Lightning Tops List for Tesla Trade-ins

[Bills R Electric]

Good point

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[watson123]

Both great cars with their own perks, I enjoy them both!

 

[BeeKind]

Very difficult to beat dealer trades in states that offset sales tax. You expose yourself up to countless scams and wind up maybe eeking out $1-2k max than what you would have gotten at the dealer.

Here in Long Island, NY, it's just not worth it. Exceptions are if you're selling a "collector's car" under $15k. I moved a '08 GTI during the pandemic privately for $3,500 over ($5,500 total) than the best trade offer. That to me was worth it all.

 

[TreatYoSelf]

I suspect that the $1,500 "Tesla Competitive Conquest Bonus Cash" that Ford offers to Tesla owners may have something to do with it.

I got this bonus when I bought my lightning. I didn't actually need to trade in the Tesla, just prove that I owned one. My wife still drives our tesla.

 

[RichB-HTX]

My daughter and SIL traded in their Tesla Model 3 for a KIA EV 9 a few months ago. They have a dog and a new baby and wanted more room for all creatures great and small and the associated gear.

 

[nhlightning]

I tried to trade in my 2021 Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD with FSD but the dealer didn't know what they were looking at and tried to low ball me by $10k on the trade in. I was able to sell the Tesla within 1 hour of putting "For Sale" signs on it. I did purchase a 2023 Lightning XLT SR with Tow Tech and Pro power options. I received $12k in discounts from Ford (including the $1500 Tesla discount). So out the door it was $47k (including delivery charge). I also received 0% financing on it.

 

[RickLightning]

Seems most people are reading this backwards. Lightning owners trading for Teslas...

 

[rg7]

Article: https://insideevs.com/news/728890/tesla-trade-ins-2024-data/amp/

of note:

And it also doesn't count the number of people staying with Tesla itself, which is still quite high. "Tesla still maintains an 87% brand retention rate, outperforming two non-electric automakers at 67% with Lexus and 54% at Toyota,"

 

[PrimeRisk]

I suspect that the $1,500 "Tesla Competitive Conquest Bonus Cash" that Ford offers to Tesla owners may have something to do with it.

I took advantage of that, but you don't have to trade the Tesla in to get that $1500 incentive, just prove that you own one. I drove my Tesla to the dealership when I bought my Lightning, so it wasn't hard to convince them.

 

[PrimeRisk]

Very difficult to beat dealer trades in states that offset sales tax. You expose yourself up to countless scams and wind up maybe eeking out $1-2k max than what you would have gotten at the dealer.

Here in Long Island, NY, it's just not worth it. Exceptions are if you're selling a "collector's car" under $15k. I moved a '08 GTI during the pandemic privately for $3,500 over ($5,500 total) than the best trade offer. That to me was worth it all.

That hasn't been my experience at all, but I don't sell my cars via private sale, I just sell it for cash to another dealer. When I bought my first Tesla in 2021, Tesla offered me $4k trade-in for my 2015 Nissan Leaf. I declined and did the virtual offer process through kbb.com. They offered $6800, so I took the paperwork to a Dodge dealership and walked out the door with a check for $6800 in about 90 minutes. I lost the tax offset on $4k, which equated to about $280, but the extra $2800 made up for that in spades.

Not a bad deal for me as the Leaf only cost me $11k after incentives, I drove 70k miles over 6.5 years.

 

[BeeKind]

That hasn't been my experience at all, but I don't sell my cars via private sale, I just sell it for cash to another dealer. When I bought my first Tesla in 2021, Tesla offered me $4k trade-in for my 2015 Nissan Leaf. I declined and did the virtual offer process through kbb.com. They offered $6800, so I took the paperwork to a Dodge dealership and walked out the door with a check for $6800 in about 90 minutes. I lost the tax offset on $4k, which equated to about $280, but the extra $2800 made up for that in spades.

Not a bad deal for me as the Leaf only cost me $11k after incentives, I drove 70k miles over 6.5 years.

Tesla has a take it or leave it factory approach. Honestly I got $10k more on my Rivian trade by going to a Ford dealership over going to Rivian itself to trade in an R1S vs. potential R1T. Very happy with my decision. So I kinda did what you did, but was also sure to get the like $5k sales tax savings too

R1S was a fleet vehicle I was taking out and wife didn't want something that big (so, I got lucky!) Rivians are great. Lookout old OEMs if they ever start making work trucks.

Because of the dynamic you described, I'm not in an R1T right now, so just different strokes. If you're dead set on a particular car, you'll tolerate it (or deal with the minor hassle you did). Most others will just shop one Ford dealer off the other and get the same value you did by selling. You didn't have a choice.

 

[BeeKind]

Yeah that's the dynamic that had me selling my GTI private. If the car is 3-7 years old, dealerships and your overall value on trade is much better. They want the car they can move fast, not have to have someone who is an enthusiast shopping it in enthusiast places to move in maybe 3 months. If you're coming in buying a low margin vehicle with a 10 year old car they're just not going to do anything for you at all.

Honestly that dynamic is starting to get a bit worse, I had a Hyundai dealership giving me crap on a Hyundai trade because of de-badge on an Ioniq 5, said now they can't sell it certified even though it only had 6,000 miles. For a debadge! (was for a filming, used to own/operate private rental fleet)

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