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Tesla holds a tight grip on its used vehicle market through its certified pre-owned program. As previously reported, it resulted in the Tesla Model S retaining its value better than gas-powered cars in its segment – losing only 28% after 50,000 miles, according to an Autolist report.
Unfortunately for people looking to get a cheap second-hand Tesla, it wasn't the easiest thing to find a good bargain... until now.
The automaker is now listing a lot of new Certified Pre-Owned Model S vehicles for less than $40,000.
While you could sometimes find a used Model S in the $40,000 price range from different resellers or directly from the owners, it was rare to find a used Tesla Model S for that price in Tesla's Certified Pre-Owned program.
Under the program, the vehicles receive a full inspection and a four-year, 50,000 miles limited warranty with 24 hour roadside assistance on top of the remaining years/mileage of their battery and drivetrain warranty.
But now Tesla is introducing a new version of the program for high mileage cars. They added dozens of them to their list and several are just over $30,000
Though one could argue it's just another auto company pushing its wares, there is the impact that having more Tesla cars on the road increases the incentives for building out more charging stations. With more stations, there is less range anxiety, so more people become willing to buy an electric car, and so the positive feedback loop continues. Those the actual numbers in this case are relatively small, consider that Tesla is on the cusp of rolling out the Model 3 in the near future, as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @01:56PM (2 children)
Just sayin'.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @04:16PM
Most likely so has every hotel room you've ever stayed in, do you bring a hazmat suit with you on your vacations?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @04:51PM
So, if I buy one, I'll get some?
Just askin'
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday June 09 2017, @01:57PM (6 children)
I don't track new car prices much, but over $30K always seemed pretty steep. I'm used to thinking of the engine as one of if not the most expensive piece in a car, which meant an electric ought to be significantly cheaper. But... I'm guessing a combustion engine is around $2K. Seems going electric won't bring down the price of a new car as much as I'd hoped.
Can be sure that dealer's parts departments still wildly inflate the prices of replacement parts, so using their prices as a guide doesn't work too well.
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @02:42PM (2 children)
Tesla is a low-volume manufacturer; that increases costs.
Moreover, an enormous amount of resources has been poured into research and development of the car, from the ground up. Something like a Tesla car doesn't just pop into existence when a few fratboys get together in their garage and decide to make one; it takes serious engineering, trial and error, and the establishment of entirely new flows of resources and manufacturing infrastructure—Guess what? Somebody has to pay for that.
Get it, yet?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @04:52PM (1 child)
Good thing there doesn't appear to be a violently imposed monopoly involved this time.
(Score: 2) by Scrutinizer on Friday June 09 2017, @07:05PM
Unfortunately, Tesla exists because of just such a violently-imposed monopoly based on handouts sourced from taxpayers at gunpoint [latimes.com] and cheap [seekingalpha.com] debt [investmentu.com] made so by "authorized government counterfeiters".
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @03:31PM (1 child)
Tesla is a low-volume manufacturer; that increases costs.
Moreover, an enormous amount of resources has been poured into research and development of the car, from the ground up. Something like a Tesla car doesn't just pop into existence when a few fratboys get together in their garage and decide to make one; it takes serious engineering, trial and error, and the establishment of entirely new flows of resources and manufacturing infrastructure—Guess what? Somebody has to pay for that.
Get it, yet?
(Score: 0, Troll) by fakefuck39 on Saturday June 10 2017, @05:34AM
Moreover, an enormous amount of resources has been poured into research and development of the car, from the ground up. Something like a Tesla car doesn't just pop into existence when a few fratboys get together in their garage and decide to make one; it takes serious engineering, trial and error, and the establishment of entirely new flows of resources and manufacturing infrastructure—Guess what? Somebody has to pay for that.
Get it, yet?
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @05:27PM
Tesla is a low-volume manufacturer; that increases costs.
Moreover, an enormous amount of resources has been poured into research and development of the car, from the ground up. Something like a Tesla car doesn't just pop into existence when a few fratboys get together in their garage and decide to make one; it takes serious engineering, trial and error, and the establishment of entirely new flows of resources and manufacturing infrastructure—Guess what? Somebody has to pay for that.
Get it, yet?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @02:03PM (8 children)
Hmm. I just bought a used 2007 Ford Ranger pickup for $4,000 USD with 29,000 miles on it. I'm happy.
(Score: 2) by n1 on Friday June 09 2017, @02:32PM
why do you hate the planet? only musk can save us, and you're trying to kill us!
(Score: 2) by nobu_the_bard on Friday June 09 2017, @02:48PM
Wow, nice deal!
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Friday June 09 2017, @03:01PM (3 children)
Besides, you can't roll coal in a Tesla.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @05:23PM (1 child)
They dont make diesel rangers, so you cant in a ranger either.
(Score: 2) by Leebert on Friday June 09 2017, @07:05PM
They did (do?), just not in the United States. I rode in one in Haiti a few years back.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday June 09 2017, @06:27PM
Someone has to invent a weed or crack derivative named coal, sell it to greenies and blacks with the explicit instructions that you smoke it like a joint.
I just want rednecks' tiny brains to explode when confronted with the idea that "rolling coal" was taken away by people they really don't want to be linked to.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 09 2017, @05:32PM (1 child)
Hmm. I just bought a used 2007 Ford Ranger pickup for $4,000 USD with 29,000 miles on it. I'm happy.
Kelly Blue Book says that vehicle, with the bare minimum features and in very good condition is worth $7-8k. I'll assume you just got a really good deal but will point out that $4k is not a representative price.
(Score: 0, Troll) by fakefuck39 on Saturday June 10 2017, @05:51AM
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Friday June 09 2017, @02:09PM (7 children)
It won't help Trump a bit with MAGA. Look
See? Fuck technology, it's like a nasty smelling spill [soylentnews.org] for politics, ain't it?
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Friday June 09 2017, @03:59PM (5 children)
That was going to be a tough sell anyway since the shale oil boom has made America a net oil producer again under Obama. but hey, there's always the good old standby reason for America to stick its military in the most dangerous part of the world: Israel.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Friday June 09 2017, @05:47PM (4 children)
Try again. That's only true for refined petroleum products. The USA is still a net energy importer.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 09 2017, @11:46PM (3 children)
Everything that gets burned in an engine, even the crap that container ships burn, is refined. And I notice here the introduction of the word, "energy". British Columbia electricity isn't going to spur wars in the Middle East, let us note.
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Saturday June 10 2017, @12:18AM (2 children)
U.S. Net Imports of Crude Oil and Petroleum Products (Thousand Barrels per Day) [eia.gov]
Look at the bottom of the table for the current year:
5,007 3,610 4,174
Or how about this page:
How much petroleum does the United States import and export? [eia.gov]
The USA is a net importer of oil.
You could have looked this up, it would have taken but a minute. But you like to put your own faulty knowledge before actual facts, so you didn't bother, because it might break your world view. It's childish.
As for the fact that a lot of the imports are from British Columbia, it's a worldwide market. Every barrel that Canada exports to the USA is a barrel of oil that cannot be sold to a third country, such as China.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday June 10 2017, @01:16AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Saturday June 10 2017, @03:18AM
It is a huge drop, and it is IMHO, very good for the USA.
Russia has a huge sovereign wealth fund and has been able to build up its military. However, with low oil prices, due in part to the fact that the USA is importing much less oil, both Saudi Arabia and Russia have been spending through these funds. Putin won't be able to keep his people happy if he doesn't have oil revenues to spend. Similarly, it's not clear to me that Saudi Arabia will actually have enough cash to buy all that military hardware that it is supposed to buy in the recently announced deal.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @04:10PM
Yeah, fuck you martyb and your "trying to keep political discussions from spilling over into other stories" [soylentnews.org].
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @03:54PM (1 child)
> Tesla holds a tight grip on its used vehicle market
I'd agree with "Tesla has the largest stock of used Model S available from one source", but it's hardly a tight grip. Here is a used car site, http://www.getauto.com/for-sale/tesla-model_s-12?fromyear=1998&toyear=2018 [getauto.com] that lists 129 Model S Teslas for sale at dealers all over the country. There are more, from private sellers on eBay and many other ways to find used Teslas for sale.
While poking around on various car sites, it looked like the lower cost used cars direct from Tesla were being snapped up quickly. Some guessed that the price was close enough to the upcoming Model 3 price that some people were buying a used S instead of waiting for a 3. In fact Tesla even seemed to be pushing this line of reasoning. I'd call this normal sales behavior, a sale now of any sort is (almost) always better than the hope of a sale in the future.
A second part of TFA that wasn't in the summary is the used prices of the other popular electric cars -- Leaf, BMW i3 and plug-in Chevy Volt. All of these are depreciating *much* faster than gas engine cars of the same general size.
This leads me to a couple of questions -- what will the Model 3 (and Chevy Bolt) do to *used* prices for electric cars? We can probably already predict that it will poke a hole in new sales of the Leaf, unless Nissan can lower the cost dramatically.
And, what will be the ramifications if somehow Tesla falls from it's current status as Wall Street sweetheart? For example, if the Model 3 production is delayed or has other problems. Along with that big market valuation, comes the fact that many eyes are watching Tesla at this time...
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday June 09 2017, @05:27PM
When the Model S came out a lot of people said their price point was closer to $40K. These certified pre-owned cars are at that price point, with not that much mileage. So essentially it's getting the larger, faster Model S for the cost of the Model 3 which hasn't been delivered yet. Another consideration is that these used Model S'es can use the supercharger network for free--the Model 3's can't.
Having a robust secondary market for EVs is a great way to get greater adoption, though. People don't really think twice about buying used ICEs, so used EVs shouldn't be that big a deal.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by ghost on Friday June 09 2017, @05:38PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @05:52PM
So the cars have been hacked even before delivery? :-)