money back you are not able to use any of the Electric Vehicle $7,500 Credit......That is Right, ZIP, ZERO......ZILCH!!!

The Electric Vehicle Credit Has nothing to do with what you paid in over the tax year. It is only applied to what happens after you do your taxes at the end of the year. If you owe an amount up to $7,500 it will wipe that amount.....The remaining amount of the credit is lost. Again, if you are due money back from the feds because you paid in to much taxes you CAN NOT use any of your credit, it is totally lost.

Remember, This Is A CREDIT, Not A REBATE or REFUND.

So, Now I will Provide You With Multiple Sources/Articles Including Turbo Tax, US World & News Report Etc.

Edmunds:

Electric Vehicle Tax Credits: What You Need to Know | Edmunds

From The Edmunds Article:

How Much Is the Credit?
You'll often hear that a credit is worth "up to" a certain amount. "Up to" is the critical modifier. The federal incentive is usually referred to as a flat $7,500 credit, but it's only worth $7,500 to someone whose tax bill at the end of the year is $7,500 or more. Let's say you buy a Nissan Leaf or other eligible vehicle and you owe $5,000 in income tax for a particular year. That's all the tax credit will be. Uncle Sam's not writing a refund check for the other $2,500. And an unused portion of the credit can't be applied against the following year's taxes.

If you are leasing the vehicle, the tax credit goes to the manufacturer that's offering the lease, not you. The carmaker will likely factor the credit into the cost of the lease to lower your monthly payment, but it isn't mandatory.

The credits also are based on the electric car's battery size. For some models, the maximum can fall well below $7,500. For example, the Toyota Prius Prime, a plug-in hybrid hatchback, only qualifies for a $4,502 federal tax credit.


Turbo Tax:

How does the electric car tax work. Will I get a refund if what ... - TurboTax Support


Nerd Wallet:

Tax Credits and Rebates for Plug-In Cars Made Easy - NerdWallet

From The Nerd Wallet Article:
And because the amount is a credit against taxes owed and not a flat rebate, your total federal income tax bill determines the final value.

For example, if you purchase a plug-in electric vehicle with a maximum federal tax credit of $7,500 and your total income tax bill that year is $8,000, you’ll get the full benefit of the $7,500 credit (and owe $500). But if your tax bill is $6,200, you’ll be able to claim only a $6,200 credit. The government won’t send you a check for the remaining $1,300 and you can’t carry it over to the next year.

US World & News Report:

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/how-does-the-electric-car-tax-credit-work

From The US World & News Report:

The federal electric car tax credit is only available in the year that you put the car in service, and you can’t carry the credit from year-to-year. It will only pay for any federal tax you owe, so if you are only required to pay $3,000 of federal income tax for the tax year in which you purchased the car, you can only take a $3,000 credit. Any remaining amounts cannot be carried over into future years.

EV NETWORK:

Federal EV tax credit explained. Will your Tesla Model 3 qualify?

From The Article:

First, this is a tax credit, not a rebate. This means that you have to owe $7500 in taxes at the end of the year that you buy your car to receive the full amount.

This is not based on how much was withheld from your paycheck throughout the year, but the final amount you actually owe.

To find this out, look at your most recent form 1040. Look at line 47. This is how much you owed. So, for instance, if line 47 says you owe $9,000 for the year, you would qualify for the full $7500. If, however, line 47 says you owe $5,600, then $5,600 is the maximum you will receive back. If you only paid in $5,000 for the year though, that's all you get back. If for some reason you only paid in $1000 for the year, and line 47 says you owe $8,500, you would subtract the $7,500 and that would leave you with a balance owed of $1,000, which you already paid in, meaning you get nothing back, but owe nothing more. Assuming nothing changes in your income or deductions, this would be about the same next year.

So, as I said from the very beginning......The tax credit is an UP TO amount, not that you get $7500 of your taxes. It is simply based on what you owe at the time you file your tax return for the year you bought your car. If you owe $7500 to the feds on taxes you can use the entire amount. If you only owe $3,000 you can only use that amount of the $7500 credit and the rest is tossed out, not able to be used the next year. Lastly, if you are due money back from the Federal Government after doing your year end taxes you lose the entire $7,500 credit. So, as I said before...for Tesla to assume that every customer is going to be able to use the $7500 is crazy. They show it as a deduction in the cost when ordering a car. Like YOU WILL be getting this amount back, shady. They should say Up To $7500 based on your tax situation. If you were going to get the $7500 back for sure it would be a rebate not a credit.

Enough Said. If you don't take multiple reputable articles as proof then you never will. Many people just assume you get the $7500 with the way it is done on Tesla's site.

You are completely wrong.

Look here: Tax credits vs. tax deductions

Tax credits provide a dollar-for dollar reduction of your income tax liability.

 

[MP3Mike]

At this point your/my tax person (or you if you do them yourself) will know if you paid in to much and you are due money back or you didn't pay in enough and you owe additional money to the Federal or State.

So, as I said in using myself as an example. In March I found out we didn't have enough taxes taken out over the year in 2016 and owed the Federal Government about $2,500. This is where the electric vehicle tax credit comes into play. Since we only owed $2,500 to the Federal Government we were only eligible to use that amount of the electric vehicle tax credit. You can only use what you owe to the federal government after doing your taxes at the end of the year up to the max of the credit amount. So, in my case since I owed the feds $2,500 I was only able to use that amount of the car credit. Any unused portion is lost and can NOT be rolled over to the next year. In addition, if you do your taxes and find out you paid in to much in taxes so the Federal Government owes you money back you are not able to use any of the Electric Vehicle $7,500 Credit......That is Right, ZIP, ZERO......ZILCH!!!

Sorry, you are wrong.

You need to fire your tax person ASAP and get someone that knows what they are doing to re-calculate your taxes and file amendments to get your taxes corrected.

Your withholding essentially goes into a "escrow" account to be used against your tax liability/tax bill/amount owed. And has nothing to do with your eligibility for the tax credit.

For example: If you made $150k, had $20k withheld, but your final total tax owed was $10k and you qualified for the tax credit you would get a $12,500 refund.

 

[juice15e]

I was short on time with that last post. Sorry. I have several CPA's in the family and know the law well. You can only deduct what you owe the the Feds after doing your taxes at the end of the year, to a max of $7500. If you don't owe any taxes or get money back from the Feds for the year you buy your Tesla you can't take any of the 7500 credit.

Here is from an article in US News And World Report, a very well known publication:

"The federal electric car tax credit is only available in the year that you put the car in service, and you can’t carry the credit from year-to-year. It will only pay for any federal tax you owe, so if you are only required to pay $3,000 of federal income tax for the tax year in which you purchased the car, you can only take a $3,000 credit. Any remaining amounts cannot be carried over into future years."

Here is the entire article. The above section is about half way down the article.

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/how-does-the-electric-car-tax-credit-work


Max, I don't know how much more clear I could be......I was talking about the amount of taxes owed at the end of the year. You know when you file your taxes. Not what you paid over the entire year. I thought I was pretty clear when saying what you owe. I didn't say what you paid in over the year is what it is based on.

OMG This is so simple.......The credit is an up to $7500 amount and is only known after you do your end of the year taxes. So, I will spell it out so you can understand and then will post links to show I obviously know what I am talking about. Besides working for Toyota Motor Company in the legal department that handled the original setup of these plug in rebates I guess you just don't understand.

So, here goes...This may get long. Please feel free to jump to the multiple articles and sources below.

As you work during the year your employer taxes out taxes each pay period (I hope we agree on this unless you are self employed). The amount of taxes taken out of your paycheck each pay period is determined by the tax withholding document you filed when you first got your job, usually part of new hire orientation etc. Although, you can choose to have the taxes withheld by filing a new tax withholding form at any time you choose. At the end of the year, you have paid both state and federal taxes (some states don't have state income taxes). The rate at which you are taxed depends mostly on your income. So, I hope up to this point you agree with what I said.

I will use myself as an example for ease of use. My wife and I bought our Tesla model S, P100D at the end of last year (December 2016). As part of buying the car we paid the following (rounded figures)

$150,000 For The Car

$10,000 Sales Tax

$1,200 Doc Fees From Tesla

$161,200 Total

As part of buying the car we were eligible for up to a $7,500 Federal tax credit.

So, in March of 2017 we sent all of our tax info to the CPA which included items such as W2's that show how much was taken out of our pay over the year. We also sent in documents such as donation documents, medical expenses (medical expenses can only be claimed if they are equal to or greater then 7.5% of your gross earnings). So, after plugging in all the numbers such as:

1) How much we made.

2) How much taxes were taken out based on income/tax bracket.

3) Deductions

4) Federal Tax Credit For The Tesla

5) Additional Income (stocks, bonds etc.)

At this point your/my tax person (or you if you do them yourself) will know if you paid in to much and you are due money back or you didn't pay in enough and you owe additional money to the Federal or State.

So, as I said in using myself as an example. In March I found out we didn't have enough taxes taken out over the year in 2016 and owed the Federal Government about $2,500. This is where the electric vehicle tax credit comes into play. Since we only owed $2,500 to the Federal Government we were only eligible to use that amount of the electric vehicle tax credit. You can only use what you owe to the federal government after doing your taxes at the end of the year up to the max of the credit amount. So, in my case since I owed the feds $2,500 I was only able to use that amount of the car credit. Any unused portion is lost and can NOT be rolled over to the next year. In addition, if you do your taxes and find out you paid in to much in taxes so the Federal Government owes you money back you are not able to use any of the Electric Vehicle $7,500 Credit......That is Right, ZIP, ZERO......ZILCH!!!

The Electric Vehicle Credit Has nothing to do with what you paid in over the tax year. It is only applied to what happens after you do your taxes at the end of the year. If you owe an amount up to $7,500 it will wipe that amount.....The remaining amount of the credit is lost. Again, if you are due money back from the feds because you paid in to much taxes you CAN NOT use any of your credit, it is totally lost.

Remember, This Is A CREDIT, Not A REBATE or REFUND.

So, Now I will Provide You With Multiple Sources/Articles Including Turbo Tax, US World & News Report Etc.

Edmunds:

Electric Vehicle Tax Credits: What You Need to Know | Edmunds

From The Edmunds Article:

How Much Is the Credit?
You'll often hear that a credit is worth "up to" a certain amount. "Up to" is the critical modifier. The federal incentive is usually referred to as a flat $7,500 credit, but it's only worth $7,500 to someone whose tax bill at the end of the year is $7,500 or more. Let's say you buy a Nissan Leaf or other eligible vehicle and you owe $5,000 in income tax for a particular year. That's all the tax credit will be. Uncle Sam's not writing a refund check for the other $2,500. And an unused portion of the credit can't be applied against the following year's taxes.

If you are leasing the vehicle, the tax credit goes to the manufacturer that's offering the lease, not you. The carmaker will likely factor the credit into the cost of the lease to lower your monthly payment, but it isn't mandatory.

The credits also are based on the electric car's battery size. For some models, the maximum can fall well below $7,500. For example, the Toyota Prius Prime, a plug-in hybrid hatchback, only qualifies for a $4,502 federal tax credit.


Turbo Tax:

How does the electric car tax work. Will I get a refund if what ... - TurboTax Support


Nerd Wallet:

Tax Credits and Rebates for Plug-In Cars Made Easy - NerdWallet

From The Nerd Wallet Article:
And because the amount is a credit against taxes owed and not a flat rebate, your total federal income tax bill determines the final value.

For example, if you purchase a plug-in electric vehicle with a maximum federal tax credit of $7,500 and your total income tax bill that year is $8,000, you’ll get the full benefit of the $7,500 credit (and owe $500). But if your tax bill is $6,200, you’ll be able to claim only a $6,200 credit. The government won’t send you a check for the remaining $1,300 and you can’t carry it over to the next year.

US World & News Report:

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/how-does-the-electric-car-tax-credit-work

From The US World & News Report:

The federal electric car tax credit is only available in the year that you put the car in service, and you can’t carry the credit from year-to-year. It will only pay for any federal tax you owe, so if you are only required to pay $3,000 of federal income tax for the tax year in which you purchased the car, you can only take a $3,000 credit. Any remaining amounts cannot be carried over into future years.

EV NETWORK:

Federal EV tax credit explained. Will your Tesla Model 3 qualify?

From The Article:

First, this is a tax credit, not a rebate. This means that you have to owe $7500 in taxes at the end of the year that you buy your car to receive the full amount.

This is not based on how much was withheld from your paycheck throughout the year, but the final amount you actually owe.

To find this out, look at your most recent form 1040. Look at line 47. This is how much you owed. So, for instance, if line 47 says you owe $9,000 for the year, you would qualify for the full $7500. If, however, line 47 says you owe $5,600, then $5,600 is the maximum you will receive back. If you only paid in $5,000 for the year though, that's all you get back. If for some reason you only paid in $1000 for the year, and line 47 says you owe $8,500, you would subtract the $7,500 and that would leave you with a balance owed of $1,000, which you already paid in, meaning you get nothing back, but owe nothing more. Assuming nothing changes in your income or deductions, this would be about the same next year.

So, as I said from the very beginning......The tax credit is an UP TO amount, not that you get $7500 of your taxes. It is simply based on what you owe at the time you file your tax return for the year you bought your car. If you owe $7500 to the feds on taxes you can use the entire amount. If you only owe $3,000 you can only use that amount of the $7500 credit and the rest is tossed out, not able to be used the next year. Lastly, if you are due money back from the Federal Government after doing your year end taxes you lose the entire $7,500 credit. So, as I said before...for Tesla to assume that every customer is going to be able to use the $7500 is crazy. They show it as a deduction in the cost when ordering a car. Like YOU WILL be getting this amount back, shady. They should say Up To $7500 based on your tax situation. If you were going to get the $7500 back for sure it would be a rebate not a credit.

Enough Said. If you don't take multiple reputable articles as proof then you never will. Many people just assume you get the $7500 with the way it is done on Tesla's site.

You are missing the primary point here and I think I you are confusing "Tax Liability" with what you may or may not "owe" in April after taking into account what you withheld. Here's a simple explanation about it:
What does "tax liability" mean? Is that the amount - TurboTax Support

I could withhold zero or 100% of my income and that would not change my tax liability. The tax liability is what you owe to the government for that year. If you withheld money or paid estimated income tax... then you would subtract that from your tax liability to figure out if you owe anything at the end of the year or not. You brought up the 1040 which will make this very easy to explain...

Look at line 47 which is your total tax liability. (this does not include what was withheld from your paycheck)
Line 54 is where the EV tax credit will show up and this will be added to other credits and totaled on line 55.
Line 63 is your total tax liability for the year. This figure includes the taxes you are responsible for that year minus the credits.
Lines 64 shows you what was withheld from your paycheck.
Line 74 is the total of all the taxes you have already paid for that year.
Line 78 is the Amount you owe (I.E. when you file your taxes in april). this is calculated by subtracting line 74 from 63.

Go download the 1040 excel form and try it yourself from the link below or try it on turbo tax.
Download - Federal Income Tax Form 1040 (Excel Spreadsheet) Income Tax Calculator

I just did a quick test on it an used a 100k income (filed as a single person), withheld 25k, was due a refund of $6810. If you add in the $7500 EV credit the refund increases to $14,310. Which is exactly $7,500 more.

However - this is not what determines the amount of the EV credit you can deduct... for that you have to go to the IRS Form 8936!

If you look at the form 8936 (the EV tax credit form) it only references line 47 from the 1040 which is the tax liability portion of the calculation. Line 23 determines how much of the credit you can use and is the smaller of line 19 (should be $7500) or line 22 (this is your tax liability minus any other tax credits). This has NOTHING to do with what you withheld or any estimated tax payments made during the year.

 

[Az_Rael]

if you do your taxes and find out you paid in to much in taxes so the Federal Government owes you money back you are not able to use any of the Electric Vehicle $7,500 Credit......That is Right, ZIP, ZERO......ZILCH!!!

Not true. I "overpaid" my taxes and was due a ~$2k refund before the credit when I bought a Volt. Since I had over $7500 in tax liability I ended up actually getting a refund check for $9500 (my original refund plus the $7500 credit)

The best thing about the credit is it's not subject to the AMT, which hits me every year.

 

[oktane]

Thanks...I appreciate your feedback. When they said they would give us $125,000 three months ago they said we could keep the car until the model X arrives. So it is just odd that they would ding us for miles that would have been driven while waiting for the X to come in. I expected it to drop, just not that much based on them saying we could drive ours until the new one arrived.

Oh interesting. Now I sort of understand what you are saying. Are you suggesting they would buy back your car but let you keep using it for 3 months? Surely, they would never do that or alternatively buy back your car and purposefully let it sit on the lot without actively trying to sell it. Perhaps there was a miscommunication.

 

[chillaban]

Oh interesting. Now I sort of understand what you are saying. Are you suggesting they would buy back your car but let you keep using it for 3 months? Surely, they would never do that or alternatively buy back your car and purposefully let it sit on the lot without actively trying to sell it. Perhaps there was a miscommunication.

Yes, for a trade in, I can confirm the same policy. Once you "confirm" your Tesla trade-in offer, it is locked in until the delivery date of your new car. So yes, in theory, if you do a new order and it takes months for it to be delivered, you will get to keep your car and have a pre-agreed trade-in value that lasts until delivery day.

I did an OEM trade in with Tesla when I got my 100D, and I got to keep using my 70D during the whole ordering process (it was only 3 weeks or so because it was an inventory car) but on delivery day, I basically just parked it in the parking lot, handed them the keys, and it was thumbs-up. Was totally expecting them to go over the car with a fine tooth comb and ding me on every imperfection, but it didn't happen.

They really try to make it painless to trade in your Tesla for another one. Factoring that into their trade-in offer, it makes it slightly worth it.

 

[clostridium]

Not true. I "overpaid" my taxes and was due a ~$2k refund before the credit when I bought a Volt. Since I had over $7500 in tax liability I ended up actually getting a refund check for $9500 (my original refund plus the $7500 credit)

The best thing about the credit is it's not subject to the AMT, which hits me every year.

Yeah, we lost a hybrid tax incentive in the past because we just hit having to pay AMT. It's great that the Tesla credit isn't impacted by that.

 

[shokunin]

First, this is a tax credit, not a rebate. This means that you have to owe $7500 in taxes at the end of the year that you buy your car to receive the full amount.

This is not based on how much was withheld from your paycheck throughout the year, but the final amount you actually owe.

To find this out, look at your most recent form 1040. Look at line 47. This is how much you owed.

You contradicted your answer with your source here. Ask your CPA family member what is line 47 on the 1040. Line 47 has nothing to do with how much you withheld from your paycheck. This is your tax liability. The articles your are quoting are referring to your tax liability.

If you have 2016 federal taxable income of 46,900 to 46,950 and are filing single, then your tax liability would be $7,503 and would be eligible to receive the full $7500 credit regardless of what you had withheld on your paycheck.

They call it a credit because if you had 2016 federal taxable income of 30,000 - 30,050 then your federal tax liability would be 4,040. In this instance you'd only get $4040 back in credit.

 

[shokunin]

OP, a number of things have happened in the last 3 months that have unfortunately reduced the value of your car in addition to the added time and miles. Air suspension, premium interior, subzero, UHFS audio are all included in the price of a new P100D now. That's an effective $5k price reduction.

Tesla reduces the price of Model X, adds more standard options to performance vehicles

^^^ This too.

I think it's also just bad timing as Tesla just included a bunch of options into the base P100D price as mentioned above, so the price you were re-quoted is probably refactoring those paid options as being standard now (Any seating trim/CF included, Subzero, Premium Upgrade Package all standard).

 

[ucmndd]

I probably shouldn't be as surprised by this as I am, but it floors me there are people out there that can afford to buy $150,000 cars but don't understand the barebones basics of how tax liability works.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

I am pretty sure I will get disagree for saying this but I am tired of all the threads asking why their tesla is worth so little. Tesla depreciated like any other luxury cars. Moreover it takes the 7500 tax credit hit. Also tesla is not standing still so they are always upgrading their new cars so expect even more depreciation on your old tesla. Like others have said there are few people who would buy used high end low mileage tesla so expect tesla to give a low offer because they will have to put some work into it to get it ready for sale and actually sell it and they are not going to do that for free.

If you really think you can get higher than what tesla offers then put it on the market and do the work yourself. Stop asking the community to up value your tesla so you can justify your idealistic higher sale price. If you cared about depreciation, then don't buy a high price car.

 

[ucmndd]

Tesla is that awesome intersection between the crushing depreciation of automobiles and the brutal depreciation of technology.

$150,000 iPhones.

 

[Stealth.Pilot]

I actually think the trade-in offer is pretty generous. I've been looking at used P100D models, and they seem to be going for around $120-130 range retail. So I would expect trade-in around $110-115.

Cars for Sale: Used 2016 Tesla Model S Performance for sale in Orem, UT 84057: Sedan Details - 463021328 - Autotrader

Cars for Sale: Used 2016 Tesla Model S AWD Performance for sale in CORAL GABLES, FL 33146: Hatchback Details - 460959345 - Autotrader

 

[Stealth.Pilot]

I saw a used P100d on tesla.com for $125k last week.

 

[P85DEE]

I thought I would post this to the community to see if Tesla is way off the mark trade in value wise or is it just me expecting to much?

Background:

We bought our model S on 12/30/16. So the car is about 7.5 months old. The car is fairly well loaded.

Model S P100D:
Gray
AP2 Hardware/Software
Premium Upgrade Pkg.
Adjustable Air Suspension
Black Leather Interior W/upgraded Heated/Cooled Seats
Black Alcantara Headliner
Upgraded Carbon Fiber Accents
Upgraded Premium Sound
Fully Opening Sunroof
Unlimited Supercharging Attached To The Car

Mileage is currently 6,700 miles.

The car originally was in the mid $150,000 range. I did receive a discount because it was a showroom car and had 150 miles on it.

After driving the car, we decided we need a little more room for luggage because we travel a fair amount, So, back in May we contacted our local Tesla store and said we wanted to look at getting a model X. At the time the car had about 3,500 miles on it. So we have added about 3,000 miles since that time. In May we asked what Tesla would give us on a trade in. They came back with a price of $125,500 and we could keep the car until our New X would come in. We got busy and waited until a week ago and decided it was time to order our model X. So, we went to the Tesla store again. We asked what they would give us with the additional 3,000 miles on the car and three months older, I was floored.....$117,000. SAY WHAT. They dropped the trade in value by almost $10,000 with only 3,000 additional miles and three months of age added.

When we talked to them in May they told us they typically mark up the trade ins by about $10,000. The last CPO P100D with AP2 I saw on Tesla's site just a short time ago went for around $138,000+. They are selling for upper $130s to low $140 on EBay. I just found it very Bizzzzzare that in such a short time and with only 3,000 more miles they would drop the price so much. Especially when they are getting the sale of a new loaded model X 100D along with the trade in. It is usually typical that you get a higher price when trading in and buying a new car.

So, what is my car worth? I think since it has the unlimited supercharging attached to the car it should go in the $138,000 range? I would love to hear other peoples opinions on value. I think trade in value at more then $35,000 less then sticker price in about 7 months and 6,700 miles is crazy. Maybe I am wrong?

Thanks,

There are quite a number of Inventory P100Ds avaliable with $20k discounts on them with ~1000 miles on em. Those still have the $7500 Fed rebate too. If your car was at $155k new, that means it would be worth $127,500. Knock another $5k off for mileage, and you are at $122,500. That gives Tesla approximately a 5% markup to sell it at. Seems like they are giving you quite a good deal on the trade in actually.

The real issue you're running into is a lack of demand for slightly used P100Ds.

yep

 

[sdorn]

I probably shouldn't be as surprised by this as I am, but it floors me there are people out there that can afford to buy $150,000 cars but don't understand the barebones basics of how tax liability works.

I'm pretty sure that guy is a troll getting everyone worked up (and doing a good job of it).

 

[fiksegts]

agree, he should do the trade quick....

There are quite a number of Inventory P100Ds avaliable with $20k discounts on them with ~1000 miles on em. Those still have the $7500 Fed rebate too. If your car was at $155k new, that means it would be worth $127,500. Knock another $5k off for mileage, and you are at $122,500. That gives Tesla approximately a 5% markup to sell it at. Seems like they are giving you quite a good deal on the trade in actually.

The real issue you're running into is a lack of demand for slightly used P100Ds.

 

[Quick2Judge]

A maxed out S is now around $147,000.* That puts downward pressure on your car. Within the last month Premium seats and interior lighting for the P100D became standard. Everytime a new feature becomes standard used car values will correspondingly drop.

So I can get a brand new maxed out S for $147000 - $7500 fed - $1,750 state = $137,750 Who in their right mind would pay $138,000 for a year old CPO?

*Ignoring child seats and Self driving

 

[Bet TSLA]

When I've looked at upgrading, Tesla folks have been pretty clear that they're offering a trade-in as a convenience. I was told that if I wanted to get the best price for my car I should sell it privately or try vroom.com.

 

[eyespii]

The ev credit is applied to your total tax bill for the year, not the amount you might owe in April. Otherwise, everyone would just have $0 withheld the year they bought their tesla, resulting in a massive tax bill due in April.

You need to fire your CPA.