Tesla Model 3 Resale Value

One of the common questions I’m asked is about resale value.

With the Model 3, I always have responded “I love the car so much, I don’t plan on selling it so I really don’t care about resale value”.

The Model 3 has now been selling for over 2 years, including all of 2018, therefore we can now see initial real data on resale pricing. What does the data tell us? The initial response to the question is really all you need to know – Tesla Model 3 Owners love their cars, and as a result are not selling them. As they are not being sold, they see some of the best (if not the best) resale values.

1. Tesla Model 3 Owners love driving their cars! Literally on a recent survey by Bloomberg, its a rounding error of responses that did not say they loved driving their Model 3!

2. The most valuable level of consumer engagement with a product is the extent to which they will recommend the product to family and friends – close to 99% of Model 3 say they will recommend it to family and friends! Literally there is no other product of any kind that sees this level of “NPS” – (Net Promoter Score rating)

3. As a result there are virtually no 2018 Tesla Model 3s that are being sold! Remember, the Model 3 was one of the best selling cars in the U.S. in 2018 (over 140,000 sold in the U.S. vs. 75,000 BMW 3/4 Series cars), so the base of cars in the market is large – yet, right now, there are under 100 Model 3s for sale on Autotrader ACROSS the United States – vs. over 1,000 BMW 3/4 Series cars, and many thousands of Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys – so its no surprise that Kelly Blue Book estimates that the Tesla Model 3 will hold roughly 50% of its value after five years, vs 31-39% for the other cars

4. While five year estimate for resale value is nice what are used Model 3s actually selling for? Looking at the Dual Motor variant (one of the most popular variants sold in 2018), I can compare the actual price I paid for my Tesla and the options as they were priced in 2018 with current used values. The Dual Motor variant was being sold for $54-$65k new based on options selected (after the federal rebate) in 2018, and now are being offered for sale for $45k-$55, close to 85% of their initial value!

The numbers are clear, people who bought Tesla Model 3s likely will not want to sell their car, but if you are one of the few that does want to sell their car, the asking prices are very high for the few cars that are available.

Sources for above data:

Driver Enjoyment: Bloomberg’s Tesla Model 3 Owner Survey – November 2019
Recommend to Family and Friends: Bloomberg’s Tesla Model 3 Owner Survey – November 2019
Resale Value: Kelley Blue Book and Hot Rod analysis
Used Inventory: Autotrader and Hot Rod analysis
New Price in 2018: Hot Rod analysis
Used Prices for 2018 Model 3s: Autotrader and Hot Rod analysis

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