Trade in or not?

[patrick80132]

I finally got my wife on board after the last test drive this past Saturday. Now it's trying to sell my 2017 A4 before I order the M3. Anyone have experience with trading in a vehicle on your M3 purchase? I'm guessing since they don't sell anything but Tesla and they don't seem to have wiggle room on pricing, it's probably a fool's errand to trade in. However I would get some of my sales tax back on a trade-in. Selling it outright could take time. I've posted the vehicle to CarGurus. Any other places? Just trying to maximize my values and appreciate your thoughts here.

 

[Gondi63]

Note that if you trade the car in to Tesla, your taxable portion will be dropped. So if you're getting $20K in trade in on a $40K car, you'll only pay sales tax on $20k, not $40K.

Tesla will also match offers from Carmax, though I got a better value from Tesla directly.

 

[woodguyatl]

I finally got my wife on board after the last test drive this past Saturday. Now it's trying to sell my 2017 A4 before I order the M3. Anyone have experience with trading in a vehicle on your M3 purchase? I'm guessing since they don't sell anything but Tesla and they don't seem to have wiggle room on pricing, it's probably a fool's errand to trade in. However I would get some of my sales tax back on a trade-in. Selling it outright could take time. I've posted the vehicle to CarGurus. Any other places? Just trying to maximize my values and appreciate your thoughts here.

Tesla matched Carmax for us. That plus reduced taxes matched what we could have gotten through a private sale.

 

[SVL77]

I traded a 2015 Mercedes S63 AMG for my P3D. Telsa gave me a decent offer on trade in value - I pushed back and said I would commit to buy if they upped the trade in value another 2k. They accepted and the deal was done. In the end it was a better trade in value than what my local MB dealer was willing to give.

 

[afadeev]

I finally got my wife on board after the last test drive this past Saturday. Now it's trying to sell my 2017 A4 before I order the M3. Anyone have experience with trading in a vehicle on your M3 purchase? I'm guessing since they don't sell anything but Tesla and they don't seem to have wiggle room on pricing, it's probably a fool's errand to trade in. However I would get some of my sales tax back on a trade-in. Selling it outright could take time. I've posted the vehicle to CarGurus. Any other places? Just trying to maximize my values and appreciate your thoughts here.

Tesla only offers wholesale pricing for trade-ins, so their offers suck. A LOT.
I kept my previous car, and will be selling it directly through autotrader.com and local car clubs, which is where I had bought and sold cars before.

For you Audi, I would consider listing it through local ACNA chapter:
Home - Audi Club North America

In some states, trade-in value offsets the sales tax obligation (TX), while in others it does not.
In NJ there is no sales tax on EVs, so it was not a consideration for me.

a

 

[JFChenger]

They matched my Carmax appraisal which was 16% higher than the initial online Tesla.com trade-In assessed value. Make sure you only go to Carmax once you’ve made your Tesla selection (inventory or online order) as Carmax appraisal is only good for 7 days, Tesla won’t match an expired Carmax appraisal. Once Tesla’s tradein team confirms the match though, it’s good for 30 days (until you take delivery).

 

[Kilotango74]

Note that if you trade the car in to Tesla, your taxable portion will be dropped. So if you're getting $20K in trade in on a $40K car, you'll only pay sales tax on $20k, not $40K.

Tesla will also match offers from Carmax, though I got a better value from Tesla directly.

This depends on the state your buying the car in. Damn CA does not allow this. Not sure about CO.