It is quite common that price negotiations take place during vehicle trade-ins. Usually, car retailers will adjust their prices accordingly when presented with better-priced alternatives. But can you negotiate your trade-in value with Tesla?
Tesla does not offer any negotiations on trade-ins. In the past, Tesla price matched quotes from other vehicle retailers. But you can get quotes on different days from Tesla. You might get lucky and receive a better offer than your previous quote. You can also try to price match at other car retailers.
Other than these few tricks we’ve come up with a few similar tips that may save you a few bucks. If you play your cards right you might even score big time! So read on to see what could work for you.
Tesla has no incentive to offer the best deal or to match your price because it is not their primary business or source of income. They aren’t dependent dealerships owned by other automakers. Telsa prefers not to have to deal with non-tesla inventory and allows trade-ins as a convenience.
The name of the game (for Tesla) is to move as many cars in and out of inventory as quickly as possible. It is like an online shop where there is no middleman who needs to get a commission.
Another reason is that Tesla cannot sell ICE vehicles or other car brands on their parking lots. They also cannot fix and replace non-Tesla parts. This is why their only option is to take a non-Tesla to an auction house. They make little money selling off a trade-in, so it makes little sense to negotiate prices.
They deal exclusively with Teslas and make the whole buying and selling aspect as special as actually owning one. They do offer negotiations that exclusively take place between you and the seller.
If you have Tesla shares, they would have grown tremendously in value over the last few years. You can always sell a few shares to pay off the shortfall in your trade-in with Tesla. You can also play the long game and still wait for a little while. Your Tesla share value may still very well increase tremendously.
You can take your Tesla offer to other car retailers like Vroom, Carmax, Kelly Blue Book, or Carvana and offer price negotiations with them. They will also try to outbid one another. It is more of a hassle to deal with them with all the paperwork, but that is the price you have to pay for not dealing with Tesla.
Depending on which state you live in, you might get a sales tax reduction if you trade in. Find out what your options are and also try this handy Trade-In Sales Tax Savings Calculator.
You can always email them back with a free quote from Carmax and kindly request a reappraisal to increase the trade-in value. They might just increase your trade-in price by a few bucks, but hey, it’s something.
You might also get lucky and find a used Tesla from a third-party dealer. These dealers usually have room to play and can offer you a better price. And they don’t always know the true value of FSD and Autopilot, so you might find a gold nugget here and there. Be cautious though and do your homework, as this can have its own set of problems.
You can try this hack just before the end of every financial quarter. They are usually in a rush to get rid of these cars and you might find a Tesla that has been returned after a week of ownership (which is rare but does happen).
It’s very unfortunate that Tesla decided to cancel any sort of price negotiations, as this was an essential part of the whole Tesla experience. I can only assume that Tesla wants to streamline all their processes to move as many cars as possible in the shortest amount of time.
Unfortunately, this adds up to many bad customer experiences and frustrations. With notoriously bad service from Tesla, they might have to reconsider this decision in the future. Then again, it does provide some comfort knowing that you only deal with Tesla, and you get what you see.
