Tesla Model S Trade in Value According to Tesla Owners vs Private Sale

You may want to trade in your Tesla Model S to make room for Model X. Questions like what is the trade in value and should you trade in vs sell privately, come to mind. Here is what some Tesla Model S owners say about their car's value proposition.

One Tesla model S owner write in Tesla forum that he is selling his pre-autopilot 2014 MS P85 so he can buy the new Model X. "Tesla offered me around $56K and said that it would resell it for $64K. It what I had hoped for, but I did appreciate their total transparency," wrote Phi. "Has anybody had luck selling their Model S in their own? What kind of price did they provide relative to Tesla's offer."

One person responded, saying for hims selling private has always been better, from a financial stand point. But another S owner, responded, saying they will trade in to Tesla their pre-auto pilot P85 with 23k miles. This car is in a great condition "Tesla offered $58,200 which is OK considering the sales tax credit we get in NY. It makes a total of about $63k or so, which is about what I figure it is worth. Also taking Tesla financing for the guarantee resale value," wrote a user named Jpcompetello.

One other Model S owner, named Maazisrock, wrote that Tesla offered him 48,000 dollars for his 2013 P85, which has 42,000 miles. Two months later after this offer, Carmax offered 54K. He writes that he sold it today to private party for $58k. As you can see from this example, he had a better deal with a private sale vs trading in his Tesla.

When it comes to trade in vs selling your Tesla to a private party it will differ from state to state because of several reasons. Consider the difference in sales tax laws. Also consider the federal tack bracket, plust the amount of federal tax one expects to owe for 2016.

George comments from Florida that in Florida one is only charged sales tax on the difference between the purchase price of the new car and the trade-in value. He says Tesla offered $55K for his 2014 MS with AP and LTE. He was buying a Model X90D for $112,500. The different would be aout $57K. Now multiply it with .075 sales tax and it will equal to about $62K out of pocket expense. Add to this the 2016 tax reduction, EV credt of $7,500 and sales tax deduction. He says his net out of pocket equaled to $61,812-$8578= $53,234. On the other hand Honda dealer offered him $60,000 cache.

Difference=$57,500. Times .075 sales tax= $4,312. Total = $61,812 out of pocket.
2016 tax reduction: EV credit $7500 plus sales tax deduction .25x$4,312=$1,

Also do not discount the power of negotiation. Whether you are trading in your Tesla Model S or selling to a private party a good negotiation will result in fair valuation. Have you recently traded in or sold your Tesla Model S? How did you do it?