Hey everyone, I’d love some help and advice on what you’d do in my situation.
In SoCal and currently have a Tesla Model 3 that I have about 4k of negative equity on. Looking to move on to something larger like an SUV/Truck. Honestly don’t really care about the car anymore as we walk/cycle more nowadays, but it’d be nice to have something larger that is comfortable to get in and out of and occasionally do a long trip along the coast. Could be any manufacture, model, etc. the main concern is getting out of the Tesla and into something with a lower payment (currently $825).
Any suggestions? Better to sell private party to maximize value? Just trade it in and roll some negative equity? Possible to wash the negative equity on a crazy deal? I would sincerely appreciate any advice anyone has.
Are you ok getting another EV? Or have you seen the light and are ditching EV for ICE? I’m still waiting for @z0lt3c to come around lol.
There aren’t many ICE vehicles with discounts + a low money factor to make rolling negative an improvement to your current Tesla payment. Off the top of my head the only ICE vehicles that may be large enough to give you more space and have subvented leases are the VW Tiguan (SE FWD has a 0.001 MF) and the Mazda CX-50 (S AWD has a 0.00074 MF).
Good luck finding a dealership that will take a Tesla on trade though. Most used car lots in California shudder at the thought of trying to re-sell a Reeks-of-Musk Tesla, so they’ll lowball you on trade.
Can you take out a personal loan or use credit card offer for the $4K? I think longest credit card offer I have seen is 21 months. If you roll the negative equity into a lease you will pay tax and interest on it so the $4K will be higher.
First off, congratulations on owning a Tesla and only being $4000 in the hole. The best solution is pay it off, sell it to an online buyer and move on. You can check out the suggestions in this thread;
You are now free to move forward with a replacement without having to admit to the next dealer you own a Tesla. If you are willing to stay EV, a Blazer EV would be 1/3rd of your current payment. Heck you could get a Hummer EV. If you want to go back to ICE, I would be looking at Nissan (Rogue or Murano) or Mazda (CX whatever) at 1/2 your current payment.
Here’s an interesting option if you can’t see yourself in a Mazda or Nissan (why z0lt3c would punish you with a Nissan CVT goes to show he hates fellow humans). The Volvo XC60 Plus Darks have a 0.00068 MF. If you took this listed XC60 pricing, added $4k negative, then stacked on Costco or A-Plan rebates, it’s about $730 a month after SoCal taxes with only first month’s payment DAS. But since you’re a Hackr, maybe you can get even more front end discount.
And as @thevolvoguy loves to remind people, you can dump a Volvo lease early (to get into another Volvo) and waive the last few months of payment. That would basically wipe out some of that neggy for free. Kind of.
Honestly another EV is fine. I have solar at home so not paying for gas is great, but we also don’t drive a ton so it’s not a big deal. Thank you for the suggestions on the ICE vehicles. Haven’t looked at these, but am going to take a look now.
Ah gotcha. I didn’t know that. I can pay it off, but I’d rather not throw more money at it if I don’t have to. In a perfect world, keeping the $4k in my savings + having a lower payment sounds ideal.
Thank you for the advice and detailed response. I wasn’t sure how California worked with trade ins and tax credits but seems like since I have the time yeah private party is the best and then get into something different. Saw the Blazers are pretty cheap…will definitely look into those.
Thank you so much for this idea. The Mazda/Nissan doesn’t bother me, but I didn’t consider a Volvo. Going to look through the posts here to see what kind of deals people are getting.
The BEST way to do that is make volvo lease #1 a 24mo lease. That way since the neggy is spread out evenly over the 24mos, a 6mo pull ahead kills 25% of the neggy as opposed to 30/36~which only saves you 17% or so.
From personal experience in 2024, the private party (PP) market for Tesla is quite strong – you can easily clear $2-3,000 over trade values. Spend $5 on a craigslist ad and see for yourself. Not much to lose.
For your next lease, unless you are getting a sub $150/m EV, you are probably just better off buying and holding long term (10+ years). The first brand to look at would be Toyota. Low mileage Toyotas always have strong demand in the PP market no matter the age.
