Worst buying experience...

[m3guy]

Hi guys,

I ordered my Model 3 a little more than a 3 weeks ago. Its RWD PUP.

Long story short. I have 2 cars that I can trade in, both are still on financed but there is only 3-4 months left to be fully paid on both. I took the pictures, send the condition etc. of one of my cars. They send me a trade-in quote which I found out too low. Then decided to trade-in my another car which is a in better in shape and much higher value.

I sent an email to my delivery specialist about 9 days ago that I want to switch my trade-in car. She simply replied could you send me the title. At first I thought huh? Cars are still on payment and title belongs to lienholder.

Anyway 3 days later on monday she called me and said your delivery date is set congratulations. I said what the f....? I told her that I sent you 2 emails regarding my trade-in decision etc. She did not even bothered to read my previous emails obviously. Then she also told me that could you send me the title of your car. I told her its still on financed and I dont have them. She simply told me if I dont have title you cant trade in. I said are you kidding me? Your financial specialist told me that they accept still financed cars without any title and they pay the rest of the amount that I owe to the bank, they got the title from them and deduct it from trade-in value. She just said huh, huh, huh a few times. Its obvious she simply dont know anything about what she is doing. Probably she just started a few weeks ago. Anyway finally I sent her my other car information to trade-in assesment a week ago but still no emails or update so far on my page. If I sent the information for my other car I would probably enjoying my new car but... Fingers crossed...

Anyone had in a similar situation before?

 

[MXWing]

You are in California, no benefit to reduce the purchase principle with a trade in.

Just get rid of the cars outside of Tesla trade in and make the purchase as clean as possible. Tesla at best would only match a trade in anyway - you wouldn't get more from them.

Tesla finance is a mess at the moment. Took massive badgering of Tesla ISA and Tesla finance to get lending outside of Tesla partners to work. I couldn't get an actionable MVPA for the life of me.

Good luck.. will be worth it when its all said and done.

 

[Raechris]

Agree with OP. Tesla is going to low ball any trade bc they don’t want them. Given that I am sure tesla focuses training on delivery and not trade in issues. If this equals your thread title, sounds over dramatic or clickbait to me. Calm down buy the car, you will love it and this trvia will not be important

 

[m3guy]

Thanks guys. Nope, I wish I am clickbaiting. I am going to get a quote from Carmax tomorrow as well just in case if they try to lowball it. As a last resort I am trying to sell it by myself which I dont like todo actually.

 

[cwerdna]

Thanks guys. Nope, I wish I am clickbaiting. I am going to get a quote from Carmax tomorrow as well just in case if they try to lowball it. As a last resort I am trying to sell it by myself which I dont like todo actually.

Besides Carmax and the last resort (which I also hate), you should try selling it to a car dealer, possibly of the same brand of the vehicle. Wash, vacuum and clean the car then bring it to a few dealers of your brand near you. If you're lucky, you might be in for a pleasant surprise.

I did that (sold to a Nissan dealer) with a Nissan 350Z years ago and actually got a good offer. I put it up in Craigslist and got almost no responses and some useless offers (e.g. trading me an Isuzu SUV + some cash). I don't want an Isuzu SUV! I was trying to get rid of 1 car (to have 1 car less to ship that I planned to sell anyway, in favor of a Leaf) before moving back to CA. Another Nissan dealer gave me a terrible offer.

In helping someone car shop for a Toyota get rid of an old Honda Accord, the Toyota salesman upfront told her she won't get much for her trade. He was right. I suggested we try the Honda dealer next door. They offered her twice as much. Sold!

 

[rdlink]

Thanks guys. Nope, I wish I am clickbaiting. I am going to get a quote from Carmax tomorrow as well just in case if they try to lowball it. As a last resort I am trying to sell it by myself which I dont like todo actually.

Save your trip to Carmax. They will lowball you, also. No dealer is ever going to give you anything close to a decent price for most cars. They're in business to make money. If they give you a price you like for the car (or generally one you can even live with) they can't make their 30%-40% markup.

Go to nadaguides.com and KBB.com, and run a value on both of your cars. Be honest to yourself on their condition when you run the values. Look at the difference between private party sale, and dealer trade-in. It will shock you. Then prepare yourself for the fact that most dealers will try to lowball you so bad that they will likely offer you a few thousand below the trade-in value, depending on the overall value of the car. Remember, these dealers can pick up 20 cars just like yours every week at auto auctions for a fraction of what they sell them for.

Case in point, I have a nearly perfect car that shows a retail value of between $37,000-$39,000. My trade-in/straight purchase offers have ranged from $23,000 to $28,000. Carmax offered me $25,000. The guy who gave me the offer spent five minutes gushing over how beautiful and perfect my car is, and how he'd like to buy it himself if he could afford it. Then, once he handed me the offer he said, "You probably won't accept this, will you?"

Tesla offered me $26,000, without even looking at it. I'd pour a gallon of gasoline in the moonroof and throw a match in the front seat before I'd take that offer.

My advice: After running NADA and KBB values decide which car you want to sell, and put it on the retail market. If you can afford to be without one of the cars until your Tesla delivery put it on Cars.com, Autotrader, craigslist and Blinker (if that's available to you in CA) right now.

 

[fnce_prof]

I was lowballed by both Tesla and Carvana with Tesla's offer lower than Carvana's. Carmax is a little better but still way below the KBB trade-in value (car is in absolutely pristine condition). Ended up doing a private sale and with the car's condition it was sold within a week for 30% higher.

 

[Chak]

I am in similar boat too except that I went to Carmax instead of Tesla for trying to sell one of my 2 cars. My first car, Infiniti, is 4-years old, in excellent condition and always garage kept with normal miles. Carmax offered way lower than kbb trade in, while praising how well the car was kept. My second car, Prius, has a couple of minor scratches and shows little bit more wear and tear than my first car. To my surprise they offered very good price for my Prius. Spoke with the evaluator on the discrepancy and the main reason is demand. They offer more money for the car that does not sit on the lot longer. But in my personal experience you can get more money selling your car on Craigslist. It can take a bit longer to sell, but you get more money if you are not in hurry.

 

[Canikony]

It should come as no surprise that you get way more money selling privately vs to a dealer. When dealers get trade-ins, they go to the auction block. While dealers may have an idea of what the vehicle will probably sell for, they need to ensure they don't get the short end of the stick. They do that by giving you a pretty terrible offer.

 

[lairdb]

I sent an email to my delivery specialist about 9 days ago that I want to switch my trade-in car. She simply replied could you send me the title. At first I thought huh? Cars are still on payment and title belongs to lienholder.

(Incidentally, try vroom.com -- I got a trial quote from them in 5 minutes of clicking that was quite a bit higher than I expected for my 18 year old car.)

A little bit of a threadjack, but why don't you have your title? When I had loans, I still always possessed the title paper, it just had a lienholder on it. Are things different now, or perhaps it's just your lender?

 

[invalid]

I am not sure on the title piece. I’ve never had a title for any of our cars until the loan was paid off. It may vary on lender policies.

One other service to look at is Shift. They’ll pick up your car and sell it for you. I bought my S4 through them and sold my precious BMW 330 with them and it was a pretty smooth process. I’m thinking of doing that again once my Model 3 is ready, but planning on floating the money a bit so I don’t have to sell it before my Model 3 is ready.

 

[Ejl80]

(Incidentally, try vroom.com -- I got a trial quote from them in 5 minutes of clicking that was quite a bit higher than I expected for my 18 year old car.)

A little bit of a threadjack, but why don't you have your title? When I had loans, I still always possessed the title paper, it just had a lienholder on it. Are things different now, or perhaps it's just your lender?

This varies state to state but in the vast majority of states the lien holder hangs onto the title.

 

[Trips]

I'm on day 19 and still no offer from Tesla. I think there might be a problem.

 

[MikeATL]

I'm on day 19 and still no offer from Tesla. I think there might be a problem.

I was able to get the representative at the sales office to run a preliminary trade in for me and it took only 24 hours.

 

[MikeATL]

As other posters have pointed out, if you live in a state where Trade-Ins don't reduce sales taxes on a new car purchase, then there's no reason to trade-in the car to Tesla if you have the flexibility to sell it in advance (or get a loan for the full amount, sell the old car after you get the Tesla, then pay down the loan principal.)

The trade-in price I got quoted from Tesla was consistent with the Kelley Blue Book | New and Used Car Price Values, Expert Car Reviews trade-in price which is, of course, always below the private party price.

 

[Krazaak]

Tesla is no different than car dealers. They offer wholesale prices because that's what they'd pay to get your car anywhere else. In Tesla's case they don't even buy your car, from what I understand they simple use your info and pictures, bid it out and take the best offer.

For both of my trades, Tesla offered right at KBB fair dealer trade value. In both cases, they beat Carmax's offer by several thousand dollars. Carmax used to be good and offered a premium to buy-back a car you purchased from them, but my experience is they're horrible now.

If you're expecting more than KBB fair condition trade value, then you either need to find a small scale dealer and have a car of exceptional condition or options or find a private party.

I have no idea why their delivery advisors keep asking for title. They don't need it, they'll do a payoff. When they asked me for a title on the one with a lien, I sent them a 10-day payoff letter from my lender.

 

[IslandGirl]

My first rep was very responsive. They weren't as busy.

My rep for second order not so much. I also intially wanted to get a quote from Tesla. She never replied to my two emails. Oh well. I ended up just calling my delivery center for help with other stuff.

From my first experience of getting trade in offers from Tesla, CarMax, and Vroom. Vroom was the highest. I ended up selling to someone I know.

The second go round when Tesla did not get back to me, I did Vroom and Carvana. Vroom was the highest again.

I was nervous about vroom since I never did anything like that before. Everything went smoothly except they didn't give me same day wire transfer like they promised and the car was picked up early that morning. We got our payment the next day. I wasn't sweating but my husband didn't like the idea of sending off a signed title, getting your car picked up, and not getting paid same day.

I would definitely recommend getting quotes from online dealers like Vroom, Carvana, and a handful of others out there.

If you need the money towards your down payment I would start the process at least 2 weeks (or earlier) before delivery. Plan on renting for a few days. If Tesla misses your delivery date, like they did my second one, ask for a rental. They have a deal with enterprise.

Good luck.

 

[m3guy]

Just mailed my ISA and requested to cancel my trade-in option. I am going to sell it by myself. Seems to be a better option. $3000 is too much difference.

 

[MikeATL]

Just mailed my ISA and requested to cancel my trade-in option. I am going to sell it by myself. Seems to be a better option.

In my state, sales tax of 7% gets deducted for the trade in, so I figure to make it worth selling it privately, I need 110% of Tesla’s trade-in quote. Some quick research tonight, makes me think I can beat that by up to $2000, so I think selling it myself too.