Kyle’s article the other day about buying a CPO Tesla, and comments about friends and/or family not realizing how cheaply you could get a CPO Tesla Model S, made me run with a piece I’ve been thinking about for awhile.
I’ve been watching Tesla CPO prices closely for months, and as anyone with more than cauliflower between their ears would guess, the prices are falling as time goes on. Of course, the cars are getting older (none of us can avoid Father Time) and the older cars have less of the cool goodies new Teslas have (like Summon).
But remembering that these Model S wonder cars crushed the automotive competition in award after award in the past few years, and their owners have been more satisfied with them than the owners of any other cars on the US market, and prices are getting down in the realm of a new BMW i3 or Mercedes B-Class Electric, I imagine some of our readers would love to pounce on “the perfect deal.”
Since I watch the Tesla CPO site pretty closely (and sit at home or in the coffee shop on my computer for a living), I figured I’d start sharing when I see a lot of low-priced cars on the CPO site.
At the moment, I think I’m seeing a record 7 cars under $49,000! Granted, the first one seems to have already sold… but still.
There’s not much point in my listing much about these cars, since you can just go look at them on the Tesla CPO webpage, but there are screenshots above***.
I also wanted to let people know that there’s actually an external site that pulls in these CPO Teslas and lets you organize the offerings via a variety of different factors (color, battery size, location, Autopilot or not, etc.): ev-cpo.com. I don’t know how quickly they pull these in, and I don’t check there nearly as often as the Tesla site, since I just like having a glance at how the prices on the low end are dropping, but it’s definitely a useful site if you have particular things you want.
At the moment, there are 555 US Teslas listed on that website! And 27 Canadian Teslas.
Some mighty good deals out there. Making it harder and harder to settle for a BMW i3, Chevy Volt, Nissan LEAF, etc…. I’ll let you know when I see >7 Teslas drop below $49,000 at one time.
***Oh, man, I could help myself. I took a peek at the 6 remaining Teslas under $49,000, ane here are some of the key details that stand out to me (links are on the subheadings on the prices):
Brown Model S 60 (I love the brown ones… probably my favorite option, and it’s not an option on new Teslas any longer!) — $44,900
- 59,812 miles (well, that is a lot of miles)
- Chicago (seem to be a lot of low-priced ones in Chicago… beautiful city to visit and pick up a Model S 😀 )
- 19″ wheels (not as sporty, but quieter and less likely to get a flat or get damaged)
- Tech Package (most have this, but watch out for the ones that don’t, since you probably want the Tech Package)
- Active Air Suspension
White Model S 60 — $46,300
- 14,920 miles (well, that’s a lot better than the one above)
- Rocky Mountain Region (another nice place to visit 😀 … hopefully no boulders fell on this beauty)
- 19″ wheels (not as sporty, but quieter and less likely to get a flat or get damaged)
- No Tech Package (see, told you that some cars do exist without the Tech Package)
- Pretty much a base-level Model S
Pearl White Model S 60 — $46,900
- 35,018 (yep, someone enjoyed this car for a good 2-3 years)
- Los Angeles (I’m sure we have a good # of readers there 😀 )
- 19″ wheels (not as sporty, but quieter and less likely to get a flat or get damaged)
- Twin Chargers (nice to have)
- Tech Package
Green Model S 60 — $47,400 (that’s my other favorite color on these, and like the brown, it’s now discontinued!)
- 35,512 miles (~one more regional road trip than the Pearl White above)
- Panoramic Roof (I love that and would go for it, but as with all such roofs, there’s the possibility of leakage at some point)
- 19″ wheels (not as sporty, but quieter and less likely to get a flat or get damaged)
- Obeche Wood Matte Décor (I’m a fan)
- Active Air Suspension
- Tech Package
- Paint Armor (i.e., the paint should be holding up better than on others of the same age & mileage)
Black Model S 60 — $48,000 (become a real-life Bond… sort of)
- 27,722 miles
- Panoramic Roof (I love that and would go for it, but as with all such roofs, there’s the possibility of leakage at some point)
- 19″ wheels (not as sporty, but quieter and less likely to get a flat or get damaged)
- Twin Chargers
- Tech Package
- Air Suspension
- Overall, a pretty nice set of features
Blue Model S 60 — $48,100 (love that deep ocean blue)
- 38,016 (yep, as above, this is not a brand new car… but it may well still look and feel like one)
- Los Angeles (I’m sure we have a good # of readers there 😀 )
- Panoramic Roof (I love that and would go for it, but as with all such roofs, there’s the possibility of leakage at some point)
- 19″ wheels (not as sporty, but quieter and less likely to get a flat or get damaged)
- Obeche Wood Matte Décor (I’m a fan)
- Tech Package
- Sound Studio Package (I hear it’s much better than the standard… and loved it when I experience it briefly with some Bach on)
Let us know if you dive in like Kyle and Chris Dragon did.
My brother drive a CPO and thank heavens for warranty. Just this past week the sunroof dumped a good amount of water on his head when a glued seal failed, collected water in a rain storm, and then poured out when he started driving. He’s had nothing be issues with fit and finish and 2 motors replaced, headlight, wiper mechanisms, trim pieces and steering rack, ac units and more. All handled very professionally by Tesla Service at no cost to him and with a loaner provided. I would be very concerned to buy a car like this that would potential see it’s value drop significantly once out of warranty. $50K over 4 year is still a good size payment for most people and then they could have a car out of warranty with potential significant costs to maintain. I’m thinking Range Rover like reliability and S class depreciation. Who’s crazy enough to drive a 5-7 year old S Class /Audi A8 etc….with a guaranteed to fail battery pack at some point.
When Lexus came with the LS 400, everything was warrantied to the hilt. The new cars following each year had higher MSRP and that sustained the used value. Tesla doesn’t have this since the skin of the car is essentially the same. With slower model propagation and differentiations, I don’t see how you can capture a used market without significant warranty and service.
My Ford Focus Electric lease will be up in Feb 2017. The value of these used is going to be in the 9-10K range with 36K on the car. It has to be a concern for manufacturers as to how the used car market performs for their cars if they drop like rocks. CPO is good. Replacing a battery pack is not something individuals will do without significant apprehension. My 2004 Audi S4 Avant CPO blew the motor at 97K out of warranty and $14,000 to replace per Audi, $8000 for used motor. Total loss on a chassis that should have gone another 100K miles. I did not feel comfortable spending $10K to fix the car and have other issues crop up.
what year CPO does he have?? wonder if it would be the same with a 2013/2014 model. agreed, i wouldn’t want to drive a tesla out of warranty. i’d probably hold it for 4 yrs and trade it in for another CPO tesla. 🙂
i’d guestimate that if we buy it now for $50K it will be worth $20K in 4 yrs…so basically paying $7.5K/yr for a CPO tesla…or $600+/month…not considering opportunity costs for your $$. Not terrible.
2014 September.
Tesla reliability has been… a lot like other cars, really. There have been (a) teething issues with early design and production (mostly fixed by warranty replacements), and (b) individual cars which are lemons.