Tesla Now Offering To Match Carmax Trade-In Offers

Tesla has begun to match Carmax’s appraisal offers for old Teslas, according to recent reports. In other words, those who want to get as much as possible from Tesla during the trade-in process would probably be well advised to head over to a Carmax first to get an offer, and then share that offer with Tesla if it doesn’t offer something lower.

Going by comments on the Tesla Motors Club forum, it appears that the new policy is a nationwide one. The discussion was kicked off by “Caboom” with this comment: “I am receiving my new P90DL on Saturday! Tesla offered my 47k for my ride — the guarantee that was negotiated with the original loan i made with Tesla in 2013. I took it to carmax on a whim this Friday and they offered me $52k. No brainer what i should do. The crazy thing is that now Tesla as of this Friday will match the carmax price. I can exchange the car at a Tesla SVC and they will apply the credit to the new Tesla down payment! Highly recommend going to Carmax and getting an appraisal from them before just accepting Tesla low ball appraisal.”

The commentator “davidc18” chimed in as well, confirming the new policy, stating: “Same story from the Dania SC. Go to CarMax, bring quote to Tesla. New Policy.”

As did “GatorGambit,” who added: “I’m in the middle of dealing with trading in for my P90DL too. Marietta GA SC said take my car to Carmax last week. The offer expires before delivery on Thursday so they told me to take it back to Carmax and get a new offer. Turns out the Carmax appraiser on duty when I went back in is in charge of the Tesla-Carmax trade in program here in GA. He said Carmax is now in a partnership with Tesla and buying the trades at the offered price after Tesla completes their delivery. He also said they will honor the offer for 14 days or longer based on circumstances. Apparently the regional Tesla trade in manager was unaware of the 14 day allowance. The Carmax appraiser happened to have the Tesla manager’s info and they had a spirited exchange. Long story short, Carmax is honoring the offer and Tesla is accepting it.”

This will likely save some of those trading in their Model Ss a fair chunk of change … and from the sounds of it, seems to be making some customers quite happy.