Tesla Used cars for Sale, Why so many?

[G. David Felt]

G. David Felt
Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer
www.CheersandGears.com

 

TESLA PREOWNED SALE

http://www.teslamotors.com/models/preowned

 

Received this email today from Tesla for their first PreOwned sale. I was curious to see just how many and what types were available. 256 on their own preowned site and Florida leads the way with 43 listed. More surprising was that while the list was well divided between 2012, 2013 and 2014, the average for mileage was just a little over 10K miles. Then I continued to look and found 94 more tesla's for sale on the tesla motor club web site. 87 listed for sale on CarFax web site. LotPro had 7 listed. Ebay has 40 listed and AutoTrader has 322 listed and all are pretty low miles.

 

Yes I would believe there is some duplicate listings between these sites, but the bigger shock is just how low the miles are for a car that is supposed to be the ultimate Green machine. How does one buy a 100K dollar car, only drive it less than 10K miles and 2 years later sell it. It would seem the market is not that big for pure electric auto's. Plus this many Tesla's for sale in the private side makes me think that many have over bought and then are tring to unload this luxury golf cart that cannot handle real life long distance road trips.

 

Is it possible that Tesla's run is coming to an end as more people realize just how limited this auto is? What are your thoughts on the glut of Tesla Pre Owned EV's?

 

[SalesmanSean]

To start, the kind of people that have that kind of money to throw around aren't the kind of people that keep a car long, they're always looking for the next new thing.  Heck, assuming Tesla does leases (I don't know all the ins and outs of how they do business), it's very likely a number of these are off-lease vehicles.  Now if there was some data to support that the majority of the people trading in these vehicles were going to anything other than another Tesla, that would be a whole different ballgame.  These numbers are interesting, but without the proper context they are mostly meaningless.

[Drew Dowdell]

To start, the kind of people that have that kind of money to throw around aren't the kind of people that keep a car long, they're always looking for the next new thing.  Heck, assuming Tesla does leases (I don't know all the ins and outs of how they do business), it's very likely a number of these are off-lease vehicles.  Now if there was some data to support that the majority of the people trading in these vehicles were going to anything other than another Tesla, that would be a whole different ballgame.  These numbers are interesting, but without the proper context they are mostly meaningless.

 

This is the answer.  Tesla launched on leasing because of the way the tax credits worked. 

 

Also, Tesla makes rolling changes to their cars throughout production without regard to model year.   An early 2014 Tesla model-S can have different features than a later 2014 Telsa Model-S.   I can see people wanting to upgrade to the newest and greatest. 

[ocnblu]

Maybe it's more like "run, Forrest, RUN!"

[FAPTurbo]

Considering both the income and demographics of a typical Tesla buyer, it's really just them them upgrading. These are people who buy a new smartphone each year and typically want the bleeding-edge. That's par for the course with aspirational tech. 

 

Why stick with a frumpy Model S 60 when the P85D is out? 

[Cory Wolfe]

Question, did you check to see how many Volts are for sale on the used market? I bet there are quite a few more of those. Also, globally, Tesla sales are rising while Volt/Ampera sales are falling. In fact, the Model S is now the second best selling electric behind the Nissan Leaf. Cause for concern? Perhaps for GM, but I have a feeling Tesla is fine. 

 

This is just more of the ever-present anti-Tesla attitude employed by a select few around here. It's a great American car, why hate?

[FAPTurbo]

This is just more of the ever-present anti-Tesla attitude employed by a select few around here. It's a great American car, why hate?

[G. David Felt]

Question, did you check to see how many Volts are for sale on the used market? I bet there are quite a few more of those. Also, globally, Tesla sales are rising while Volt/Ampera sales are falling. In fact, the Model S is now the second best selling electric behind the Nissan Leaf. Cause for concern? Perhaps for GM, but I have a feeling Tesla is fine. 

 

This is just more of the ever-present anti-Tesla attitude employed by a select few around here. It's a great American car, why hate?

No Anti-Tesla here but I signed up last year for their mailing list so I could stay abreast of what they do and getting this email and seeing how many are for sale, I was surprised to find out that many were waiting for resale and some are priced still over 100K with only a couple thousand miles on the car. So I do wonder about this.

 

In regards to the Volt, I find 2803 for sale on Autotrader alone, average price being in the low $20K range with low mileage and in refining the search you drop to just under 800 when you remove new so many used are for sale which is also interesting. But at least the price is more tolerable than Tesla's.

[daves87rs]

I agree with most of ya....just simply upgrading to something newer....

[ZL-1]

Leases is the answer.

 

I do have another one though: Tesla does own these vehicles and therefore they are capturing whatever profit there is in these used car sales, right?

Edited May 28, 2015 by ZL-1

[Drew Dowdell]

Leases is the answer.

 

I do have another one though: Tesla does own these vehicles and therefore they are capturing whatever profit there is in these used car sales, right?

 

Yes, these are probably being turned back in to Tesla who then gets to resell them.

 

Again, lease turn ins are the answer.  

[SalesmanSean]

Question, did you check to see how many Volts are for sale on the used market? I bet there are quite a few more of those. Also, globally, Tesla sales are rising while Volt/Ampera sales are falling. In fact, the Model S is now the second best selling electric behind the Nissan Leaf. Cause for concern? Perhaps for GM, but I have a feeling Tesla is fine. 

 

This is just more of the ever-present anti-Tesla attitude employed by a select few around here. It's a great American car, why hate?

Volt sales should be expected to fall at the moment as the current model is on the way out.  I'm interested to see how those numbers continue to shake out once the new Volt hits and has been on the market for a few months to get a more accurate comparison of sales.

[FAPTurbo]

While this piece of investurrgaturrve jurrnalurrzm took place, Autoblog has this from the Detroit Free Press:

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/05/24/thousands-unsold-chevy-volt-deals/

 

 

The next-gen 2016 Chevrolet Volt looks to be a pretty fantastic vehicle with more electric driving range, better fuel economy than its predecessor, and a lower starting price. However, if you're looking for a deal, the 2015 model of the plug-in hybrid might not be a bad place to check because Chevy has a ton of them to get rid of.

According to The Detroit Free Press, there are around 6,000 examples of the 2015 Volts that are still sitting on dealer lots. That might not sound like a lot, but Chevy only sold 905 of them in April and 2,779 through that month in 2015. It moved 18,805 of the PHEVs for all of 2014.

Buyers are in a pretty good spot to haggle at the moment, too, with the a new Volt right around the corner. According toThe Detroit Free Press based on TrueCar figures, the current average closing price for a 2015 model is $30,607 before any federal or state tax credits. You can also lease one for 39 months for $299 a month and $1,649 due at signing. In April,Chevy was reportedly offering customers 2.9-percent financing for 48 months and leases with no money down for buyerstrading in a vehicle from a competitor.

Of course, there's also always the option to buy a pre-owned example. Just a few months ago, prices for used Volts were reportedly as low as $13,000 at auction.

 

BUT OH NOES TESLA IS TEH FAIL. 

[Intrepidation]

It's funny how the the biggest Tesla haters are at once the most pro `MERICA cars.

 

Speaking of which, the Model S is currently 55% American made, and is claimed to be 90% US made after the completion of the Gigafactory.

 

http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/10/tesla-will-soon-top-ford-f-150-as-most-american-made-car/

 

The ALL `MERICAN Volt, which still has 6,000 2015 cars sitting on dealer lots, is 46% `MERICAN MADE

 

https://www.cars.com/articles/2012/07/american-made-index-odds-ends/