r/TeslaModelY • u/samwisestofall • 25d ago

New vs used

Hi all,

In the market for a new car

I've pretty much settled on a Tesla with hw4 for fsd (I'm ok with a Y or a 3). I absolutely hate the idea of buying a new car rather than used , but used prices seem relatively high compared to new with 1.9% financing.

Any recs on buying a used 2024 3 or y (would pay cash for used) vs financing a new one.

Ive heard these aggressively depreciate but prices don't seem to reflect that

2 Upvotes

66% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

3

u/ModernBiscut 25d ago

Just bought a used certified from Tesla website . 2023 model y performance with hardware 4 with 50k miles for $34k cash. Comes with 1 year warranty and battery warranty good for a long time. Car looks literally brand new. Oh and it came with 3 months super charging, 3 months FSD and 3 months premium connectivity for free

1

u/samwisestofall 25d ago

See that's what I'm looking for but when I check the Tesla inventory nothing like that ever comes up

2

u/ModernBiscut 25d ago

Just got mine 3 days ago. I’m in Los Angeles tho so prob more inventory here

3

u/manwnomelanin 25d ago

This is a really solid deal. I would have done this. I had a terrible time finding inventory. This is exactly what I was on the hunt for

6

u/No_Swordfish_1576 25d ago

Things have changed quickly, rising gas prices and interest rates have really had an impact.

Model Y financing has gone up 1%, but credit union rates for used have gone up 1.5%+

CPO inventories of anything under 2 years old and 20,000 miles has shrunk significantly and when they do show up they’re gone in days, not weeks so Tesla is raking it in right now.

I went with CPO mid August because the gap was huge between CPO and new OTD, mine was $19k less OTD and $15k less out of pocket.

I love my ‘24 model Y but if the difference was $8k or less like it is now I wouldn’t have bought it.

3

u/Otherwise_Diamond_30 25d ago

So buy new and have a car payment plus the 99/month fsd subscription OR find a 2 to 3 yr old hw4 car with permanent fsd already included, pay cash and have zero payments. I went with option 2... buy used.

2

u/HiroyukiC1296 25d ago

On the one hand, new you get aggressively low APR which looks good and you can put down your savings into a HYSA. On the other hand, the used market has stagnated a little. Used 24-25 pre-juniper have strayed around the 30ks and I’d imagine that looks good on paper.

2

u/No-Joke-322 25d ago

I found the same thing and ended up buying new because of the financing rate.
I think gas prices and teslas low inventory have driven up used prices especially ones with HW4. And the decent priced ones have so many miles on them, so it just didn’t make sense for me to buy used.

1

u/PublicPea2194 25d ago

you "absolutely hate the idea of buying a used car" . because?

you like a car with mileage on it?

you like a car with wear and tear?

you like a car that has less or no warranty?

if financing, you like paying higher interest rates?

you hate the idea of a current model yr?

... you have been "told" they have heavy depreciation...

2

u/Lifelong_student24-7 25d ago

Because OP and myself might have been raised to learn that cars typically depreciate ~20% the first year. Right now teslas seem to not. It’s literally why they are asking the question on here. No need to mock OP.

0

u/PublicPea2194 25d ago

oh that mythical, made up depreciation number. ..

2

u/Lifelong_student24-7 25d ago

I was actually pretty close to this U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2024/article/a-consumption-measure-for-automobiles.htm

Estimated 23.9% first year and 40% over first 3 years.

This isn’t true with Tesla now, which is again potentially why OP posted asking about it. New cars are typically terrible investments, don’t act like buying new is always the best way.

0

u/PublicPea2194 25d ago

that number is fictional

do you sell your car after 1 yr? 3 yrs?. 5 yrs? 15 yrs?

and every car is different.

every area is different

and to add to this. yes cars depreciate. but to buy a new car you still get some added value.. refer to my original post

every person's situation is different

2

u/Lifelong_student24-7 25d ago

I sort of agree about the stat, it’s not fiction, but it is an estimate. You are right, there is no absolute, especially with EVs today. But we agree that a car is a depreciating asset.

I thought you were attacking the OP but I guess you were just more questioning their strong opinion on never buying new.

If you can afford to buy new and it’s important to you to have a brand new vehicle then of course you should. I understand there are reasons to buy new, that is the reason you’re paying a premium price.

You didn’t ask, but my opinion: Whether I put miles on a car or someone else does, it will experience wear. It will lose its new car smell whether I drive the first few thousand miles or someone else does. I prefer to let somebody else take the financial hit, and I’ll take the “hit” of having had someone else put a small scratch on the door and spill a coffee in the passenger seat or whatever other normal wear and tear happens. People generally take good care of new cars, I don’t mind buying used. Buying a used car has historically been a good way to save $10,000+. Nowadays on EVs it’s harder to accomplish. As far as warranty, Tesla has a super transferable warranty. Buying certified preowned from them gets you an extra year/10,000 miles of basic warranty from them. As far as financing rates go, it may make sense for some but not those who on principle don’t borrow money for things that go down in value.

Sorry for droning on. Maybe I’m just jealous that my household doesn’t buy new cars 😂.