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Unhappy with tesla trade in value - 2021

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Did you sell it privately? I love my 2020 3, but (maybe I've been option trading too much) I've been thinking about a strategy to roll it to a newer model without FSD. There may be some bells and whistles the new models have, but I'd love to recoup something on the FSD purchase that I feel was a complete waste. I'd never buy it again.
 
Hey all, thought I'd share some interesting info when looking at trading to Tesla, selling outright or selling to an online vendor.

I'm looking at going to a MYP for multiple reasons - heated steering wheel, more cargo room, suv stuff etc.

Currently have a 2021 Dec 31st delivery M3P - MSM, White interior, 15k miles, brand new never used factory Ubers with brand new rubber, 18" forged wheels with all seasons, ceramic, tint etc etc. - decided to get some trade in estimates. They are as follows

kbb trade range: $55k-$59k
kbb private: $62-$65k
Carvana: $57.5k
CarbuyerUSA: $58,9k
Tesla trade: $47.5k

Thought that was a little polarizing from camp Elon. You all have similar results?
 
Hey all, thought I'd share some interesting info when looking at trading to Tesla, selling outright or selling to an online vendor.

I'm looking at going to a MYP for multiple reasons - heated steering wheel, more cargo room, suv stuff etc.

Currently have a 2021 Dec 31st delivery M3P - MSM, White interior, 15k miles, brand new never used factory Ubers with brand new rubber, 18" forged wheels with all seasons, ceramic, tint etc etc. - decided to get some trade in estimates. They are as follows

kbb trade range: $55k-$59k
kbb private: $62-$65k
Carvana: $57.5k
CarbuyerUSA: $58,9k
Tesla trade: $47.5k

Thought that was a little polarizing from camp Elon. You all have similar results?

Yeah, Tesla seems to lowballs Tesla trade-ins. However, in my experience they seem to be fair on ICE-based vehicle trade-ins.
 
From what I have seen they lowball on all trade-ins. They don’t really want to deal with them. I used Vroom and the price and process were great. They picked up within a week and paid within two days.
Yeah, my experience goes back 2.5 years ago and Tesla matched KBB and Carmax offers so they were fair. I agree, it is one of the areas that I do not like when dealing with Tesla. At one point they offered $39k for a 2019 M3P with only 7k miles. I sold it to Carmax for $48k about 6 months ago, could probably get over $50k for it now.
 
I’m having a tough time getting a decent price for my 2019 M3 LR, white/white, FSD, acceleration boost, 18,700mi. Bought used directly from Tesla 4 months ago when I was out of a proper car due to the Model S delay. Paid $56,500.

I was hoping to private sale it for about $54,000 which seems reasonable after doing some research. Only 1-person responded to my private sale ads and disappeared.

Tesla offered me $47,400 to trade in.
Carvana $46,600
CarMax $47,000
EchoPark $50,300
Random local dealer $51-52K, maybe? They are sketchy and won't give me an exact price. I feel they won't honor that pricing if I do try to proceed. Will try to proceed with them in a few days if still no progress on private sale.

FSD seems to be the biggest factor. No one seems to be valuing it. Cars with or without FSD seem to be selling for nearly the same price in my area (Salt Lake City, UT).
 
I’m having a tough time getting a decent price for my 2019 M3 LR, white/white, FSD, acceleration boost, 18,700mi. Bought used directly from Tesla 4 months ago when I was out of a proper car due to the Model S delay. Paid $56,500.

I was hoping to private sale it for about $54,000 which seems reasonable after doing some research. Only 1-person responded to my private sale ads and disappeared.

Tesla offered me $47,400 to trade in.
Carvana $46,600
CarMax $47,000
EchoPark $50,300
Random local dealer $51-52K, maybe? They are sketchy and won't give me an exact price. I feel they won't honor that pricing if I do try to proceed. Will try to proceed with them in a few days if still no progress on private sale.

FSD seems to be the biggest factor. No one seems to be valuing it. Cars with or without FSD seem to be selling for nearly the same price in my area (Salt Lake City, UT).
You are probably expecting too much for the FSD value. Unfortunately many people have reported that FSD doesn’t add much value when you sell.
 
I’m having a tough time getting a decent price for my 2019 M3 LR, white/white, FSD, acceleration boost, 18,700mi. Bought used directly from Tesla 4 months ago when I was out of a proper car due to the Model S delay. Paid $56,500.

I was hoping to private sale it for about $54,000 which seems reasonable after doing some research. Only 1-person responded to my private sale ads and disappeared.

Tesla offered me $47,400 to trade in.
Carvana $46,600
CarMax $47,000
EchoPark $50,300
Random local dealer $51-52K, maybe? They are sketchy and won't give me an exact price. I feel they won't honor that pricing if I do try to proceed. Will try to proceed with them in a few days if still no progress on private sale.

FSD seems to be the biggest factor. No one seems to be valuing it. Cars with or without FSD seem to be selling for nearly the same price in my area (Salt Lake City, UT).
FWIW, Carmax and Carvana only offered $500 more if my car had FSD. Now that you can subscribe to FSD I think it hurts the resale even more. $47,400 is a pretty strong offer from Tesla, they must be taking FSD into consideration since they are usually the lowest offer. Furthermore, if you are trading for a Model S you should factor the potential sales tax savings into the offer when trading. Have you tried Vroom? They seem to pay top dollar as well.
 
I'm trading an Audi RS3 for a M3LR. Tesla's offer was $3k below low KBB trade-in value (my car is in very good condition). I obtained a written offer from a nearby specialty car dealership that was $7k higher than Tesla's offer. The dealer was willing to purchase it from Tesla so that I would get the tax benefit (10.5%). I took it to the Tesla dealer to see if they would accept that arrangement. I was told they process all their trades through firms like Odessa and are not willing to "negotiate" on trades. Here, I could have given them a written wholesale purchase offer that would cost them nothing, and would likely result in the car being picked up immediately, at no risk to Tesla and at a large benefit to me. Another example of Tesla's appalling customer service which seems to be: take it or leave it.
 
FWIW, Carmax and Carvana only offered $500 more if my car had FSD. Now that you can subscribe to FSD I think it hurts the resale even more. $47,400 is a pretty strong offer from Tesla, they must be taking FSD into consideration since they are usually the lowest offer. Furthermore, if you are trading for a Model S you should factor the potential sales tax savings into the offer when trading. Have you tried Vroom? They seem to pay top dollar as well.
Vroom took a second to get back to me. They are at $47,900.
 
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Also, I did some checking with my accountant. Since I itemize on tax return, I can itemize sales tax paid. But I was told I cannot itemize losses on personal property.

Therefore, although the trade-in tax credit appears lucrative upfront, I still probably get a bit more back in the end after filing taxes for not trading with Tesla. I can’t deduct any losses for Tesla’s lower offer. But I can itemize the additional sales tax paid on my MS.
 
I'm trading an Audi RS3 for a M3LR. Tesla's offer was $3k below low KBB trade-in value (my car is in very good condition). I obtained a written offer from a nearby specialty car dealership that was $7k higher than Tesla's offer. The dealer was willing to purchase it from Tesla so that I would get the tax benefit (10.5%). I took it to the Tesla dealer to see if they would accept that arrangement. I was told they process all their trades through firms like Odessa and are not willing to "negotiate" on trades. Here, I could have given them a written wholesale purchase offer that would cost them nothing, and would likely result in the car being picked up immediately, at no risk to Tesla and at a large benefit to me. Another example of Tesla's appalling customer service which seems to be: take it or leave it.
Yep, this is the one area where they are just not up to par with the rest of the industry. From a business perspective they are also missing out on a ton of potential revenue from all these trade-ins. It is no secret the used car department makes a lot more profit than the new car department. Like you mention Tesla sales can afford to be arrogant due to the current supply and demand but this will not always be the case and will have an impact on repeat business as we see more EV options enter the market.
 
I'm trading an Audi RS3 for a M3LR. Tesla's offer was $3k below low KBB trade-in value (my car is in very good condition). I obtained a written offer from a nearby specialty car dealership that was $7k higher than Tesla's offer. The dealer was willing to purchase it from Tesla so that I would get the tax benefit (10.5%). I took it to the Tesla dealer to see if they would accept that arrangement. I was told they process all their trades through firms like Odessa and are not willing to "negotiate" on trades. Here, I could have given them a written wholesale purchase offer that would cost them nothing, and would likely result in the car being picked up immediately, at no risk to Tesla and at a large benefit to me. Another example of Tesla's appalling customer service which seems to be: take it or leave it.
Local dealers here refer to that as an “in-and-out”. Also have some offering to do that for me as well, but Tesla won’t work with them to do so.

I remember in 2018 looking at a MX. They were willing to do that back then. Seems like they got to big to care.
 
Yep, this is the one area where they are just not up to par with the rest of the industry. From a business perspective they are also missing out on a ton of potential revenue from all these trade-ins. It is no secret the used car department makes a lot more profit than the new car department. Like you mention Tesla sales can afford to be arrogant due to the current supply and demand but this will not always be the case and will have an impact on repeat business as we see more EV options enter the market.
Yeah, the firm that made a decent offer to me, which is close to a Tesla center, said they buy a lot of specialty cars that Tesla provides low ball offers for. They said they are surprised that many Tesla buyers have upscale cars to trade, and Tesla is missing a big opportunity for increasing revenues. I guess their focus is so heavily directed to growing production and new car sales that they don't want to be distracted with acquiring larger lots and more staff for handling used car sales. But being inflexible to better wholesale offers seems unnecessary and inconsiderate.
 
I’m having a tough time getting a decent price for my 2019 M3 LR, white/white, FSD, acceleration boost, 18,700mi. Bought used directly from Tesla 4 months ago when I was out of a proper car due to the Model S delay. Paid $56,500.

I was hoping to private sale it for about $54,000 which seems reasonable after doing some research. Only 1-person responded to my private sale ads and disappeared.

Tesla offered me $47,400 to trade in.
Carvana $46,600
CarMax $47,000
EchoPark $50,300
Random local dealer $51-52K, maybe? They are sketchy and won't give me an exact price. I feel they won't honor that pricing if I do try to proceed. Will try to proceed with them in a few days if still no progress on private sale.

FSD seems to be the biggest factor. No one seems to be valuing it. Cars with or without FSD seem to be selling for nearly the same price in my area (Salt Lake City, UT).

Well that sketchy dealer kept their word after all. Sold for $52,000.
Was told my car was super clean and ready for resale without touching it. They're waiting on the title and will resell in the $56-57 range.
 
Well that sketchy dealer kept their word after all. Sold for $52,000.
Was told my car was super clean and ready for resale without touching it. They're waiting on the title and will resell in the $56-57 range.
Crazy market we are in where folks will pay that price, eh? You can buy a new 2022 M3 Performance for $59k for delivery Feb according to the website. $51k for a M3 LR for delivery in March. Crazy that someone would pay the same money for 3 year old car with 18k miles but hey if it keeps the resale high on mine so be it. ;)
 
Crazy market we are in where folks will pay that price, eh? You can buy a new 2022 M3 Performance for $59k for delivery Feb according to the website. $51k for a M3 LR for delivery in March. Crazy that someone would pay the same money for 3 year old car with 18k miles but hey if it keeps the resale high on mine so be it. ;)
I mean I paid $56,500 for it myself just 4 months ago. I was hoping to sell for a touch higher at $54,000.

Seems like buyers in my area are too cautious to spend that much at a private sale. But are willing to pay more when it’s sitting at a dealer.