Safe to buy Tesla or safer to lease?

He's an idiot...

What a load of BS there are quite a few places trying to buy up Teslas, and most of them are willing to pay at least as much as Tesla themselves, often more.
Tesla at this point is unlikely to go out of business, however if they did, you'd be better off in a car you owned as one being leased could theoretically be seized as part of company assets to cover their debts.

This is more pure FUD from an entrenched interest.

*insert vigorous eye rolling*

I must be imagining that red Model S sitting on a Toyota dealership lot just a few miles from me.

ghbmd said:

Someone traded in a Tesla for a Toyota?

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I have no idea how it got there but it's there, proving your general manager might not know as much as he thinks he knows.

green1 said:

, you'd be better off in a car you owned as one being leased could theoretically be seized as part of company assets to cover their debts. .

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Sorry green1, but I totally disagree with this statement. First of all, there is no way a creditor can seize a leased car. Secondly, in the highly unlikely event that TM goes belly up, the resale value of a car you own would probably tank, whereas your leased car would go merrily along until the end of the lease, at which time you just walk away.

ghbmd said:

general manager of one of the largest auto dealer groups in my area. He oversees a VW, two Audi, and two Porsche dealerships. he said that no conventional dealer will take a Tesla in for trade
Thoughts?

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This same general manager is probably too busy taking dirty diesel cars back from customers who will never buy another VW car again to actually research and realize the Tesla Model S retains better resale than the luxury cars he is selling.

My local Mercedes dealer played the same stupid lines on me when I told them they had nothing of interest for us, and we were trading up for a Tesla. The amount of B.S. that followed was similar to what the above stealer/dealer told you.

Competition sucks when you've got nothing in the works to go head to head with Tesla.

1 - I've seen several used Teslas on dealers' lots in the greater Boston area (MB, Porsche). They sat a while because they had very high prices (way above market - I suspect the dealers offered too much in trade), and were poorly marketed (ie, no specific list of Tesla options, just the check boxes that fit the standard ICE form)

2 - Never, ever believe anything a car dealer tells you. Any "friendly advice" is a lie to benefit them. Seriously. Don't trust any info you get from them. Ever. Remember - "If their lips are moving, they're lying."

3 - IMHO, leasing any car (EV or ICE) is only a good idea if you fit the terms of the lease - typically trade every 2-3 years, fit the mileage profile, etc. Any deviation from the terms of the lease and you're likely to be SOL. I would never lease. I buy cars, drive them 25kmiles/year 'til the wheels fall of, and junk/trade/firesale them 8-10 years later.

Quite silly. Trading in your car when buying a new one is mostly for convenience. You can almost always get a better deal selling it yourself. (Not always. I actually traded my previous car in to Tesla because they offered me a really good deal. But this is not the norm.)

What if Tesla goes under or gets bought? That's certainly a risk, but I wouldn't say it's a particularly big one. They're selling cars as fast as they can make them and there's no sign that will let up. Even if the company does somehow go bust, the cars will still exist. Such an unfortunate event could actually drive used prices up, since supply would disappear.

And it's not like big-name cars are free from this sort of risk. I wouldn't want to own a Volkswagen TDI and be stuck trying to sell it or trade it in right now.

ghbmd said:

That may be. But has anyone ever traded in their Tesla to a conventional dealer that you know of? Ever see a Tesla on the used car lot at your local BMW, MB, or Audi dealer? They don't want to touch these cars because they don't know how (and cannot) service them and they certainly don't know enough to sell them.

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Of course they have, most of the time they pay more than Tesla themselves.

Hmm.. A franchised dealership employee was tooting the FUD horn about Tesla and praising the franchised dealership model? My surprised face: :|

Hey I have a bridge that I can sell you, slightly used.

Now I get why people say ridiculous things about Tesla and spread FUD, there are actually people that fall for it.

ghbmd said:

Who fell for what? Why comment at all if it is only to belittle another forum member? I relayed a conversation and asked for opinions. One thing that I believe to be true however is that those of you who live in CA (where 1/2 of all EVs in the US are registered) will definitely see things on this question very differently from those in states where EV sales lag and conventional dealerships don't know how to sell even sell their own brand's EV. You are years ahead of most of the rest of this country when it comes to understanding and acceptance of EVs in general and Tesla in particular. I think what I was told may very well be true for an East Coast dealership today. Though I do doubt it applies to all dealerships and I don't believe it will be this way for very long.

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Substitute impression for fact. Call 3 dealerships in your area saying you want to buy a new car from them but have to trade in a Tesla and see if they turn you away.

CarMax buys Teslas... I really doubt that a dealer would lose a sale just because they wouldn't take a Tesla as a trade in. Whether they would give you what you want for it is always a question, but to flat out refuse to take it is hard for me to believe.

I wouldn't trust a (somewhat) competing dealer's comments. I don't trust Tesla's sales people comments either. Why should I? They are trying to sell a product. But I would not call him an idiot either.
Go check out the latest article on Teslarati.com about drive unit failures. That could compel some to lease, rather than buy. I think the points about Tesla being a new car company and their potential for failure are exceptionally valid concerns. I personally think they will will wildly successful and have invested heavily in them; even before considering buying the car which I did 3 years after my first stock buy. So I am biased toward their success.

I think your questions are great and that you are smart to ask them and look at every POV. I am a total Tesla fan. But your are plunking down a huge amount of cash whether you buy or lease. So you should ask the good questions and have a very critical eye.

Though many of us MS owners won't admit it, everything is not complete sunshine and roses with Tesla. They still have much to prove. I believe that they will.