Good evening,
Great community here and it was fun chasing deals for a few months, but I’ve finally made a choice and purchased cpo/used 2016 tesla s 70 - returning my infiniti q50 hybrid 3 months earlier. It has limited 4y/50k warranty (almost same as new) as well as 6 year battery/powertrain. I wanted to share my experience and prospective. In terms of financial outlay , I plan on saving about $120-150 in fuel costs and $150 in tolls. I also dont have a charger yet, but in my situation, free/unlimited super charger will work just fine. My thinking was the following: I could get a lease on a generic a4/q5/c300/428 etc. - however, it’s toughter and more expensive once you go into AMG/M/SQ / Porsche territory. In my opinion, interior of model s beats a lot of these cars, technology-wise - it’s a few years ahead. At this moment, I cant believe I was considering a 428 cpo for 35k-40k a few months ago. A lot of model S CPO/used deals make a lot of sense - since initial owners received 7500 federal credit, depreciation might seem of. (my vehicle had a sticker of around 85k when new - i found 1 for about 45,7k - it was priced 54,4 a week ealrier - tesla does dutch auction wher it dynamically reprices cars). Also, I sort of fixated on miles, trying to keep it low, while, 40-60k is really nothing much for tesla model s in terms of drive train / battery.
I’ve spent a few months going to dealers and test driving various cars:
I copied my tesla post since didn’t want to retype everything:
The Good things:
I’m happy about the car, still can’t believe I made it. Buying process overall was super easy.
Driving emotions - fantastic (i’ve been going to multiple dealerships in last 2,5 months searching for a car and test driving Alfa Romeos Ti Sport, BMW 3,4, X6, Mustang GT, Audi sq5, Porsche Macan Sport / S, Mercedec AMG c43 -all nice vehicles, but I would still pick model s over it).
Buying process was extremely easy (good communication from Sales Manager, Scheduling, Finance manager).
Tuesday’s morning I saw the vehicle popped up on the screen search, immedialty paid and saw the car was removed from search. Tuesday’s afternoon I received a phone call from sales manager (primarily to establish expectations) and established approximate pickup date. Thursday/Friday established.
Big clean facility, amentities, drinks, very friendly staff.
Payment was - easy - I was able to pay $5000 with a credit card in the store, in addition to paying $2500 deposit.
The pick-up process was efficient and well organized - I was able to inspect the car before signing paperwork. Everything was ready and organized.
Car was washed/cleaned and had what I consider brand new tires. Was fully charged - battery was showing 227 miles at 98%. Cars had temporary tag already attached to it.
I received a good and non-rushed demo of the vehicle and abilities. I enjoyed the experience and instructions, but you could be out in 15 minutes for sure.
Interior - like new. Clean carfax
No problem in using superchargers or Tesla’s L2 chargers. I am working on getting electrician come buy and give me quotes, but right now I have 35 SC stalls near my house which I plan to use charging to 75-80% and running down to 15-20%.
Cons (mostly minor - except for the dent):
couldn’t pick it up in Miami (minor for me, since we enjoyed the roadtrip, but would be more difficult to walk away from the deal, especially considering I planned to do lease return). they mentioned people drive 1000s of miles to pick up cars and some leave without cars.
Exterior had a dent (about 3 inches by 1,5 inch) which I didnt see on the pictures (and it didn’t have a ruler picture like i’ve seen before). I called my sales manager, he adviced to refuse delivery if I wasn’t satisfied and he’d work on helping me find another car, since he couldnt promise they will be able to do anything about dent. I thought it over for 15-20 minutes, checked available inventory, did some math and still decided to purchase. Figured it can’t be that expensive to fix still in the process of getting estimates. Was told it should be about $250-450 job. Still trying to work it through with Tesla - my main gripe being lack of the picture with ruler - and it would be very difficult ot see this dent on the dropbox link above. I see a great opportunity for some bodyshops/dent places - and Tesla could increase margins.
couldn’t get original delivery PDF / sticker to view full list of options
had to pay $250 more in tag fees even when since my previously leased car didnt’t pay initial registration or something. This is normal - happened to other people too in FL.
can’t see the warranty status anywhere yet (tesla account / car) - gentleman wasn’t sure about CPO warranty / battery warranty (recent hire)
First of all… thanks for the write up, very informative.
However I’m a bit shocked about the attitude and dent. They basically told you they don’t care that people drive 1000s of miles and leave empty handed and they don’t care that you drove far either by basically telling you “well if you don’t like the dent, don’t buy the car”.
Wouldn’t have sat well with me.
I agree with you and at the same time, I was warned about expectations. They can definitely make an improvement.
It’s actually my responsiblity too - I didn’t know I could request more pictures and ask for another walkthrough. I also have a feeling that the dent was reflected in the price adjustment - I’m below black book / carvana / etc. - by about 5-6k - so I figured I wouldnt have a loss had I decided to trade in quicker.
Dents are easily fixed. When u buy a cpo Benz for example there are no dents, they recondition the cars for resale, it’s also not your fault for not asking for more pictures, if the dent was there it should have been featured in the listing
Nice write up. And something that I’m considering as well. Can you explain what you mean by Tesla uses Dutch auction to set prices? Also, did you get the remodeled 2016 or the old model? TIA.
I got a pre-facelift 2016 made in january. They changed nose in April.
Dutch auction - they set a price and it drops every day by 400-500. Some weekends it goes up. There are several tracking sites which you can use. Different regions have different prices.
Wow- speaking of coincidence! I was actually determining all week on a Tesla. I usually get alerts from the Tesla Hidden Showroom Deals group on Facebook for the past year and some of the prices as we near winter are starting to become more favorable.
For now I am still sticking to my Prius Prime for several reasons:
I average about 35 miles per day and over a year~ after several excel sheet build-outs I’m only saving $600 tops based on a 12 cent per kwh and a $3.60 per gallon and a 40MPG for the Prius and plug in for the 8.8kwh battery for roughly 20~25 Miles. To sum it up- I am expensing $20,000 more on top of the Prius Prime for a $600 annual savings over the Prius Prime per year on a Tesla in terms of efficiency.
Second off Teslas although a durable drive charges an arm and leg for aesthetic repairs https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/repair-cost-front-bumper-corner-scratches
Whereas the Prius Prime with the $400 or so upfront cost will cover all your tires, dings and dents to the DOORS and windshield for 6 years! I actually excersised this option when 2 wheels blew out from rolling over metal. Got 2 wheels for free.
Comfort- I truly believe the Prius Prime copied the seats from the Model 3- I was chauffeured in the model 3 for a whole week and it was similar if not the same.
Don’t get me wrong ~ I LOVE Teslas and in all fairness this is not an apple to apples comparison. I’m just sharing in case someone wants to justify their purchase solely on numbers and I totally agree if someone wants to mention the prestige. This is just my 2 cents and I am seriously debating on getting one in the short run.
Enjoy the car bud! Keep us posted on that ding- they should really be able to take care of it- if not- try tweeting Elon! haha
I have been on the fence about an S for weeks, have a reservation for the 3 but when I cost it out, and I am in the Northcountry so very much inclined to an all-wheel drive model, the used S is about the same as the new 3, and in 3 years it will likely depreciate less.
What has held me back are the stories of delivery nightmares, delayed availability, problems that were not disclosed and the like. I expect after January 1 (IF the tax credit goes away, I can see a scenario where in the “spirit of bi-partisanship”, they are extended)
It sounds like you had few such problems, I have found the ev-cpo site a but out of date, is there a better way to track availability and prices (I don’t use FB).
Totally agree. IMO there are 2 types of cross-shoppers for Teslas. Those being practical and looking for an electric car to save gas/get carpool, and those looking at luxury sport sedans. For the first bucket of people, from a financial standpoint it almost never makes sense to get the Tesla. For the second group of people, I think the Tesla can be very competitive, esp when you take into account gas costs.
Good luck with your vehicle! I got fed up with my Model S after it spent more months waiting for warranty repairs than in my possession. Hopefully with it being CPO all the major sticking points are already fixed.
I am sorry to hear that. What kind of issues did you have? And which year model? Did they provide you a nice loaner? Customer service is not the strongest tesla department at the moment, in my opinion
