Craving to trade in my PIP for a Tesla Model S

...well I think you are correct, however, not including state tax incentives. West Virginian's had a $7500 tax credit...one WV guy got 2 PiP's (one for his Dad) for around $23,700-$7500 = approx. $16000 before taxes and tags. Now that's a crazy East coast deal for ya! WV just terminated their Plug_in incentive on April 15, dang it.

(couple of our new Prius Chat members grabbed this deal up in just before the end)

 

My dealer had a $5,000 incentive from Toyota, plus they dropped the MSRP of the 2012 Advanced PiP, so when the average consumer can now walk into the Toyota dealer and get a leftover 2012, that was $40.5K (originally) Advanced PiP for $33.5K, plus they would also qualify for the $2,500 Federal tax credit (final price after incentive: $31K), it doesn't help the resale value of my 2012 Advanced PiP with 11,300 mile on it. That's my real issue/beef with this resale issue, for the privilege of pre-ordering, paying full boat ($40.5K & %6.25 MA tax) and being a loyal Toyota customer for 12 years, this is how I am shafted.

 

Me 4. I could have bought the Advanced model for what I paid for my Basic
But I get home earlier to see my kids at night, and it's been great owning this car in its first year.

 

Unfortunate and unusual chain of events that's led to the current low resell value of the Prius Plug In. Not a issue with the vehicle itself. Plenty of proud, happy owners here, many as a result of Toyota's incentives which are responsible. Most would assume, with a limited release to a handful of states, it would have created a sellers market? Only Toyota knows the real answer. I anticipate keeping my 2012 Plug In for two to three years. Never profited from a vehicle sate, don't see that changing.

 

OMG, I realize that I could saved 10 grand if I waited 1 year time in my PiP purchase.

 

Allow me to put the final nail in the coffin for you. My final price for my PiP base was $25,800 after CA taxes, rebates, no interest because it was 0%. This was in CA: Prius country. I would only pay $23k for used PiP base at the dealer. So a private party sale or trade-in, I think even your low estimate is too high. I'm expecting no more than $21k for my PiP and 20% depreciation seems fantastic to me.

 

Yeah, I was trying to calculate mmmodem's deal also...so:

"$25,800 after CA taxes, rebates"

So his price before rebate: 25,800 + 4,000 = 29,800

So that means he would have had to pay about:

27,400
2,398 -- 8.75% tax
-------
29,798

So it looks like mmmodem paid around 27.4K or 27.5K base price when he bought. So that's about $4000 less than what I paid nearby him. I know i didnt get a great price; but ouch. Did I miscalculate mmmodem?

 

Whoops, sorry guys. I should've checked closely before I typed. That's BEFORE CA taxes. $28.8k after tax lic, doc fees etc etc. Sorry about the confusion but $28.8k is how much money comes out of my bank account after 60 months.

Yeah, it was the same price or slightly more than a Prius Three. That was the going price in October. I didn't get a super deal.

$33k base price + $800 destination - $4000 Toyota rebate - $2500 Federal tax credit - $1500 CVRP rebate = $25.8k

 

I agree. But it also doesn't make much sense (with today's battery pricing) to be carrying around 5x as much battery (in weight, cost, space, MPGe degradation, etc) than you use in a typical day.

Mike

 

I have sold plenty of Rav4 EVs to folks who love Tesla (who wouldn't!) but cannot make sense of spending the $$$$ it takes to own Tesla.

I suppose you can have just about anything you'd like to drive if you can make the payments to pay for it AND want it bad enough.

 

Those complaining about depreciation remind me of the people who were complaining about their homes being worth less than their mortgage after the big crash in 2008. The way I look at it, is that I agreed to pay a fixed amount for the car after making the best deal I could. That is what the car was "worth" to me. Just because some other guy manages to get a better deal down the road doesn't change that. I agreed to pay a certain amount for a specific commodity. Just because that commodity's hypothetical resale value changes, doesn't change it's value to ME. (or my obligation to repay the loan I took out to purchase it)

Sure I'd love to sell the PiP in 2 years for $35k and use that for a down payment on a Tesla, but being in the automotive industry, I know that was never a possibility.

 

That's still a REALLY good deal. I didn't know Toyota was doing a $4000 rebate in California; I assumed you were talking about the 2500+1500=4000. I thought those big Toyota rebates were only on the east coast.

Did a lot of you on the west coast get the 4k Toyota rebate? We're those only in 2012?

I paid 31.8k including destination, mats and wheel locks (but before tax and license) on 3/25/13. I thought I was doing OK since the sticker was 33.1k and I was getting the 0% finance.

 

So true! I have a friend I ask to always call me when he goes car shopping as it's so entertaining for me to accompany him (and he gets a ride to the dealer so he can drive his new ride home). So far he's picked up 1 Masserati and 3 Ferraris Those were some super happy sales people.

So does the RAV4 EV have the same mandatory annual maintenance charge as the Model S? Can you buy one outright or is it lease only?

 

As if Elon Musk read my post; the announcement today removes the mandatory $600/year to keep warranty! Way to go Tesla.

Now there's no reason -- in my opinion -- not to buy a Tesla. Assuming you can afford it ;-)

 

Mandatory maintenance is gone, plus they will give you a loaner, completely tricked out, which you can upgrade to if you like it better than your own car, or just borrow the roadster while your car is in service, better battery warranty coverage, there really is no excuse now

Plus, the most interesting part IMO, now that people will be upgrading to the fleet vehicles (everyone loves cheap upgrades to better models), these cars will open up a used market for the Model S, making them more affordable.

 

I think I got one of the lame ducks. It must've been sitting in the lot for awhile. My trip computer indicates the car was first driven Aug 2012. Is 100 days a long time to sit on the lot? 2013 models were arriving in a couple of weeks as I recall. So I just picked up a 2012', no difference anyway. Some Priuschat members were getting better deals despite shipping costs from the east coast.

 

Umm...except the price.

Don't get me wrong...I really like what Tesla is doing for the car market...getting rich (or nearly rich) people to pay a lot for a luxury car status symbol. And, perhaps, eventually they'll make a car cheap enough for the average guy.

If you made a car with the same approx drivetrain specs but without all the luxury stuff it would still cost a lot. But with the current cost, weight, longevity and other issues with batteries I don't really think it makes sense to drive to work and back (which for most people is 30 miles or less, but could be 40 or 50 for 75% of people) carrying 200 - 300 miles worth of batteries with you on every trip. All this extra weight just makes the car use more electricity.

It isn't a perfect analogy, but would it make sense to build a regular Prius and have a 50 gallon gas tank?

I know people "want" to be able to drive their EVs from SF to LA. And it is a big engineering achievement to be able to do that with one supercharger stop along the way. But it doesn't make it something practical today. I doubt there will be many Tesla owners doing this 10+ times a year...other than to say they did it.

Mike

 

you forgot to quote the "" ...

I agree that 100 mile range would have been enough for most people, not sure how much it would drop the price, but I'm guessing this is what the 3rd gen (not the Model X) Tesla is going to be all about, supposed to be more affordable.