Cheap cheap is not normally the sound you associate with a new Tesla. However;
 |
| New mascots, Cheap & cheep |
This fact was highlighted by the last couple days of driving ye ol'e gas guzzler* back and forth to the dealer that has apparently cornered the market for ex-Hertz Tesla's in Oregon. It's a bit over 100 miles there, and a round trip to/from costs nearly $50 in gas. In the EV it would run around $5 based on our current home electric rate. It's not quite 10X, 23 cents/mi. vs 2.6 cents/mi. but pretty close.
Those poor souls who actually waste their time following this blog know that a recent post gets into the current pricing of new and used Teslas. This was a boring topic until recently when Hertz set off a small tactical nuclear device in the middle of the used Tesla market by dumping a significant fraction of their stock of Tesla Model 3's (and their CEO) into a used car market that was, shall we say, somewhat unprepared.
Broken news!: Hertz announced in their Q1 earnings statement that they'll be adding another 10,000 2022 and 2023 Teslas to the 10,000 remaining (to be sold) that they plan on selling during the remainder of 2024. Deals on used Teslas aren't fading out anytime soon.
[Do be aware that the rule-making for the Federal Used EV Credit makes mention of the fact that it applies to $25K and under cars from two model years ago. Elsewhere they reference "Over two years old." and since some of the 2023 Teslas were manufactured in 2022, do they qualify? We don't know.]
Current Tesla owners are aghast as the worth of their trade-in dropped 20% or more in a couple months. To be fair, the big price slide on all used cars was already in progress, but the EV side of things REALLY took it in the shorts. One person's problem is another person's opportunity. ...and boy are we taking advantage of that.
A cursory overview of the previous post; had us looking at the new 2024 'Refreshed' Tesla Model 3, which we both really Really like. After all costs, fees, taxes and rebates/credits were applied it penciled out to around $36K. New 2024 Model Y, non-refreshed, not quite as nice, worked out to $32K. Tesla of course wants to preserve the illusion of high used-Tesla prices, so their used units from 2021 or 2022 had prices very close to the new ones, after rebates.
Uh, NO, in fact, Heck No!
Uh, NO, in fact, Heck No!
Note that we're in an unusual financial situation compared to most of the country, being relatively low income and in a state that has good EV Rebates so the prices we see may differ from yours. YMMV.
You might also have noticed we were looking at Hertz Used Car Sales at a variety of different locations around the country. For about three weeks they had some pretty good deals, but those sold off rapidly, plus they started jacking up the prices.
You might also have noticed we were looking at Hertz Used Car Sales at a variety of different locations around the country. For about three weeks they had some pretty good deals, but those sold off rapidly, plus they started jacking up the prices.
For us, two factors play into this:
The Federal Used EV Credit is only applicable to dealer sales that invoice below $25K. So when some jackass prices a bunch of their stock at $25,500 it doesn't cost $500 more, it costs $4500 more. You'd think they'd be brighter than that, but apparently not. "Pricing is automated, we have no control!" was the bleating noise offered up by several Hertz dealers. There are a number (20? 25?) 2023 Tesla Model 3's available in Florida that only have 15k-22K miles on them for around $27K. This is probably fair pricing, just not useful to us.
The other factor is that the Oregon Rebate ($2500 new, $5000 new/used for lower income folks) doesn't get turned 'on' until April 3rd, so even an amazing deal right now doesn't look so hot when you give up $5K.
Fortunately we're patient ... ish.
The Federal Used EV Credit is only applicable to dealer sales that invoice below $25K. So when some jackass prices a bunch of their stock at $25,500 it doesn't cost $500 more, it costs $4500 more. You'd think they'd be brighter than that, but apparently not. "Pricing is automated, we have no control!" was the bleating noise offered up by several Hertz dealers. There are a number (20? 25?) 2023 Tesla Model 3's available in Florida that only have 15k-22K miles on them for around $27K. This is probably fair pricing, just not useful to us.
The other factor is that the Oregon Rebate ($2500 new, $5000 new/used for lower income folks) doesn't get turned 'on' until April 3rd, so even an amazing deal right now doesn't look so hot when you give up $5K.
Fortunately we're patient ... ish.
We of course contacted the Oregon Hertz sales folks first. Home town heros, Yay! ...except gotta say, I don't know if they just aren't in the game or if someone above them is only feeding them the high priced offerings (and few at that) regardless we stopped looking there and broadened the horizons to include Hertz elsewhere, and other dealers who have bought the outpouring of ex-Hertz units.
As we waited, and waited, for the Oregon Rebate to take effect a curious thing started to happen. Searches would turn up more and more stock of Teslas at a pair of Oregon VW dealerships.
"Hey, doesn't VW have their own EV's? Maybe these are trade-ins."
Nope, Car-Fax says they're ex-rentals.
Turns out the two dealers are actually owned by the same folks and someone there was smart enough to recognize that Hertz wasn't doin'Jack with their cars in Oregon and that they can get a bunch of the ex-Hertz stock for cheap. Between the two dealerships there were like 16 units last time their web page refreshed. Not all of them were under $25K, but several were.
Turns out the two dealers are actually owned by the same folks and someone there was smart enough to recognize that Hertz wasn't doin'Jack with their cars in Oregon and that they can get a bunch of the ex-Hertz stock for cheap. Between the two dealerships there were like 16 units last time their web page refreshed. Not all of them were under $25K, but several were.
 |
| Yep, that'll do. 2022 Model 3, 70K miles, under $24K |
OK, Ok, it's not the preferred color (white) and those cool looking but inefficient and ride-like-a-brick wheels aren't ideal, and it has about 30K miles more than we'd like. However: $15,870!
Yep, that's what we're scheduled to fork over next Wednesday morning. (April 3rd)
Breaking that unbelievable number down: Bit under $24K, add fees and $89.21 in state taxes (woo ! )
and subtract $4K in Federal (used) credits and $5K in Oregon rebate and there we are.
"It must be a terrible car to go for so little, and 70K miles?, who buys that?"
Well, there is a couple rock chips in the hood, the 'not real leather' interior has a couple bubbles on the interior door handle and steering wheel, and the trunk doesn't close smoothly, oh, and one of the rear seatbelts (middle) has a fault. But that's it for problems we could find. Drives great, minimal wind and tire noise, much better than we expected. If it's been 'rental abused' there's no sign of it excepting the trunk lid. Guess is that a number of renters didn't know the location (or existance) of the button to close the power trunklid, and just forced it closed. Probably dozens of times.
Some mis-alignment may occur.
As for the miles, (and frequent supercharger usage, we assume) this has the CATL LFP battery cells in it, our vote for the best in the world, especially in terms of longevity/robustness, except in very cold (under 0.deg.F, -18.C) which we don't see much of. Calculating from the recent charge information on the screen, it looks like around 96% of the original/theoretical capacity is still available, or put another way, 4% degradation in two years, 70K+ miles. Not bad. This particular version of motor/drivetrain has reportedly made it well over 200K miles quite a number of times. There's also reports of failures, mostly clustered in early life, or with lots more miles on. It still has almost 30K miles of the factory battery/drivetrain warranty available on it so this isn't a big concern right now.
OTOH; We'll blow through the remaining warranty in less than two years (based on miles) so we'll see how we feel about it then. Odds are good that more writing will occur.
Some mis-alignment may occur.
As for the miles, (and frequent supercharger usage, we assume) this has the CATL LFP battery cells in it, our vote for the best in the world, especially in terms of longevity/robustness, except in very cold (under 0.deg.F, -18.C) which we don't see much of. Calculating from the recent charge information on the screen, it looks like around 96% of the original/theoretical capacity is still available, or put another way, 4% degradation in two years, 70K+ miles. Not bad. This particular version of motor/drivetrain has reportedly made it well over 200K miles quite a number of times. There's also reports of failures, mostly clustered in early life, or with lots more miles on. It still has almost 30K miles of the factory battery/drivetrain warranty available on it so this isn't a big concern right now.
OTOH; We'll blow through the remaining warranty in less than two years (based on miles) so we'll see how we feel about it then. Odds are good that more writing will occur.
*The guzzler actually gets almost 20MPG, which isn't terrible for a 20 year old towing-capable vehicle, but even with that said, paying ten times as much for each mile gets old fast. We would be driving the Leaf, but we've used up all the 45K miles on that Lease, a month early. Bummer.
No comments:
Post a Comment