Who has traded a car in for a Tesla? Was it worth it? Thx.

[JCtx]

I typically trade my cars in because with the tax advantage (6.25% here in TX) and a good negotiation, it's basically a wash, compared to selling privately (or to CarMax, Carvana, etc) and having to pay full taxes. And no aggravation. But with Tesla, there's no negotiation, and apparently, they're not even interested in taking trades. I haven't asked formally, but wanted to have an idea if it's even worth it to begin with. It'd also help when picking car up, since there's no dealer in El Paso, and I'd have to travel to either Phoenix, or Austin, where my daughter lives. It'd be much more convenient to just arrive in the old car, and drive away with the new one. Suggestions welcome. Thank you.
JC

 

[outdoordawg]

I am in the same situation, they will match a carMax offer, but I was advised to wait for a VIN and a delivery date since CarMax offers are only valid for 7 days. Your "Tesla advisor" and "financial guy" who will call you once you put in your trade in info should be able to help answer all your trade in questions.

 

[Xambler]

Traded my 2008 BMW X5 in on my 2020 model 3 sleeper. Was worth it just to get rid of that thing (was on its 3rd water pump) and the 2900 tradein value was about what I had put into the vehicle in recent months. Toyed with idea of selling to carmax but after factoring in having to drive 200 miles to pick up the Tesla and the fact that the Tesla showed up from the factory much quicker than I had expected, I decided it was just more convenient to drive the bmw in and the Tesla away. Went smoothly. They barely even looked at the bmw. If you have time it wouldn’t hurt to get a carmax offer and give that to your Tesla adviser to get a match. Shouldn’t matter how close you are to picking up the Tesla.

 

[Evoforce]

Traded my 2008 BMW X5 in on my 2020 model 3 sleeper. Was worth it just to get rid of that thing (was on its 3rd water pump) and the 2900 tradein value was about what I had put into the vehicle in recent months. Toyed with idea of selling to carmax but after factoring in having to drive 200 miles to pick up the Tesla and the fact that the Tesla showed up from the factory much quicker than I had expected, I decided it was just more convenient to drive the bmw in and the Tesla away. Went smoothly. They barely even looked at the bmw. If you have time it wouldn’t hurt to get a carmax offer and give that to your Tesla adviser to get a match. Shouldn’t matter how close you are to picking up the Tesla.

No first hand experience from me, but I read that your quote from Tesla on the trade-in has an expiration date. I think I read that it is 30 days. So, if your new car isn't delivered within that time frame, they can renegotiate your trade-in car at lower value.

 

[en_passant]

The CarMax appraisal is good for 7 days with CarMax, but Tesla says they will honor the price for 30 days. At least that is what I was told.

 

[en_passant]

But with Tesla, there's no negotiation, and apparently, they're not even interested in taking trades.

Tesla will give you a low trade in offer because they don't even look at the car before they give a quote. You must accept their quote on the web page to move forward, then you can talk about a CarMax quote match when delivery comes.

CarMax quoted me $2,500 more than Tesla for my 2016 228i BMW. I could get more privately but the time and hassle are not worth it to me, so I'm going to do the trade in and ask them to match CarMax.

Note: You can see the Tesla offer online without accepting it. Even if you drive it to the store they don't care to look at it, it's just a formula offer.

 

[SilverGS]

Tesla will give you a low trade in offer because they don't even look at the car before they give a quote. You must accept their quote on the web page to move forward, then you can talk about a CarMax quote match when delivery comes.

CarMax quoted me $2,500 more than Tesla for my 2016 228i BMW. I could get more privately but the time and hassle are not worth it to me, so I'm going to do the trade in and ask them to match CarMax.

Note: You can see the Tesla offer online without accepting it. Even if you drive it to the store they don't care to look at it, it's just a formula offer.

You nailed it on the head. This is exactly the process they follow. When I got my Model S last year, I inquired about a trade in on my Toyota 4Runner and all they wanted to know was the mileage, model, year and VIN and that was "enough" for them to quote a number. So clearly the condition doesn't matter.

Tesla is not in the business of selling used cars period. They are not even interested in selling used Tesla cars. That's why when they have any for sale, they continuously drop the price on a daily basis just so that they don't have to keep them too long in their inventory.

 

[Xambler]

No first hand experience from me, but I read that your quote from Tesla on the trade-in has an expiration date. I think I read that it is 30 days. So, if your new car isn't delivered within that time frame, they can renegotiate your trade-in car at lower value.

True. Ours apparently got built 4 days after we ordered it and we were given a 3 day window to pick it up a few days after that so barely even had time to move money around to get it. They then just give you a one hour window on the day you pick it up. Miss either window and they give your VIN to someone else. Didn’t even notice that 30 day trade in offer expiration notice .

 

[gigawatt1010]

I've traded 2 cars with Tesla over the past 3 years.

2016 - I traded my 2014 VW CC for my 2016 Model S. Back then, they gave me a quote that was slightly higher than what CarMax quoted me for. Within the 30 days, my VW got into a minor fender bender and got it quickly taken care of by a reputable body shop. I disclosed all this with Tesla, including the police report and receipts from the body shop. They still honored the original quote they gave me for the VW. And everything was straightforward.

2019 - We traded our 2007 Range Rover for my wife's 2019 Model X. They gave me a Carmax quote and honored it. Pretty straight forward. The only notable thing was the Tesla Store in Mount Kisco NY lost the key to our Range Rover and it was parked in front of their gate to the service center. By 9:00am the next day, I had 4 calls from them begging me for a spare. LOL

Like others noted above, sometimes the hassle of dealing with tire kickers and hagglers is not worth it. You're better off trading it in since the process makes it soooo easy.

 

[outdoordawg]

What I hear from "reliable sources" is that when you trade in your car with Tesla it ends up at CarMax. Also, Tesla does not even look at your trade-in, I did not know that I was supposed to accept that offer and *click submit* for your order to move forward. I sat on it for 2 weeks and now I am told I am behind 2 weeks. I will be able to do a CarMax match once I have a VIN assignment. So don't make the mistake I made, if you get a trade in offer accept it, and click submit quickly so that you get a VIN. You can put in your CarMax match after you get your VIN closer towards your delivery date.

 

[SoccerMan94043]

I sold my Model S to Vroom (TX company for what it's worth so likely easier for you to sell to them) after I purchased my Model 3, because Carmax's offer was 8K lower and Tesla was 10K lower. That was ~13% to ~19% difference which more than makes up for your tax break (assuming percentages hold for the car you want to trade in). That being said, if the value difference was 2K or less, I wouldn't care and would trade it to Tesla directly as that is easiest (the Vroom process was easy as well).

 

[TydalForce]

I just traded it in. The less-hassle of it was of value to me.
Also, my car was overdue for brakes & tires, had a few scrapes, and I got rear-ended the week before I got my Model 3 (minor, but find-able damage if you looked)
Tesla barely looked at my car except to get the Odometer and remove my license plate.

 

[mreynolds767]

Found the trade in process very easy.
I am not in TX though, that could be your issue. Seems like every part of the buying process is difficult in Texas when it comes to Telsa (not Telsa's fault either)

 

[LongRangeFlyer]

I typically trade my cars in because with the tax advantage (6.25% here in TX) and a good negotiation, it's basically a wash, compared to selling privately (or to CarMax, Carvana, etc) and having to pay full taxes. And no aggravation. But with Tesla, there's no negotiation, and apparently, they're not even interested in taking trades. I haven't asked formally, but wanted to have an idea if it's even worth it to begin with. It'd also help when picking car up, since there's no dealer in El Paso, and I'd have to travel to either Phoenix, or Austin, where my daughter lives. It'd be much more convenient to just arrive in the old car, and drive away with the new one. Suggestions welcome. Thank you.
JC

hello. I’m from El Paso and I travelled to Scottsdale to test drive and order my model 3.. I ordered on 1/11... I’m curious about the home delivery and in your case with a trade.. I decided not to trade just based on that..

 

[zannman]

The CarMax appraisal is good for 7 days with CarMax, but Tesla says they will honor the price for 30 days. At least that is what I was told.

This was my experience. When the delivery process took moderately longer than the 30 days, Tesla "reevaluated" the trade offer and extended the duration of the existing offer.

They handle this oddly in the actual transaction. For example if Tesla offers $20K and Carmax $22K, you will see only the Tesla trade offer and a $2K credit on your paperwork.

 

[SMAlset]

We went both times to CarMaxx with our two cars. From our experience they do a pretty thorough examination of the car, put it up on the lift, check for paint repair, rate overall condition and believe they run a CarFax report. If your car is a later model car, they will want to put it on their lot for resale generally, depends on the current market and inventory and features it may have that would make it more desirable. If it's older or was in an accident or had repair work on it, they will likely send it to the wholesale auctioner.

One of our cars was sold to CarMaxx, the other we ended up trading in through Tesla who did match CarMaxx's quote. One of the great things about CarMaxx is that you can walk out of there with a check and all the title/sale documents completed and over with. No trips to DMV or worrying about funds not clearing. They do have a very easy customer experience. The 7-days with them sounds about what I recall so it does give you time to think about it and make arrangement for transporation if you do sell to them. We were pretty impressed.

BTW if you decide to sell your car ahead of time to make your Tesla transaction simplier and maybe less stressful on you trying to juggle everything at the last minute, make sure you talk to your insurance agent so that you maintain insurance coverage. You need to have auto coverage when you pick up your new car and have to supply them with proof of your coverage as part of your documentation.

Another thing to be mindful of is if it goes to a wholesaler for auction, the value of the car can fluctuate week to week depending on their inventory of cars to auction off and things like trim, condition, mileage all factor in depending on what a dealership or individual is looking for. Best advice unless you just want to sell your car early is to wait as close to your Tesla delivery date as possible. And remember sometimes the car you order can have some damage on it through transport or whatever, causing you to reject it instead going the shop route to let Tesla correct the issue(s). In this case you'll want to have some plans for transportation in the meantime until you wait for your car to come back or wait for another car to be matched to you. Buying and waiting for delivery in the last month of the quarter can be a bit stressful. Some of this stress is now aleviated what with the federal tax credit disappearing but some people are still hoping to apply and get state and local incentives by a certain date. Can't tell you how many people waiting for end of quarter deliveries worry they won't get their cars and the vast majority do have them delivered so many worry needlessly.

Oh and also don't apply too early for a loan. The rate will only be good for a specified period of time and after it expires they will need to run your credit again and rates may have changed for the worse. Before applying find out how long the lock down period is.

 

[mattack4000]

I was offered 11k on shift. 12900 on carvana. 12500 at tesla. Getting 13800 private sale

 

[rpratt]

I think it just depends.

In my case, trading in was a no-brainer, as my car needed $6K in new catalytic converters and labor to pass smog. I couldn't renew the registration or sell it privately without the repairs, but Tesla gave me almost what the blue book value would have been post-repair. I was sure they'd see the check engine light and cancel the trade-in, but they happily drove off in the car.

If you've got a car in good shape that you can sell privately without sinking a lot into, you'll almost certainly make more that way. Whether it's worth the hassle is up to you.


Bob

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Private selling is really easy and fast if you price your car halfway between the dealer trade in value and the dealer retail value. It's an easy win of thousands extra for you and a big win for the private buyer.

You'll still come out ahead despite missing out on the sales tax break given how much dealers mark up your trade in when selling it.

If you want to get close to the dealer retail value as a private seller, you can do it, but it's a lot more work.

 

[mattack4000]

I find selling privately can be a pain. If the difference is great, I selll it privately. If the difference is small, I just let the dealer have it.

I listed my car for 14800. Everyone is offering 11 and 12 when I already told them tesla is giving 12.5