Tesla Experts - Help me. Someone wants to trade my A7 with their Tesla. Should I?

wowcheesestick · Jul 24, 2015

Audi A7 2012 Prestige (no Innovation package , no sound package, otherwise fully loaded). 16K miles.

vs

Tesla 40 kwh, Tech package, 21 inch, Pana Roof (no reversed seats). 12K miles 2013. ONE REAR SIDE ACCIDENT, no frame damage.

I love the Tesla, and want to make the trade. But before I do it, I want to hear your opinions. My A7 is worth about 49k according to KBB.

I am emotionally leaning towards the trade, but I know i need to be logical so what do you think? I need to say yes/no by COB Today. I am thinking after the trade, if I do not like the car, I can re-sell it. but i want to know that I won't lose much money compare to selling the A7.

Do not take tax/registration into consideration please.

dsm363 · Jul 24, 2015

The fact it's been in an accident makes it less attractive. Have you thought about selling your car privately and getting a CPO from Tesla?

wowcheesestick · Jul 24, 2015

dsm363 said:
The fact it's been in an accident makes it less attractive. Have you thought about selling your car privately and getting a CPO from Tesla?

Yes. I have. I can sell my car for 50k and then get a CPO from Tesla. But if I go with this route, it saves me a lot of trouble. In addition, the cheapest CPO right now on the website is 50k. But I dont know why its so cheaper, the next cheapest one is 60k.

Roadrunner13 · Jul 24, 2015

dsm363 said:
The fact it's been in an accident makes it less attractive. Have you thought about selling your car privately and getting a CPO from Tesla?

This and the fact that it's a pressure sale doesn't give you much of a chance to shop around and see what options you really want in your Tesla.
The 40 kmh battery is uncommon and is likely to be short in terms of range for most people...aside from Tesla.
Finding comparative prices for this battery size will be extremely hard as there as so few of them!
I'd pass and take the time to shop around for the right CPO for you while selling your car privately for its best value...

Max* · Jul 24, 2015

There was someone on TMC who sold their S40 this week for $52k!!! But that's WAY overpriced, as you can get a CPO S60 with 4 years of warranty in the low 50s.

So IMO, he needs to give you about $5k-$8k of cash in addition to the car.

wowcheesestick · Jul 24, 2015

Roadrunner2013 said:
This and the fact that it's a pressure sale doesn't give you much of a chance to shop around and see what options you really want in your Tesla.
The 40 kmh battery is uncommon and is likely to be short in terms of range for most people...aside from Tesla.
Finding comparative prices for this battery size will be extremely hard as there as so few of them!
I'd pass and take the time to shop around for the right CPO for you while selling your car privately for its best value...

Not a pressure sale, I told the guy I would give him an answer by today. its been going on for 2 months... I just cant seem to decide.

WarpedOne · Jul 24, 2015

Don't do it.
Go with CPO.
And they can sell their S40 to tesla.

Roadrunner13 · Jul 24, 2015

wowcheesestick said:
Not a pressure sale, I told the guy I would give him an answer by today. its been going on for 2 months... I just cant seem to decide.

That's different then. Coming to the forum is a good reflex though and what Max just say is very true.
Check out THE CPO consolidator (http://ev-cpo.com/) if you haven't yet and it shows an S60 for 53K$...

Unless the S40 is enough for your range need and you absolutely wish to have a Tesla at the cheapest price, I'd go with one of the S60 for this price range.
If the S40 is all you need...then negotiate the h*** out of this price!

Best of luck!

Brass Guy · Jul 24, 2015

Just to be sure you know what you're looking at, IIRC the 40kWh original specs were around 160 miles. A car old enough to have a 40 configuration may have some amount of range loss. Do you know what the max range currently is for the car?

If you wanted to, you could upgrade the car after the swap. I don't remember what the upgrade price was to unlock the 60kWh that are in that car, but it's probably $10k~$12k. After that you would be able to supercharger enable it (for road trips) for another $2500. (Again, IIRC.)
These are merely software upgrades, so cost Tesla nothing. That's why you won't find a CPO 40kWh; Tesla upgrades 40's to 60's, and enables supercharging on 60's before selling them as CPO.

Also note this was built before parking sensors, folding mirrors, and of course autopilot hardware.

wowcheesestick · Jul 24, 2015

Brass Guy said:
Just to be sure you know what you're looking at, IIRC the 40kWh original specs were around 160 miles. A car old enough to have a 40 configuration may have some amount of range loss. Do you know what the max range currently is for the car?

If you wanted to, you could upgrade the car after the swap. I don't remember what the upgrade price was to unlock the 60kWh that are in that car, but it's probably $10k~$12k. After that you would be able to supercharger enable it (for road trips) for another $2500. (Again, IIRC.)
These are merely software upgrades, so cost Tesla nothing. That's why you won't find a CPO 40kWh; Tesla upgrades 40's to 60's, and enables supercharging on 60's before selling them as CPO.

Also note this was built before parking sensors, folding mirrors, and of course autopilot hardware.

The range is 130 Miles per charge. only 13k miles on the car. Tesla said its 11k to upgrade to S60 and another 2500 to enable super charger.

I am leaning towards not trading now.

wowcheesestick · Jul 24, 2015

Brass Guy said:
Just to be sure you know what you're looking at, IIRC the 40kWh original specs were around 160 miles. A car old enough to have a 40 configuration may have some amount of range loss. Do you know what the max range currently is for the car?

If you wanted to, you could upgrade the car after the swap. I don't remember what the upgrade price was to unlock the 60kWh that are in that car, but it's probably $10k~$12k. After that you would be able to supercharger enable it (for road trips) for another $2500. (Again, IIRC.)
These are merely software upgrades, so cost Tesla nothing. That's why you won't find a CPO 40kWh; Tesla upgrades 40's to 60's, and enables supercharging on 60's before selling them as CPO.

Also note this was built before parking sensors, folding mirrors, and of course autopilot hardware.

Thank you. I am starting to lean toward not completing the trade. The car has 130 miles now and it costs a total of 11k to upgrade to 60 and another 2.5 to enable super charge.

cgiGuy · Jul 24, 2015

Yeah, as Brass said, the big weakness of the 40 is the inability to add supercharging without upgrading to a 60. So, $12,500 to take a road trip. And in CA superchargers are everywhere.

jbcarioca · Jul 24, 2015

Another disadvantage of the 40 is that few of them had parking sensors, most did not have foglights and they are generally short of easily upgradable features. I'm with teh people who suggest a CPO, preferably a 2014 which is supercharger and sensor enabled, with autopilot enablement too. That costs money, of course, but then you're pretty much future-proofed for some time. Still, if you do not care about those things then bargain hard because that car is not only with damage history but also the most basic S you can find.

RyanT · Jul 24, 2015

CPO. You can at least get a 60 + better warranty. Might cost a little more but it's worth it.

kuttakamina · Jul 24, 2015

Totally do it! A7 > S40. Sell the A7, and buy a 70D or S85 CPO.

RyanT · Jul 24, 2015

Take your car to carmax. You'll get a quote in 1/2 hour good for 7 days. Order the CPO. You can then ask tesla about trade in. They hooked me up with a little better price then Carmax.

ChadS · Jul 24, 2015

Some people - like me - may not care about upgrading to 60kwh and supercharging, because I already have an S85 so this would be a second car. 40kwh would be perfect.

But of course we don't want to pay 60kwh prices for a 40. I think (though I am largely guessing, though with some info from somebody who recently traded in a 40) that Tesla is offering 40 owners 60 trade-in value. And why not, because that is how they will sell the car. Plus I suspect (pure guesswork here) Musk said he doesn't think 40s do much for brand image, so he wants to pay extra to get them and convert them.

So then the problem is that 40 owners get these generous trade-in values from Tesla, and have a real hard time selling them on the private market because they expect to get more than Tesla's offer - but the car is not worth that much to anybody else.

Too bad, as I would consider picking up a cheap 40.

martinwinlow · Jul 25, 2015

Forgive me if someone already mentioned this but don't forget that the battery pack in the 40 is actually a 60 one, software restricted, which adds value as far as a deal with Tesla is concerned but not to a private buyer or dealer. Personally, unless a 40 really suits your needs with its lack of SuCing and relatively low range (in my experience of my 60 you are realistically looking at 120 miles at 70mph), on top of the lack of bells and whistles, I would walk away, pay a bit more and get a used one from Tesla. MW

Gabzqc · Jul 25, 2015

Supercharging enabled on the 40KWH models?

Yggdrasill · Jul 25, 2015

jbcarioca said:
Another disadvantage of the 40 is that few of them had parking sensors, most did not have foglights and they are generally short of easily upgradable features.

I don't think any 40 kwh Model S had parking sensors. Tesla axed the 40 pretty quick.

And to the OP I would say, find a CPO with Supercharging. You won't regret it. And if you can stretch to a much newer 70/70D, that would be great. Tesla implements dozens of small improvements every week, so age matters.

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