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posted by martyb on Friday June 09 2017, @01:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the reduce-REUSE-recycle dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @03:54PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @03:54PM (#523119)

    > 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...

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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday June 09 2017, @05:27PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday June 09 2017, @05:27PM (#523161) Journal

    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.

    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.