Trade in offer conveniently expiring

[lasttourist]

Wondering if this is a racket that with Tesla making an offer for your trade-in at the time of your order and days before your delivery, it works out that the offer has expired and you lose a few hundred or thousand dollars because you have to get a new offer from them. It just happened to me.

 

[jjrandorin]

Do you really expect your trade in vehicle not to lose any value over a 60 day or even longer period?

 

[Jason1652]

Wondering if this is a racket that with Tesla making an offer for your trade-in at the time of your order and days before your delivery, it works out that the offer has expired and you lose a few hundred or thousand dollars because you have to get a new offer from them. It just happened to me.

How much did you lose?

 

[lasttourist]

Do you really expect your trade in vehicle not to lose any value over a 60 day or even longer period?

It was only 30 days. Lost $400.

 

[lasttourist]

It was only 30 days. Lost $400.

Additionally, because of the pandemic I put only about 40 miles on the odometer.

 

[lasttourist]

Was just curious how common this was.

 

[Jason1652]

It was only 30 days. Lost $400

I don’t think it’s reasonable for your trade in value to change, considering the timeframe and amount of miles you out on the vehicle. Did you decide to accept the new value and complete the purchase?

 

[lasttourist]

Was just curious how common this was.

I don’t think it’s reasonable for your trade in value to change, considering the timeframe and amount of miles you out on the vehicle. Did you decide to accept the new value and complete the purchase?

yeah. It was either that or figure out alternative financing in 2-3 days and/or lose this delivery happening Friday.

 

[lasttourist]

Was just curious how common this was.

yeah. It was either that or figure out alternative financing in 2-3 days and/or lose this delivery happening Friday.

*alternative = additional

 

[Jason1652]

Was just curious how common this was.

yeah. It was either that or figure out alternative financing in 2-3 days and/or lose this delivery happening Friday.

I’ll let you know if I have the same issue. My expected delivery is May/June. I’m sure I’ll put close to 1k miles or more on my trade by then.

 

[IAmTheShield]

Was just curious how common this was.

yeah. It was either that or figure out alternative financing in 2-3 days and/or lose this delivery happening Friday.

Might be to late now but could always go somewhere like CarMax or CarShop (formerly Car Sense) and see what they will give you. For me it was much higher than what Tesla offered.

 

[lasttourist]

Might be to late now but could always go somewhere like CarMax or CarShop (formerly Car Sense) and see what they will give you. For me it was much higher than what Tesla offered.

Yeah. Definitely too late.

 

[IAmTheShield]

Yeah. Definitely too late.

While that's a shame that it changed that much (I feel like it shouldn't have changed that much with so few miles) at least on Friday you will be driving a Tesla!

 

[vikingrob]

On the car I had originally planned to trade in (and that I now plan to sell separately), the Carvana offer I got yesterday was more than 10% higher than the offer I got from them a month ago.

 

[qdeathstar]

Last year, I traded in my model 3 for a model y in early March. Then Covid happened, factory shut down, too till June to accept delivery.

They never modified the trade in price and it was about 10k over carmax.

Got Lucky I guess. Was your trade in a Tesla or different brand?

 

[vikingrob]

Mine is an ICE Ford.

 

[jjrandorin]

It was only 30 days. Lost $400.

With those few miles driven, and the fact that it was 30 days, I would have challenged the drop in valuation. You didnt provide this information at the beginning, and normally when people come on here and post some variation of this question, they ordered 2 months ago, and put 900-1200 miles on the car since then and are surprised its worth less.

Tesla usually gives less for the trade than some other dealers because they are not interested in the slightest in the car, in most cases. Unless its a tesla, its going straight to auction (and even then, they still send many teslas to auction).

The flip side of that is, in some states you get credit against the sales tax for trading in a vehicle. In others (like mine) you dont.

If the original question is, is this a bait and switch, the answer is no. If the question is, does Tesla's software re adjust the value of the car after 30 days, the answer is yes, I believe it does.

Whether that changes value or not likely depends on the vehicle.

 

[CapeOne]

One drawback of not buying a car "immediately" off the lot is the potential loss of trade value between time of order and when the new car is received. I have heard and read about incidents where a trade value through Tesla dropped significantly after the original final offer expired but whether or not Tesla is using initial high/inflated trade offers as a bait and switch tactic is debatable.

 

[Braumin]

I ordered in January and took delivery at the end of March. My initial trade in offer was right at the bottom of the range listed on reputable pricing sites. I asked for a higher trade-in, putting my car in the middle of the range, and they agreed.

Twice my offer expired, as it only lasts for 30 days. The first time it expired, I resubmitted my odometer, and they came back at exactly the same as what we had agreed upon. The second time, three days before delivery, they came back $500 higher.

It's true that Tesla is not going to resell this car so they don't really want your trade, but they do want the sale, so if you feel they have given you a price that is too low, talk to your sales advisor and they will likely fix it.

 

[lasttourist]

I ordered in January and took delivery at the end of March. My initial trade in offer was right at the bottom of the range listed on reputable pricing sites. I asked for a higher trade-in, putting my car in the middle of the range, and they agreed.

Twice my offer expired, as it only lasts for 30 days. The first time it expired, I resubmitted my odometer, and they came back at exactly the same as what we had agreed upon. The second time, three days before delivery, they came back $500 higher.

It's true that Tesla is not going to resell this car so they don't really want your trade, but they do want the sale, so if you feel they have given you a price that is too low, talk to your sales advisor and they will likely fix it.

That worked out nice for you! I had no luck with the sales adviser.