TL;DR, I just bought a used Model S from Tesla. It went well and I'm very happy with the car.
So for the past 5 or 6 years I've been drooling over Tesla vehicles. I recently started a job that put me in a position to afford a car in the $60k-ish range. For a while I had intended to spring for a dual motor Model 3, however I got to looking around for a used MS in the same price range. I checked Tesla's inventory every few days, as well as looking at some private sales and 3rd party dealers.
I came across this one particular dealer in NoVA that had quite a few MS's in their inventory. I found the one that was exactly what I was looking for and put in an offer on it. The dealer didn't want to budge on the price of the car, even with an accident in the car's history. The most they would come down was $500, and even that didn't come close to similar cars on Tesla's website. I called off that negotiation and decided just to stick with getting one straight from Tesla.
Not long after that, I found the right car for the right price in Tesla's inventory:
2015 P85D
Midnight Silver
Black Leather Interior
Premium Sound
AP Enabled
$60800
It was missing one option I sorta wanted, but the price was right for the options it had, so I went ahead and placed the reservation. The next day the regional used car rep emailed me the pictures of the car and called me to arrange for "delivery" (really should be called pickup). I had to travel up to NY to get the car, but that wasn't a big deal to me as I have family I could visit (and show the car off to) in CT. The following Friday I made my way up to NY by train. I had the last appointment of the day at 7pm. My train was running a little late, so I called the SC to let them know. They said it wasn't a problem at all, and they even said they would pick me up from the train station.
When I got there they showed me the car and guided me through the paperwork. They had to make a phone call to answer one of my questions, but everything got taken care of quickly and smoothly. After that was done they showed me how to use and change various settings on the car.
Despite a lot of the horror stories you hear about buying used from Tesla, this car was, for the most part, in beautiful condition. No dents or huge scratches on the exterior. The interior looks and smells like it was recently detailed. It has a few dings in the paint from rocks kicking up off the road, but they're barely noticeable in the dark grey paint. The drivers side floor mat was worn right out; it didn't even stay in place anymore. That doesn't bother me though since I had intended to get all-weather floor mats for it anyway. Overall, I had a great buying experience. Once I was given the key and drove off the lot, I felt like I had fulfilled all my life's goals.
I kept my ICE car, but now that I'm addicted to driving the MS, I'm not sure I'll use it as much as I had planned to. I will just use it when I have to go park somewhere for a few days or go on a trip somewhere without reliable charging near by.
So for the past 5 or 6 years I've been drooling over Tesla vehicles. I recently started a job that put me in a position to afford a car in the $60k-ish range. For a while I had intended to spring for a dual motor Model 3, however I got to looking around for a used MS in the same price range. I checked Tesla's inventory every few days, as well as looking at some private sales and 3rd party dealers.
I came across this one particular dealer in NoVA that had quite a few MS's in their inventory. I found the one that was exactly what I was looking for and put in an offer on it. The dealer didn't want to budge on the price of the car, even with an accident in the car's history. The most they would come down was $500, and even that didn't come close to similar cars on Tesla's website. I called off that negotiation and decided just to stick with getting one straight from Tesla.
Not long after that, I found the right car for the right price in Tesla's inventory:
2015 P85D
Midnight Silver
Black Leather Interior
Premium Sound
AP Enabled
$60800
It was missing one option I sorta wanted, but the price was right for the options it had, so I went ahead and placed the reservation. The next day the regional used car rep emailed me the pictures of the car and called me to arrange for "delivery" (really should be called pickup). I had to travel up to NY to get the car, but that wasn't a big deal to me as I have family I could visit (and show the car off to) in CT. The following Friday I made my way up to NY by train. I had the last appointment of the day at 7pm. My train was running a little late, so I called the SC to let them know. They said it wasn't a problem at all, and they even said they would pick me up from the train station.
When I got there they showed me the car and guided me through the paperwork. They had to make a phone call to answer one of my questions, but everything got taken care of quickly and smoothly. After that was done they showed me how to use and change various settings on the car.
Despite a lot of the horror stories you hear about buying used from Tesla, this car was, for the most part, in beautiful condition. No dents or huge scratches on the exterior. The interior looks and smells like it was recently detailed. It has a few dings in the paint from rocks kicking up off the road, but they're barely noticeable in the dark grey paint. The drivers side floor mat was worn right out; it didn't even stay in place anymore. That doesn't bother me though since I had intended to get all-weather floor mats for it anyway. Overall, I had a great buying experience. Once I was given the key and drove off the lot, I felt like I had fulfilled all my life's goals.
I kept my ICE car, but now that I'm addicted to driving the MS, I'm not sure I'll use it as much as I had planned to. I will just use it when I have to go park somewhere for a few days or go on a trip somewhere without reliable charging near by.
