We recently took delivery of a 2016 Model S CPO in Washington DC area to replace my wife's minivan. I thought I share my experience with those of you who are in the market for CPO (aka mechanically inspected) vehicle from Tesla.
First, we created a list of must and nice to have requirements:
Must have:
During my search process, we decided to narrow down our search to only facelifted models, simply because we liked the new frontend and the center console. That actually made our decision much easier because there weren't that many facelifted cars available within our $60k price point. We start tracking a 2016 75D and watched the price change religiously several times a day. Once the price hit our target range, we ran a Carfax report and pull the trigger on the deposit.
I reached out to my sales advisor to coordinate delivery. I was told that we could pick up the car within 5 days from the Owings Mill service center. At this point in time, I was able to find the vehicle profile listed in My Tesla portal. I was asked to upload some documents, including driver license and insurance info. I reached out to my insurance company (AAA) for a quote and was pleasantly surprised to find Model S premium to be ~$100 higher than than my 2015 Sienna.
Up until this point, I have only made contact with the sales advisor. There is a separate team for handling the actual vehicle delivery. During the process, there was bit of disconnect and miscommunication between the two teams. For instance, I was told car would be ready for pickup on Friday, but in reality the delivery team had no information and wasn't able to track down the location of the vehicle. Apparently, used Tesla aren't stored in a single lot/location. It could be located in any of the service centers where the car was originally traded-in. During my visit to Owings Mill service center, I did see several Tesla trade-ins sitting in the parking lot. They were clearly labeled "Trade-in" on the window. I suspect if your sales advisor is willing to share the whereabout of a particular vehicle, you should be able drive to the service center to inspect the vehicle prior to putting down the deposit.
On the day of the delivery, we drove our minivan to the Owings Mill service center. The staff at Owings Mill were super friendly. They gave us plenty of time to inspect the vehicle and ask questions. For our vehicle, we did find few light scratches or dings that weren't identified in the photos. However, the car was washed and vacuumed prior to our arrival, which looked much better than shown in photos. The lady who handled our delivery was really nice. She took care of few issues on the spot, including replacing front tire (with chunk of rubber missing in sidewall), loose door trim and remote battery. The whole delivery process end up taking 3 hours, but we were very pleased with our experience.
Going back to my point on the disconnect between the sales and delivery teams, I would suggest CPO buyer to call and get acquainted with the delivery team days prior to delivery in order to avoid unwanted surprises.
My wife has been smiling ear to ear since taking delivery of her Model S. Since the wheels had some curb rashes, we plan to get the slip stream wheels refinished in gunmetal color with satin finish.
First, we created a list of must and nice to have requirements:
Must have:
- AWD - Our other car is a 911, so we needed an all weather transport.
- 2015 or newer - Earlier model years had more reported fit and finish issues.
- Sunroof - Makes the whole interior much more spacious.
- Auto-pilot (AP1) - I am okay not having the newest driving assistance tech. If you absolutely want full self-driving hardware, you should skip the rest of this post and order a new S or 3.
- Factory warranty - I plan on keeping this car for ~4 years. Factory warranty for vehicle with high repair cost was absolutely mandatory for us.
- Next-Gen Seats - I much prefer the Next-gen style seats over the original design. The Next-gen seats are not only more comfortable, supportive and much better looking IMO.
- Power liftgate - Not even sure why this is an option in an $90k+ car.
- < 40k miles - We understand Tesla's drivetrain/battery warranty covers up to 8 years, but we still prefer a lower mileage car. BTW, Tesla warranty is 4yr/50k from date of purchase if car has under 50k mi. Otherwise warranty is 2yr/100k.
- Longer range - We don't to many road trip nor do we have long commute, so this wasn't mandatory. However, considering recommended charge limit (85%) and cold weather efficiency, it would be nice to have a bigger battery.
- Premium sound - I love good clean bass in my music, but my wife could care less. I think that is the main diff between standard and premium sound upgrade.
- Subzero package - Loved heated steering wheels in our previous vehicles. But since you can pre-heat the car from the smartphone app, we could live without it.
- Free supercharging - We don't take many road trip, so this wasn't mandatory. However, I think most vehicles prior to 2017 has lifetime supercharging included.
- Can I visually inspect or test drive the car prior to putting down a deposit? No and no. You have to make a decision to purchase the car purely based on photos they share with you.
- Is the deposit refundable? No, If you turn down a car, you can put that deposit toward another used vehicle within 7 days. I am guessing there is some flexibility in that rule. I think everything but the price (set by computer) is negotiable.
- What is the minimal tire tread-depth? 4/32.
- Do you ship car? No. However, I was told by during my delivery Tesla that it is negotiable.
- Do you provide Carfax record? No, but they don't sell cars having serious accident history. Not sure what their definition of 'serious' mean, so it is best that you run your own Carfax report.
- Where do I pickup the car? Cars in the mid-atlantic/north east areas are picked up either in Mount Kisco NY or Owings Mill MD. In another word, you don't get to choose where to pickup the car. If the car shows NY location, then you will pick it up in NY. They will not transport car to you, but you can arrange your own transport. Given all the uncertainties, I wasn't going to deal with the logistical nightmare of driving 4 hours from DC to NY and coming back empty handed.
- Do you take trade-in? Yes. This was probably the easiest part of the process. You can get a online quote for your trade-in. They use KBB trade value, which I thought was pretty fair.
- Where do I drop off my trade-in? Either nearest service center or where you pickup the Tesla.
- Is finance available? Yes, Tesla uses 3rd party lender for used car sales. Their lender generally require 10% down and up to 72 month term. I got my loan through credit union instead.
During my search process, we decided to narrow down our search to only facelifted models, simply because we liked the new frontend and the center console. That actually made our decision much easier because there weren't that many facelifted cars available within our $60k price point. We start tracking a 2016 75D and watched the price change religiously several times a day. Once the price hit our target range, we ran a Carfax report and pull the trigger on the deposit.
I reached out to my sales advisor to coordinate delivery. I was told that we could pick up the car within 5 days from the Owings Mill service center. At this point in time, I was able to find the vehicle profile listed in My Tesla portal. I was asked to upload some documents, including driver license and insurance info. I reached out to my insurance company (AAA) for a quote and was pleasantly surprised to find Model S premium to be ~$100 higher than than my 2015 Sienna.
Up until this point, I have only made contact with the sales advisor. There is a separate team for handling the actual vehicle delivery. During the process, there was bit of disconnect and miscommunication between the two teams. For instance, I was told car would be ready for pickup on Friday, but in reality the delivery team had no information and wasn't able to track down the location of the vehicle. Apparently, used Tesla aren't stored in a single lot/location. It could be located in any of the service centers where the car was originally traded-in. During my visit to Owings Mill service center, I did see several Tesla trade-ins sitting in the parking lot. They were clearly labeled "Trade-in" on the window. I suspect if your sales advisor is willing to share the whereabout of a particular vehicle, you should be able drive to the service center to inspect the vehicle prior to putting down the deposit.
On the day of the delivery, we drove our minivan to the Owings Mill service center. The staff at Owings Mill were super friendly. They gave us plenty of time to inspect the vehicle and ask questions. For our vehicle, we did find few light scratches or dings that weren't identified in the photos. However, the car was washed and vacuumed prior to our arrival, which looked much better than shown in photos. The lady who handled our delivery was really nice. She took care of few issues on the spot, including replacing front tire (with chunk of rubber missing in sidewall), loose door trim and remote battery. The whole delivery process end up taking 3 hours, but we were very pleased with our experience.
Going back to my point on the disconnect between the sales and delivery teams, I would suggest CPO buyer to call and get acquainted with the delivery team days prior to delivery in order to avoid unwanted surprises.
My wife has been smiling ear to ear since taking delivery of her Model S. Since the wheels had some curb rashes, we plan to get the slip stream wheels refinished in gunmetal color with satin finish.
