trade in process

[mf913]

Appreciate if anyone can share their experience regarding trade in ... My assumption is that on the day of delivery, you will drive the car to be traded in to the dealer.

Do dealers go through "inspection" of the car ? What do they really check ?

The car has some transmission "shrudder" issue. Just wonder if dealers will "reject" the trade in.

 

[Mike728]

Appreciate if anyone can share their experience regarding trade in ... My assumption is that on the day of delivery, you will drive the car to be traded in to the dealer.

Do dealers go through "inspection" of the car ? What do they really check ?

The car has some transmission "shrudder" issue. Just wonder if dealers will "reject" the trade in.

Have you checked selling it through other online vendors? Tesla is not known for giving good values on trades. Don't believe their initial offer estimates.

 

[SpoonMXP]

Have you checked selling it through other online vendors? Tesla is not known for giving good values on trades. Don't believe their initial offer estimates.

I concur, tesla trade amount was terrible, and ended up cancelling it. I did well with Vroom. A word of advise, make sure you have a Tesla ready before going that route. I sold it and now I've been car-less for almost a month now waiting god know when my X is coming in.

 

[flixden]

My trade in offer from Tesla was better than Vroom, carmax, carvana. Close to Vroom, but slightly better in the end.
Always worth a try, and hassle free when trading in the car with Tesla. You won't be without a ride, that's for sure.

 

[xanderwalker]

They don’t have the time or resources to check for an issue like you are describing. The values they give for trade ins are adjusted for the risk that comes from taking in cars with issues like you are describing.

 

[mf913]

Thanks for all the responses. Carvana gave an initial quote of ,8k then lowered to 2800 minutes later. Tesla gave an online roug estimate of 4000 (through email) but won't be surprised they will lower it. Because of the cvt shudder issue, trying to find an easy way to get rid of the car. I think some sellers (if not all) mentioned above require some form of inspection before taking the car.

 

[Mike728]

My trade in offer from Tesla was better than Vroom, carmax, carvana. Close to Vroom, but slightly better in the end.
Always worth a try, and hassle free when trading in the car with Tesla. You won't be without a ride, that's for sure.

Yes, outliers do exist. Consider yourself lucky.

 

[Goobers]

Yes, outliers do exist. Consider yourself lucky.

I had a pretty good experience with my trade-in.

I think part of the issue is that, people that have positive experiences aren’t as vocal about it as people that have negative experiences… which could easily skew perception.

It’s like this online game I play. The developers have all the server stats of what players do, namely how they spend their money. But you always get forums that seem like most players want or will only do certain things, when the numbers clearly show those are actually just a vocal minority (very very small minority at that).

 

[Mike728]

I had a pretty good experience with my trade-in.

...

How many offers did you get? If I didn't get several, I would have thought mine was ok from Tesla. I got 2 (KBB and Vroom) that were higher, by over $2k, and 1 (CarMax) that was lower by about $1k than Tesla's final offer. Tesla's initial estimate was inline with what I sold it for via KBB. Carvana's offer was almost identical to Tesla's final much lower offer. CarMax was less by $1k.

Times change and YMMV. I'm happy they gave you a good deal.

 

[hsfrank]

My experience was quite good. Although Tesla was lower then Carmax or Carvana I choose to do it for the convenience and not having to ask a buddy to drive 50 miles to the dealer and drop me off. There was always the possibility that Carmax or Carvana would lower the price.

 

[flixden]

My experience was quite good. Although Tesla was lower then Carmax or Carvana I choose to do it for the convenience and not having to ask a buddy to drive 50 miles to the dealer and drop me off. There was always the possibility that Carmax or Carvana would lower the price.

For me Tesla was the highest offer, but it sure also was the most convenient by far. When you read reviews, there are a few things that can (and frequently do) go wrong when going the third party selling route. Especially when you need the funds for the new car purchase, and can't be without a ride for too long.

 

[mm9351]

My experience with the trade in process, overall, was great. On the day of delivery, I dropped off my Model 3. The service rep transferred control from my iPhone to Tesla, and that was pretty much the whole deal. Nobody looked at my trade, drove it, or anything else. So I guess everyone's experience will vary, but just wanted to share how ideally it should go.

 

[Mike728]

My experience with the trade in process, overall, was great. On the day of delivery, I dropped off my Model 3. The service rep transferred control from my iPhone to Tesla, and that was pretty much the whole deal. Nobody looked at my trade, drove it, or anything else. So I guess everyone's experience will vary, but just wanted to share how ideally it should go.

Yeah, this makes sense. The online buyers and dealers are lowballing Tesla's now, due to pricing fluctuations, I remember seeing Carvana trying to sell a used 2022 MYLR for around $60k when we ordered ours.

 

[Darmie]

I've done a trade-in twice here in the State of Texas last month. Each time I had a car on order through the app. The app makes it easy to take a few pictures and then you get a confirmed quote. Both times we drove the car that we were trading in to the showroom. At delivery, you accept the new car and set up the phone as key, open the door of the new car and bang, the old car that you traded in is no longer in the app. Pro tip, ensure all your belongings are out of the old car and is in or near your pick of the new car. Make a list of all items in your old car that you want to remove when you do a trade. Toll tag, any gate clickers, license plates floor mats, ect. Take your old mobile chargers if you have one for they are not included in the purchase of new. Take your J-1772 plug as well. Ensure state inspection is in glove box of the new car. I will say each time, no one looked at the trade-in nor ask about it. We could have brought a Yugo to the party, they would have not known.
Keep in mind each state may be different. In Texas, it was easy.

 

[Mateo83]

They look it over briefly and drive it off to the lot next door. Knowing their pick-up policy, i doubt they also reject much inbound.

 

[mf913]

They look it over briefly and drive it off to the lot next door. Knowing their pick-up policy, i doubt they also reject much inbound.

My concern is that when they drive it off to the lot next door, they feel the transmission shudder and reject. Haha.

The car is paid off etc. Do ppl get the money/check on the same day ??

 

[Goobers]

How many offers did you get? If I didn't get several, I would have thought mine was ok from Tesla. I got 2 (KBB and Vroom) that were higher, by over $2k, and 1 (CarMax) that was lower by about $1k than Tesla's final offer. Tesla's initial estimate was inline with what I sold it for via KBB. Carvana's offer was almost identical to Tesla's final much lower offer. CarMax was less by $1k.

Times change and YMMV. I'm happy they gave you a good deal.

I’ll admit, I didn’t bother to shop around. I didn’t want to contend with scheduling issues and needing a ride to the SC. The convenience of having everything done in one place at one time made it a significant factor to just go with it.

That being said, in Feb ‘23, I got $20k (before $500 loan payoff) on 2019 Honda HR-V Touring with 50k miles, pair of small dents and plenty of curb rash. With KBB suggesting even lower offers for excellent condition ($18k-$19k). This was actually their second offer. The first was lower at about $18.5k or so (effectively what KBB listed), but I did it too early and it expired before delivery.

 

[Breakthrough]

I had a pretty good experience with my trade-in.

I think part of the issue is that, people that have positive experiences aren’t as vocal about it as people that have negative experiences… which could easily skew perception.

It’s like this online game I play. The developers have all the server stats of what players do, namely how they spend their money. But you always get forums that seem like most players want or will only do certain things, when the numbers clearly show those are actually just a vocal minority (very very small minority at that).

Did Tesla change the trade-in value overtime or on the delivery date (omitted damage or increase in mileage) from the innitial submit?

 

[Mateo83]

My concern is that when they drive it off to the lot next door, they feel the transmission shudder and reject. Haha.

The car is paid off etc. Do ppl get the money/check on the same day ??

I doubt the employees care enough to reject it. It would compromise them selling a car.

 

[Goobers]

Did Tesla change the trade-in value overtime or on the delivery date (omitted damage or increase in mileage) from the innitial submit?

Nope, for both the expired one and the finalized/second one, they gave me a quote and stuck with it for the time, even after the photos and everything.

Maybe quotes were changed because the service agents felt the photos made the car seem worse than the initial description.

On one hand, people do tend to try and make things look better than they might be to get better trade values.

On the other hand, even accurate description might not be understood properly and even photos might make things seem bad. Or worse, if the owner “seemingly” tries to hide parts of the car, the service agent might take that negatively even if there’s nothing there.

I try to be as accurate as possible, to the point people think I’m anal about it. Maybe that worked to my benefit.