My 2019 model 3 had 14K miles. Checked the trade In value and it was just 30% lower than what I paid. I was furious as I could have leased instead if the depreciation was like that. Not even an ICE car is like that. When I bought the tesla they gave me a fair offer for my GTI and when I look at the used Teslas on Tesla’s own website, they show hardly any depreciation. Their ask for a 2018 model with 44K miles was higher than their offer for mine even though I had the dual motor and the new wheels and white seats. I feel cheated and angry. Seems like I cold have just leased instead since I am losing so much money. Anyone had this problem? Would have thought tesla would want to retain their customers. I just bought a brand new model Y for my wife and the car is already depreciated by 8K dollars even though it has 114 miles. Thoughts?
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Trading a tesla 3 for another tesla : [not happy with teslas offer]
- Thread starter Albert E
- Start date
bjrosen
Member
Why do you want to trade in a car with 14K miles on it. All car's lose 30% of their value when you drive them off the lot. The idea that Tesla's are different is a myth.
Have you actually looked at Tesla leases? Their lease rate is crap. You cant' negotiate selling price and their money factor is very high.
Tesla taking trade in is to make money... it's not out of some kindness of their hearts and to give you the best money ever. Of course they are going to low ball you so they can make money.
ALL CARS depreciate, end of story. No reason to get mad. If you are SERIOUSLY looking to sell, try Carvana or a few other places. If you are just looking and getting mad, then stop. Life's too short to get mad over a depreciating asset.
Tesla taking trade in is to make money... it's not out of some kindness of their hearts and to give you the best money ever. Of course they are going to low ball you so they can make money.
ALL CARS depreciate, end of story. No reason to get mad. If you are SERIOUSLY looking to sell, try Carvana or a few other places. If you are just looking and getting mad, then stop. Life's too short to get mad over a depreciating asset.
Well I don't understand your math on a lease being more profitable, or even close. But if you don't like their offer sell it somewhere else? If all the offers are the same that is the fair market price. Feeling cheated because someone gave you an offer you are not obligated in any way to accept seems a bit much. Or if you mean you feel cheated because you think the fair market value of the car has dropped below what you were expecting then I think your anger is misplaced.
JimBob 909
Little Red Raven
How does their offer compare to Kelly Blue Book? As asked, why would you trade it in so soon? Tesla's improve so much that buying new seems to be way to go if you can afford it, but buying good used cars makes more financial sense.
Welcome to TMC.
Welcome to TMC.
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
This is normal. When you purchased your new Tesla, you paid a retail price.
When you want to trade it back to Tesla, they can only offer you a wholesale price.
If you really want to know how much depreciation you have, then you need to sell your car, by yourself, in the retail market. This is the real depreciation.
Depreciation should also take into consideration any tax credits, rebates etc you gained on your initial pruchase.
When I privately sold my original Model X, I actually made money, due to all the tax credits, rebates and depreciation I was able to take.
When you want to trade it back to Tesla, they can only offer you a wholesale price.
If you really want to know how much depreciation you have, then you need to sell your car, by yourself, in the retail market. This is the real depreciation.
Depreciation should also take into consideration any tax credits, rebates etc you gained on your initial pruchase.
When I privately sold my original Model X, I actually made money, due to all the tax credits, rebates and depreciation I was able to take.
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
Trade in prices are always much lower. It's not isolated to Tesla. You'll get higher prices selling private party or with third party used car dealers (a bunch of which are now operating, for example Caravan or CarMax). A lot of people sell their Tesla elsewhere instead of trading it for the same results.
Where are all the fanbois who claim Tesla’s hold their value better than any other vehicle?
Maybe reality is setting in.
Maybe reality is setting in.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
They objectively do.
That's not fanboism, it's empirical data from millions of used car sales of all brands.
That doesn't mean they hold all their value forever.
(nor is "trading in to dealer" a useful way to determine the actual resale value as others have noted)
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
It's not the "fanbois" who claim that. It's other companies that keep track of general used car values that do.
For example a few days ago I just read this article on which cars hold their value best (Jalopnik is very much not "fanbois" of Tesla, nor is iSeeCars):
This 2021 Study Reveals The Cars You Should Be Buying New Instead Of Used
And as mentioned up thread, trade-in values are not a good way to judge resale value due to the fact it is typically a low ball offer that is intended for dealer to never lose money even selling wholesale.
One of the things that frustrates me about TMC (both as a regular user and as a volunteer moderator) is how some people "weaponize" the disagree button (or think the disagree button is for "I dont like this factual information so I will click disagree)".
oreobbq
Member
No no, let him be mad if he wants lol. Good on you for providing an informative response cuz he's either throwing an irrational tantrum or trolling.
Well if there is a reason to drink before 5am, this is it. Used car prices. Take that m3 to trade on
a caddy excavator and you will get top dollar. Car dealers do not like buying used models they sell new.
as forward. Although drinking beer makes you live longer I am sure some like
Dark Side Of The moon. What were we talking about?
a caddy excavator and you will get top dollar. Car dealers do not like buying used models they sell new.
This may be the quote of the year. It makes as much sense reading it backwards
as forward. Although drinking beer makes you live longer I am sure some like
Dark Side Of The moon. What were we talking about?
The only half way decent lease was the base model and still not that great. The fact that they’re one of the few that also don’t offer a buy out is a joke too.
CapeOne
Active Member
That article does not appear to reflect reality. The used car market is pretty strong right now thanks to low interest rates, tax season/refunds, stimulus checks, chip shortage issues on new cars, etc. and yet used 2020 M3s at Tesla and on sites like onlyusedtesla.com are being offered (asking prices) for 5%, 10%, 15% or even over 20% below original retail. I would guess the average is around 12% to 15% below on 2020 M3s even in this currently strong used car market. And these are dealer (Tesla) retail and private party retail numbers. Wholesale/trade numbers would obviously be a fair amount lower.
I think articles like what you posted give Tesla shoppers and owners misleading expectations of what to expect as far as resale and too many will end up disappointed. Tesla resales may be good but they're not that good.
Additionally, comparisons to other makes can also be misleading as most new cars sell at a discount whereas new Teslas are typically sold at full retail. If a new Tesla retails for $50k and sells for $50k and is listed for sale for $42k, that's 84% of new retail. If a new [fill in the blank make/model] retails for $55k and sells for $50k and is listed for sale for $42k, that’s 76% of new retail. In this example, the Tesla appears to hold its value nearly 11% (84%/76%) better yet the actual cash value drop in resale from purchase price is the same ($8k for both). The Tesla resale looks to be a lot better but it isn't.
CapeOne
Active Member
Tesla does offer "buyouts" on M3 leases but only to third party dealers. If someone wanted to buy during or at the end of their lease, they could get a buyout number from Tesla and try to find a dealer willing to act as sort of an intermediary and purchase through them. It may still not be worth it but is an option.
This only applies to the M3 and MY as the MS and MX can be purchased directly by the lessee without needing to get a third party dealer involved.
Physicslawyer
Member
Try Vroom. Or, post it here and try to get more for it. You might want to act fast though since the tax credit could be returning.
Agreed, I think this is a big part of it. Everyone pays sticker for Teslas so you feel that pain more. My truck I just got rid of was a 2019 F150 Platinum, sticker on it was 67k, I didn't pay anywhere near that as I got them down to 13k off sticker price since it was Dec 30th 2019. When I sold it, trade in value was around $46k so I was still positive equity by a good bit. Had I paid sticker for the car I would have been massively upside down for sure.
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