Trade in Values from Tesla (& other dealers)

[MCMY]

Same here on a M3P 18 months in and lost over £30K it’s not just Teslas similar story on my business partners Volvo EV. Recently sold my 992 911 three years on and £15K down and the dealer sold it for £500 under what I bought it for new. Everyone talks about how much cheaper EV,s are to run but in reality overall costs are horrific.

911 isn't a good comparison, how many of those are Porsche actually making a year? Anyone buying a 911 probably has a reasonably long lead time.

Unlike Porsche, Tesla have shown their hand which is that they are going to chase volume at all costs, even if it means reducing their sizeable margin. This is the flip side of the coin really - people champion how great it is that Tesla have got 25%+ margin across the cars, compared to their competitors who make single digits or even a loss, without thinking about how this might affect them.

To echo @UrbanSplash's point - I would not buy a new Tesla and assume it is going to retain an elevated value "because it's an EV", or whatever, not when Tesla could lop off another 10% at least and still be profitable.

Not sure why it isn't is a good comparison it's still buying the same thing, a car? I am also not sure what lead times have to do with this you just need to be organised and Porsche lead-time depends very much on model and the lifecycle of that particular version.

Completely agree Tesla have pushed for volume which raises their profits due to scale as well as lower entry points to ownership. On the downside for owners prices have come down in the second hand market and will only get worse. I believe the model Y is due to out sell the Toyota Camry so you can see which direction that is heading in.

It's just like buying a mobile phone. My next one was bought via the app, I haven't had to deal with anyone not even on the trade in. I will go to a large out of town shopping centre and pick it up and to be honest I prefer it that way. Better than spending hours with the dealer trying to sell me stuff I don't need or want and some Business manager coming out and shaking my hand and saying thanks for the business behind gritted teeth because I have had to haggle the unclear pricing structure. My iPhone isn't worth much after a year either.

Tesla have won me over my M3P was way better then the Golf R we had, better built and better performance by a mile. The MYP I am about to pick up will be everything as a family we need lots of space, performance, great interface cheap for to fuel be it electric, however I know come trade in I will have my pants pulled down again, but I have accepted that.

 

[ACarneiro]

I think you may possibly be the first person I ever “heard” saying a Tesla has better build quality than a VW…

 

[MCMY]

I think you may possibly be the first person I ever “heard” saying a Tesla has better build quality than a VW…

My Golf R rattled like a snake. We had a new beetle a few years before that and it was shockingly built (I believe Mexico). I have always been an Audi/VW fan had many cars from there but the last two VW's, cheap plastic finishes and rattled in many different places I would never buy another, they are not what they used to be. Not one rattle in my M3P. The build still could do with improvement the for example the 'wooden' dash should have been left in my parents 70's kitchen.

 

[Leejmoff]

My Golf R rattled like a snake. We had a new beetle a few years before that and it was shockingly built (I believe Mexico). I have always been an Audi/VW fan had many cars from there but the last two VW's, cheap plastic finishes and rattled in many different places I would never buy another, they are not what they used to be. Not one rattle in my M3P. The build still could do with improvement the for example the 'wooden' dash should have been left in my parents 70's kitchen.

Have to agree with you on VW. Previous car wasn't great in all honestly and I had more creaks/rattles in that than I do in my M3 to be fair.

 

[Unclepaul]

Last year was a crazy high demand used vehicle market. Most all new and used cars were commanding exceptionally high prices. Prices now returing more to normal. Right now if you want a new Tesla you will pay less for a new one, and get less for your used one.

Not so much as reflecting depreciation, but more just the market place returning to normal. You bought at the high market time.

 

[Motorsport101]

Our e-Golf has had no rattles or noises compared to our model S. The two model 3 courtesy cars (2021 & 2022 models) were even worse and put me off considering a model 3. Plus seeing metal bodywork inside of the car made me feel like I was sitting in a Mii/Citygo/Up. Personal preference of course.

Comparing EV with EV's, Tesla values appeared to have dropped quicker than other manufactures of similar age/mileage.

 

[Drew57]

Not if the New Price has fallen, say, 25% - still only 25% make-up money to replace it

I have no idea what the O/Ps actual prices are, so that may not be the case ... but in a falling-price-market complaining about the fall in value of an asset, which you replace every few years at "market price", doesn't seem relevant to me - its the cost to replace that is relevant.

"Forced sale" through unfortunate circumstances, yeah that would be miserable.

I agree with you if trading Tesla for Tesla, it's what I and several others did in 2022. However given the arrogant way Tesla behave, a lot of us will move to a different EV manufacturer when the current vehicle is due for replacement.

In that case it's likely that many 'equivalent' European models will not be able to drop in price accordingly - legacy brands will struggle with already lower margins so the differential in this case may be significantly higher. Potentially this could result in greater demand for new MIC brands as they come to market, they should find it easier to follow the downward price spiral so this could be the only way to minimise the 'cost to replace'.

 

[Kenners]

I wonder how this will impact sales, as based on this forum a lot of demand was people upgrading. I did it twice. But I always expected that merry go round to stop and at that point I would just keep the car til it fell to bits (sooner than I envisaged tue ways things are rattling).

Although the way things are going I might be tempted to pick up a few 12 month old ones at 50% under list and start renting them to Uber drivers.

 

[Doudeau]

I often find myself in a traffic jam next to a Toyota dealer and see 2nd hand cars on their forecourt with sticker prices not dissimilar to the values of 2nd hand M3s now. I know I’m biased but I just look at them and wonder how somebody could buy one of those instead of a Tesla.

A friend of mine bought a 3 year old Golf GTi today for £30k and I, again, struggle to see why our M3s are similarly valued.

As a happy owner, with not even wiper issues , I think I’ll be holding onto this car longer than any I’ve had before and could envisage spending a few £ks on EAP to breath some new life into it in the future. If EAP improves enough.

 

[roadcred]

I have had a number of Model3s and Model Ys since 2019. I made money on all of them and hence suffered no depreciation up to September 2022 when I bought my last Model Y. as late as last November I could have sold the car to Motorway for £60k, another profit of £6k. Then the crash came and all dealers reduced the valuation of my Model Y. I automatically value my car on WBAC every week and it rapidly reduced to £34k However over the past 6 weeks it has averaged between £42 and £43 k, between 20 and 25% depreciation.
That is sensible depreciation on a new car, much less than I have experienced on Jaguars, BMWs and Mercedes I have bought new before 2019. By changing my cars through the period of demand it has meant that my total depreciation over almost 4 years has been less than £10k.
Thats OK by me. No repairs, servicing, new tyres or brakes over 4 years. No Road Tax and no congestion charges and extremely cheap parking in Westminster.
By far and away the cheapest car to own and use in my 60 years of ownership!

 

[Ambergold]

It cost 54k after the govt grant. (Extras were metallic, alloys and white + black). Same car is now €46,628, net of grant. So 20k down in one year based on Musks new pricing (trade in from Tesla of €27k) I am buying a Y and had an S previously. So much for loyalty.

This is still woeful depreciation.

 

[qwickshot]

Do you honestly all think this is just a tesla thing?

You can pick up a Kia EV6 for less than a similarly aged Model Y on the used market at the moment. The EV6 costs about the same as the Model Y.

Cheapest Model Y on Autotrader at a dealer is £43k, you can get an EV6 for under £40k, the cheapest is £36k (high milage) and there is 3x the number of cars available.

You can get a 2019/20 fat etron 55 for £30k, a car that started at £70k and raged well into the £80’s when new.

 

[pgkevet]

Possibly a reflection of economic realities and reluctance to buy secondhand EV with range loss concerns, charging issues including installation cost and then EV repair costs.

 

[Jason71]

The tabloids seem to be waging total war on EVs right now. Between all the negative press and the energy prices people seem to have soured on them right now. There are some amazing used bargains right now.

 

[qwickshot]

Yup, fat etron 55 for £30k is A LOT of car for the money. Range is a bit sub par but it changes very quickly to compensate.

 

[AndyFov]

It's not a Tesla problem.... EVs in general have taken a bashing in residuals. It's no surprise given the way energy bills have been rising.

I've checked my Gmail for our Nissan Leaf. Last October:

And today?

You're looking at a 62.5% drop in offer price in just over six months.

From my side, despite picking the wrong time to offload the Leaf it's still allowed me to get a foot on the Tesla ladder a lot sooner than I'd expected. I'm just not someone who'll ever be comfortable having £40k tied up in a car, whether that's a lot of money to me or not.

 

[AndyFov]

Comparing EV with EV's, Tesla values appeared to have dropped quicker than other manufactures of similar age/mileage.

Tesla have heavily discounted their new cars, and there are just more of them in the second hand market than other brands.

Tesla were seemingly depreciation free for ages, that bubble had to burst eventually.

 

[Exy1]

Do you honestly all think this is just a tesla thing?

You can pick up a Kia EV6 for less than a similarly aged Model Y on the used market at the moment. The EV6 costs about the same as the Model Y.

Cheapest Model Y on Autotrader at a dealer is £43k, you can get an EV6 for under £40k, the cheapest is £36k (high milage) and there is 3x the number of cars available.

You can get a 2019/20 fat etron 55 for £30k, a car that started at £70k and raged well into the £80’s when new.

Interesting options,

I just had a look on AutoTrader and there are currently considerably more Porsche Taycan's for sale (495) than Tesla M3's (424).

50 of them are private sales with some having less than 20 miles on them, for their sake I hope they weren't playing at being speculators.

Lots of interesting options coming up I suspect, pity I can't afford any of them.

 

[Zilla91]

Based on the current quotes for my Dec21 car at around £25k, I'll be keeping mine until the wheels fall off. New cars don't have USS either. So might as well keep it and buy another EV going forward.

New cars do have USS, you just have to grow a pair and get something that isn't a Tesla.

 

[Mr H]

The tabloids seem to be waging total war on EVs right now. Between all the negative press and the energy prices people seem to have soured on them right now. There are some amazing used bargains right now.

I agree, this is my new steed