How To Buy a Tesla for $10,000 [The Breakdown Podcast Ep #2 ]

Join us for episode two of The Breakdown, an Amber-sponsored podcast doing deep dives on new and used Tesla ownership, purchasing, service, and all real-life information you need to know to make the most of your Tesla experience. Hosted by Dennis CW and Chip Jeppy, this podcast will help you understand current EV markets, maximize the power of your vehicle budget, and find resources for service, warranties, and more.

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Video Transcript: 

Dennis: Welcome to episode two of The Breakdown, where we talk about buying a Tesla or buying electric vehicles, how to buy them, and also the service and repair side as well. My name is Dennis CW, and you guys know Chip as well. Of course, thank you to Amber for partnering with us on this podcast.

Today’s topic is how to buy a Tesla for $10,000. On the new side and the used side - there are just so many different options out there, and I've got a fun one, I think, on how to actually get a Tesla for $10,000 or an electric vehicle for $10,000 because there’s a lot of different options out there. But I want to hear from Chip first—what's the current market like and can you actually buy an electric vehicle or a Tesla for $10,000? And what's the condition of that type of vehicle?

Chip: Great question. The answer is yes, you can buy an electric car for less than $10,000 and right now on AutoTrader, there are four Teslas listed for under $10,000.

Now, the condition of those cars are former salvage vehicles and they are rough - anywhere in mileage from 70,000 all the way up to 220,000 miles. But they are pretty beat up. If you sort by lowest price first, then they're out there, but I don’t think that’s the kind of car most of our listeners are going to be looking for. That’s more of a project car that you’re looking to put some money into.

I really think the starting point for a good Tesla that you're going to use every day is in that $16,000 to $20,000 range. Whether you go with a Standard Range or a Long Range, the 2018 models have come down. Even on my lot, I have them for as low as $17,900 with the tax credit. And we’re going to naturally see that come down a little bit more over the next months or over the next year.

Anything below that, I would really question [...] the history of the car. Does it have a clean title? Has it been wrecked so badly you might not want to drive it or put your family in it? There are a lot of factors. But it’s definitely possible. And there are some other great options out there - like the Chevy Bolt. It's really getting down to that $10,000 price point. You'll still be under factory warranty with 250 miles of range. So definitely possible, for sure.

Dennis: Would you actually - have you dabbled in one of those salvaged Tesla vehicles? Because I get that question a lot. People are like, "hey, what if I bought a salvage one that's five or ten thousand dollars less?" and I usually steer them away, but we actually went to check out a 2024 Tesla Model 3 Performance that was salvaged. And of course, it had all the different things you’ll find on salvage - the bumpers didn’t line up correctly, they definitely went the cheap route, I would say, to fix it, ‘cuz they just used refurbished parts to put these things together, right.

Would you ever consider a salvage one, or have you ever sold one?

Chip: No, I’ve not gotten into it. I’ve bought clean title ones that are kinda rough, that I try to restore, and you always end up spending more on it than if you’d just bought it fixed or not-wrecked to begin with. I know a lot of people say, “my labor is free.” Well, my labor is not free - I have employees I’ve got to pay. If you’re doing it yourself, you’re gonna buy the parts yourself, you’re gonna fix it, you’re gonna paint it, you have the skill set to do the mechanical, the body, and the electrical repairs - you should probably own a shop and not be doing this to build yourself a car. Honestly, if you had that skill set, I don’t think it’s worth it. But I’m not going to tell people how to spend their money. I just don’t see it. You could buy a good one for less.

Dennis: Yeah, that brings up a good point. In the used car Tesla space, what's the most common thing that goes wrong? I’m so focused on new, I’m always like, “hey, you’ve got a warranty, you’re good - don’t worry about it.” But if someone’s buying a Tesla for $15,000 to $20,000, what are some of the things that people need to look out for?

Chip: Outside of cosmetics, it’s going to be suspension and error messages. A lot of things can be masked on a car to sell it quickly - through Copart or even less prominent dealers. We see a lot of suspension issues, coolant leaks, and electrical issues. I’ve even bought some cars that  on the surface seemed good and then I found out they had a bad car computer in it, and that’s like $2,500 to fix. Not a huge deal, but not covered under warranty. The car only had 70,000 miles on it, so it was still under the powertrain, but not the factory computer was not, it was out of the 4/50.

So, that’s something that I’ve seen, I’ve had to replace a couple car computers. We replace monitors a lot, because they [...] get burned out by the sun. But it’s mostly cosmetic that we see.

But I still feel like anybody who buys one of these rougher cars, these are not really in roadworthy condition, these under $10,000 used Teslas. You're going to have to secure the bumpers back to the car, you're going to have to put a good set of tires on it. I'm looking at these pictures and these things are sitting on flat tires, the jump ports are hanging out of the front tow hook cover. They're pretty rough, I don't think they're roadworthy even at $10,000.

Dennis: Yeah, that makes sense.

Chip: Let alone getting it through a state inspection, if you have one.

Dennis: Oh, that’s true, because a lot of these different states, when you're buying a used car and if you're not buying from a reputable dealer, like a private seller, it's on you to get it inspected and get it passed through all the safety inspections and everything.

But getting to the sweet spot, you just mentioned $15,000 to $20,000 - that’s Model 3 specifically?

Chip: Model 3, yep. We’ve had some Model Y’s touch that category. [...] We just sold one this weekend.

Dennis: Yeah, I’ve seen that. Model Ys are getting - I like to call it the $25,000 tax credit threshold. There are a good amount that have just crossed that. I imagine by middle-of-this-year, it’s gonna be basically the same as the Model 3 market. There's going to be the 15K to 25K of vehicles in that sweet spot for Model 3 and Model Y. But other models, like S and X, that probably ranges so far. I've also seen Model S's for $12,000 as well but would you touch those with a 10-foot pole?

Chip: No. We’re talking about stabilization in the Model 3 and Model Y market. The Model S and Model X markets continue to fall. We’re seeing huge depreciation on those cars, even recently. I think the Model X and Model S are just too complicated of a car to rebuild and have it running good. Even ones that haven't been wrecked struggle to go down the road smooth and straight for an older one so, I can't imagine one that's been hit and putting a ton of money into it. I think those are more parts cars at this point. If you're going to do it, do it with a 3 or a Y. Definitely don't do it with an X or an S.

Dennis: Yeah, and I feel like people get so tempted with, “oh, I get to drive a Model S for the price of a Model 3.” But they don’t realize all the different issues that could come down the line.

Chip: Just look at the guy driving a 15-year-old S-Class or 15 year old 7-Series. You look like him, you’re that guy. You’re just barely keeping that car together to keep it on the road.

Dennis: In terms of market for these Tesla vehicles, do you think there will be a floor, or is there a floor? Let's just go back to Model 3 and Model Y because I feel that's most of the people buying and most people watching as well. Is there a floor for both of those vehicles or have you seen a floor in which the minimum pricing won't go lower than that for a clean option?

Chip: Yeah, I think there is a floor. Just like for a Toyota Camry or a Honda Accord. They just won’t go below $10,000. You cannot find a low-mileage Accord or Camry for below $10,000.  I feel the Model 3 is going to follow that same thing because at $10,000  the car pays for itself in 24 months if you drive 50 miles a day. So, you could buy it and drive it for free just like an older Honda or Toyota.

Essentially, you spend that money, you're not going to lose anything. I think $10,000 is the floor for a clean title, running, driving one with no issues, even with 150,000 miles on it, because there's still life left in that car. And you could spend a grand or two if you had to put tires on it, replace some control arms, do this, bring the service up to date, and still have a decent car.

Dennis: Yeah, and that brings us back to new versus used. On a new car, you have very minimal maintenance in that first four years. But on a used car, say you buy a $15,000 Model 3 or Y, what would you say is the expected maintenance - let’s just do round numbers - of cost for owning it for four years, to try to compare it against the new?

Chip: If we take into consideration tires, I would say $2-$3,000. If you take tires out I’d say it’s less than $1,500.

Dennis: So, it really depends. When I talk about how to get a Tesla for $10,000, I think—just lease it. Because now that Tesla is really doubling down on low lease payments - like we saw as low as $199, $249 - now they're running a Model 3 lease for $299 with $1,000 down for 24 months. And so, if you think about it, that's way under $10,000 with taxes and fees and you're probably [...] not going to pay any sort of maintenance on that. So, it is interesting to see these different prices on the new versus used side for that.

What do you think about someone brand new into this? Should they - I guess it depends on their financial situation.

I tell people “if you're paying cash, you probably want to look into buying used” because of the massive depreciation. But, that could come with some hassle, would you say, on the maintenance side?

Chip: I think new car buyers are new car buyers, and used car buyers are used car buyers. It’s hard to convert one or the other over because it’s a mindset. But I think what Tesla’s trying to do is make it where [to] that used car buyer, it’s a no-brainer to buy new. But eventually, they’re going to have to sell those cars to somebody off lease. So, it’s kind of up-in-the-air on that one, I don’t know.

Okay, so me personally? I lease, personally, I lease, but yet I own a used car dealership. It's because of my financial situation; I need a new car for my wife to drive. I don't want any problems. If something goes wrong, she can take it to the dealership and it's handled. I don't have time to work on my own cars while servicing all of my client's cars.

So it's different for me. I just need to set it and forget it. I need a new car because I don't want to deal with anything. Yes, we had used cars - she used to drive a demo and when something would come up, I'd have to take all the car seats out of it, put it into another car, so it's a whole different situation for me.

But if you are not in my situation, buying used is the way to save money. It is, in my opinion, the cheaper way to get into one of these cars and have long-term savings.

Dennis: Would you say all these different incentives that are happening on the new side - is that impacting, and that’s why we’re starting to see more Model Ys and 3s under $25,000? Because of just how much Tesla is incentivizing them?

Chip: Yeah, I think so. I think the price suppression is coming. There’s still a lot of competition for used cars because there’s not a ton of inventory. There's not more than we need - there's more demand than there is supply on the used side. So I think that will continue to be a factor.

It just depends - if the used cars dry up, people are going to go towards new, but then the manufacturer is going to raise the price. They know, they're smart.

Dennis: It’s [...] this endless cycle and we both love Teslas, we both drive Teslas. You have a Rivian as well. But we do have to always remind people to see what else is out there; like opportunity costs.

What are some other electric vehicles that you feel - maybe not comparable in terms of technology to Tesla but - that are in that $10,000 to $15,000 price range but are used electric vehicles that could be a good alternative option if that Tesla is just too out of their reach?

Chip: Yeah, I'm going to say under $20,000. I got two good options there: the Nissan Arya is starting to get down to the under $25,000 range. I have one on my lot for sale for $21,000 right now, so comparable to the Model Y. I think the Nissan Arya is a great car. I don't know if you've had a chance to drive one, but I think they are cool inside. It's a wonderful driving car - wish it had a little bit more range, but again [...] 230 mi is more than most people need. It's good.

And the other one that I really, really like is the Kia Nero. It's kind of an unsung hero. It's one of the few cars that they rate at, like, 240 miles of range, but you really get closer to 300. So unlike all the other manufacturers who have this pie-in-the-sky number of range, Kia actually underrated their cars. And most of my clients get farther than that. It's a great selling point and if you go on the forums and Reddit and you read about it you'll see that it's pretty consistent.  

So Kia Nero right now, after [the] tax credit, is $17,500 and like I said, the Nissan Arya after [the] tax credit is right around $21,000.

Below that price point, the Chevy Bolt and the Nissan Leaf are the two that I go to for low mileage, good cars with decent range.

Dennis: That's crazy because I want to say the Nissan Arya just came out pretty recently. This is, like, a $40,000 - $50,000 car and -

Chip: I have a 2023 for sale, 22,000 miles. MSRP was $45,000. We're selling it for $24,900 minus $4,000 bucks, so you're getting it for a little under $21,000. And I think it's a cool car, it's a nice car inside. It's got a big screen, Alcantara seats or suede or whatever they want to call it. My kids thought it was cool. I dig it, I've been driving it the past couple days.

Dennis: That's awesome. What about maintenance and repair or issues that come up with other brands versus Tesla? If you were to rate all of them on a scale, like, I don't know, 1 to 10, 10 being the worst in terms of just random stuff that comes up that you need to fix. Where would you place all these different brands?

Chip: That's a good question. Probably Nissans are the most problematic, to be honest with you. If there's a car that I sell that has an issue after the fact, like months down the road, it's usually a Nissan Leaf - and newer ones too. I'm buying ‘21s, ‘22s.

The Chevrolet products rarely have issues after I sell them, and then Tesla's more just drivability, people getting used to the way Teslas drive. Most of the problems with Tesla are just problems with all of them: squeaks, rattles, what's that noise, just getting used to hearing the AC compressor running that's not being drowned out by an idling engine. So a lot of it's not real issues, people just think they are. They’re just not familiar with it.

Dennis: Exactly, yeah, when you drive an electric vehicle it's just so much quieter. You just hear everything.

Have you driven the new Model Y yet?

Chip: No, I haven't. They had them down at the Tesla dealership, but they had a protest this Saturday so I didn't want to go down there and be a part of that.

Dennis: Yeah, exactly. The new Model Y is fantastic. We just got one and -

Chip: You own one? You actually bought one?

Dennis: Yep, the Juniper launch series and all that. Even though I talked crap about it in the last podcast, last show. I would say it's 40% more comfortable in terms of suspension but 70%, maybe even 80%, better build. Like, less rattles, [...] next to zero rattles or squeaks or anything like that. They did a fantastic job.

I say to people, “it's almost Model X level,” depending on which type of drive mode you're in.

Chip: So, is it just thicker plastics and they're getting the clip design down? And how to actually put something together like some of the legacy manufacturers?

Dennis: Yeah, like, in the trunk area instead of the plastics - the hard plastics - it's a felt. It's very interesting. They've swapped all these different things for the noise vibration reduction and everything.

Chip: That's cool, yeah, I'd like to get in one. They're going to be due for a price drop here in, like, 6 months. So next year - you're clear until that happens.

Dennis: Maybe even a month once they remove the launch series and it goes back to $45,000. And then give it another year, it'll be down to $20,000.

Chip: Yeah, I've been watching the leftover stock levels of the old body style and once those all get sold then I'm sure the price reduction will be around. There's still some out there - not many though. A lot of people are gobbling those up right now.

Dennis: Yeah, it seems like they've realized that if you put $8,000 to $10,000 off a legacy one - but still it's only at 5.84% so I guess people - I think there's just people that are, like we talked about last podcast, the new buyers coming to the space [...] are more either creditworthy or cash buyers and so they don't care about 5.84%.

Or, like you said, people are just numb to 5% to 6%, and that’s just what it is and they're just going to go ahead and buy.

Chip: I think you're seeing that in the mortgage business too, people are just accepting these higher rates. Maybe, I don’t know. The rates are way too high.

Dennis: Yeah, I completely agree. I wanted to ask, though: people that are buying used Teslas in the $10,000 to $20,000, or that $20,000 to $30,000 [range], is there a threshold? I tell people “right now on the new Tesla, like our Model 3, to get 0% it's very strict actually.” People think they can just get 0% on the Model 3 and be good with it. No, [...] you have to have 20% down, you have to have a good credit score, and within a good credit score [...] it's not just good credit score [from credit cards], you have to have credit card and auto loan history credit score.

Is that the same, would you say, on the used side?

Chip: There's different spots for vehicles. The guy who qualifies for 0% doesn't need it. It's like, here's a loan for somebody who's not going to take the loan. That guy's paying cash, he's just going to leave that money in the market and take the 0%. He was going to buy anyway.

I don't know if the 0% really pulls that many more people in. I don't know, maybe. It just seems like [...] the guy who qualifies for it doesn't need it. That's always my mindset on it. When you box that in, it's like, you got to be a 750 credit score with two paid Teslas and $10,000 down.

And it's like, okay. I don't know, what do you think?

Dennis: I mean, that's a good way to think about it. You're right, because most people that can pay cash, [...] they'll just take the 0% because it's like a “gimme” rate; or the 1.99%, 2.99%. But the people that actually want the 0%, they would need to finance the vehicle 60 to 72 months and then Tesla just bumps them up to 3-4%.

But I was really curious on the used side because I've always been of the mindset that used cars are harder to finance. You need more down. But I guess the people that are in the questionable mid-rate, like, I don't know, 700, with only a couple thousand dollars down, can they still get the 6-7% on a vehicle? Or are they getting bumped to the 8-9%?

Chip: Yeah, unless you're an 800 credit score, you're not really getting below 10%. At least with the banks that we work with. So, like you talked about in the beginning of this, does the interest rate versus the sale price equal out to be the same? And if you're paying the same for a new versus used, you would naturally go towards the new car.

But that's not always the case.

Dennis: Exactly, and then with the current market right now, because it is tax season, [...] people are getting the refund checks. Are you seeing [an] increase in activity [...] where people are trying to buy that cheaper electric vehicle?

Chip: Tax time over the past couple years has not really been anything. I've never really been in a tax time dealership. That tends to be really lower-end cars. But [...] I'm not seeing it. Our business is very consistent. We don't really have spikes or drop offs.

No, the only thing that I see is paying more for the cars at auction. So, prices go up during tax time but demand doesn't necessarily go up. At least at my lot.

Dennis: Oh, that's interesting, okay. So, it's pretty much consistent and, maybe, that could be the market you're in as well. [...] Or also, maybe, that could speak to the electric vehicle buyer. Maybe they are more apt to figure out the different numbers and they don't get a refund because they've figured out their different levels of deductions and everything.

Chip: Yeah, maybe. I see more business driving in because the tax credit may go away. I see more people talking about that than actual[ly] getting a tax return. I think refunds as a whole are down across the nation because of all the forwarding credits that people took throughout the year, like earned child care credits and stuff like that. So people's refunds are not as big this year and even last year as they've typically been.

So I think there's less money out there to spend.

Dennis: Yeah, that's a good point. Maybe we should talk about [it] in one of our future episodes. Like the $7,500 tax credit, is it going away? And if it does, what's like potential market effects?

I personally think if it goes away, Tesla specifically, they'll just drop prices $7,500 because they need to. But some of these other manufacturers, I don't think they can.

Chip: Well, they can. It's whether they can survive doing it. Do they want to blow it out? I think there's a lot of margin in those EVs that the manufacturers are not letting us know. They're not expensive to make; they're significantly cheaper to make than gas cars. So, why the hem and haw of “oh, we're not making any money.”

I don't believe that, I think they're making a fortune on these cars and they're just trying to hold on to that cash cow as much as they can. They can be fancy with their accounting, but there's less content, just from a manufacturing standpoint, there's significantly less parts in an electric car and there's no way that the car cannot cost less to make. I don't believe that it costs more to make an EV than it does a gas car with the emissions equipment and all the other stuff that goes into it.

There's just no way, so I don't believe them. I just don't believe what they're telling us. I think there's tons of margin left and I think that if the tax credit does go away, they're going to magically find a way to make that margin up and make them cheaper. And, oh yeah, “we could have sold it for that price the whole time.” It's just greed. I think corporate greed is at an all-time high and some of that stuff just doesn't make sense from an engineering standpoint, from a mechanic standpoint.

There's just less there. You can't tell me a seat in an EV costs three times as much as a seat in a gas car. It doesn't. You're telling me that that battery costs significantly more than the entire emission system and all the R&D that goes into it. There's just no way, it just doesn't make sense.

Dennis: Right, that makes sense. But the other flip side to the tax credit situation is the $4,000 used EV tax credit. What would you say is the take rate of all your people that you're selling to? Is it, like, 50% people actually -

Chip: 90%. 90%. It's huge. And even the people who don't qualify, we're finding co-signers and getting grandparents involved. And college kids who are not dependents. We've gotten creative with it and all within the guidelines. This is all legal, we've just gotten creative with how we've done it. Everybody's taken advantage of it.

I've probably sold 10% of the cars that qualify without it and I'm in a pretty wealthy area, again. But that kind of wealth is buying new, where I'm at. They're big earners, so the used car is not even on their - unless it's for their kid or something like that - and even that situation, they're usually buying new.

But the people that we are getting, it's definitely a huge take rate. They're coming to me for it.

Dennis: And, well, I've always been [of the] belief that - just on the new side - the $7,500 is inflating prices. Is the $4,000 one inflating prices on the used side? Would you say, if that went away, would we see -

Chip: I don't think it's inflated that much. So, here, when it came out two years ago, when we started being able to take the credit right off at the time of sale, prices creeped up about $2,500. So, the consumer is not getting $4,000 worth of value, they're getting about $1,500 bucks.

You're buying a qualified car for about $1,500 less than if the market was just naturally out there.  So there's a little bit of savings for the clients, but it's not as much as they think, because the wholesale prices have gone up.

All of us dealers are [like], “well I don't need to make $4,000, I could live off of $2,000.” So you start overpaying for the car because there's still margin left there. And we've done a good job of pushing prices up, like I told you. That Model 3 in our other episode - Model 3 prices have really stabilized over the past 12 months. Specifically, the last six months, there's been almost no movement down in price.

I think we're seeing it being propped up by the tax credit and once the tax credit goes away it's going to go down, but it's not going to go down by $4,000. I think we're going to see it go down by $2,000. So, a car that's $20,000, you're going to buy for $18,000. You're not going to be able to buy it for $16,000.

Dennis: I see, yeah, that makes sense. My next question is: would you buy a Hertz used Tesla? Because we see them for $16,000, $20,000, $22,000, and then after the tax credit, some of them get down to, like, $14-$15,000.

And I went to go check one out and I thought it was in okay condition - of course, you can't expect a rental vehicle to be in tiptop condition - but the one thing I wasn't able to see is the longevity of the battery and the drivetrain. And you've been around these used vehicles and you drive them and everything, and even the high mileage ones you talked about on the last video.

Would you buy a Hertz Tesla?

Chip: Okay, so, when Hertz first started dumping them last year, I went out and bought 10 of them because I could buy a ‘22 Long Range for in the teens. But I'd have to put $5,000 or $6,000 into it to make it a retailable unit: wheels, tires, windshield, trim, seats, steering wheels. Almost every single one of them needed all of that. They're just worn out, beat up, and by the time we got it looking like a right car, it's just lipstick on a pig at the end of the day.

So after I sold about 10 of them - now people were flying in to get them, don't get me wrong, they were buying a ‘22 for $21,000. And they overlooked some of the scratches and all of that that was left because I put a lot of recon into it because I wanted to sell a good product. But at the end of the day it was not worth the effort. There would not be enough left over for a quality car and I'm all about putting out a quality product.

I could have just detailed them and sold them cheap and made a little bit, but that's not what I really want out there. I'm not that kind of shop.

Dennis: Yeah, and you don't want issues later down the line too.

Chip: No. But here's my thing: the battery scores came back really, really low. We have some equipment that we can plug into them. We have a company called Verse New that we plug into the CAN bus of the car. We pull some data out of it, we send it to them, and they actually send us back a real battery report. And the scores were coming back really, really low.

And we attributed that to the excessive supercharging. We're talking about a 2022 being sold a year and a half old with 60,000 miles and mostly supercharged. We're talking significant degradation, not to the point of a warranty claim, it's never going to get there, but dang nearly there in a year and a half. The same type of scores that we were seeing on six-year-old cars.

Dennis: Yeah, so okay, so definitely hard no.

Chip: For me, for me. If it's cheap enough -  there's got to be a gap in the price. If you can buy a ‘22 for the price of an ‘18, maybe. But I would even argue that that ‘18 - and this was going to be my hot take and we'll get into that - low mileage does not equal a better car. And newer car doesn't necessarily equal a better car, either.

Dennis: Yeah, okay, so that's interesting. And then going back to the $4,000 used EV tax credit. If I'm not mistaken, 2023s are also now eligible for the used car -

Chip: Yeah, we've been doing a lot of 2023s.

Dennis: But, I feel like - has the market adjusted to that? Because it's so early.

Chip: Yeah, the Arya. That's how we got the 2023 Arya that qualifies. So, $25,000 minus $4,000. The Bolts are down there, Kias are down there. There's plenty of EVs that are 2023s that have gotten below $25,000.

Dennis: Yeah, that's crazy. Alright, so now we'll get into the pro-tip of the week. Chip, you want to go first? What's your pro-tip of the week?

Chip: I just want to talk about some of the cars that I saw this week in the shop, and one of my pro-tips is: if you're buying a used car, get a pre-purchase inspection done.

We've had some clients that came and visited me to look at vehicles. I didn't have the exact color trim that they wanted. They were able to find it, and they brought them back for pre-purchase inspections. And I'm always happy to look at a car, so I always encourage my clients; if you're looking at a vehicle, [...] even if you're buying from a reputable dealer, get a second opinion. Get a Carfax, get an AutoCheck, make sure that you're doing your due diligence, because this one car that came to us actually had a bad Carfax and the dealer was only providing AutoCheck.

So, the customer thought the car was accident-free, and I pull up the Carfax, and it's been hit in the front. And then we did a little bit deeper diving and we found that there was some parts of the car that hadn't been repaired properly. So, we saved him $250 bucks. Saved them a ton of money from buying a bad Model S. This was a $40,000 car he was about to buy. So get a PPI done on a Tesla - on any used car that you buy. It is definitely worth it.

Dennis: That's good. And, well, I guess in Tennessee, of course, where you're at, people can go to you. But where do other people go in other states? I don't even know. If I was in California, do I just look up my local shop or one that, maybe, specializes in electric vehicles? Does - I don't even know - does Tesla do pre-purchase inspections?

Chip: Believe it or not, Tesla will do a pre-purchase inspection. You just have to wait for the regular appointment time, which could be two or three weeks, which isn't really possible because the car will sell in that time period. [...]So, you're going to have to look up an independent shop.

I think [there are] a lot more shops in California, you have plenty of options out there with EV specialty shops. Here, in the southeast, you may struggle a little bit but there are definitely shops out there. The local Firestone, some of the branded dealers, or brands, are getting up-to-speed on EVs. I know Firestone is making a huge push, and NTB also, to be able to service tires and alignments and things like that on Tesla.

We're actually making a big push to help convert shops to start taking on EVs and offering that. So we're putting together a service program so you can take your regular repair shop and start offering EV service.

Dennis: Oh, that's pretty good.

Chip: So, there should be a lot more in the area. You just got to reach out and see who's doing it but anybody can go ahead -

Dennis: Do you have, or do you sell, a checklist? Could someone go to your website or send you a message like, "hey I want to buy your checklist, the Chip Jeppy Checklist for Electric Vehicles and Tesla Vehicles.”

Chip: Never thought about it, but I'd give you my checklist - our inspection list - for free. We give it with every car that we sell so you can see what we're looking at. We attach our Verse New battery report, the Carfax, everything to it. So yeah, you reach out to me, send me an email, I'll send you the copy back.

Dennis: I love it. And so, my pro-tip is: if you're paying cash, you should just buy used. Just because the depreciation on some of these Tesla vehicles can be so great at, like, one to two years out. And so, if you're financing, then, of course, take the subsidized interest 0% rate or whatever it is.

But cash buyers should really take a look at used as a comparison between the two because of how much depreciation some of these vehicles [go through]. Even the brand new one, it's just not worth it at this point. You should always look at used, and I think my sweet spot is, like, a year to two [old], because then you still get two to three years of warranty and, of course, you could look at a warranty from our partner, Amber, that's a month-to-month warranty on your Tesla vehicle.

But that's my threshold on if you're paying cash, you might as well just look at used. What are your thoughts on that?

Chip: Yeah, if you're looking for a one or two year old car like the Model Y, specifically, like you talked about, you can buy a one and a half year-old one for $33,000 right now. So, you can save $20,000. [...]That's a good tip, right there.

Dennis: Yeah, but, you know, we always hear these headlines that Tesla's, they're depreciating so much, or electric vehicles are. Would you say - because I always thought [...] they're just depreciating at the normal rate of a luxury vehicle, but,I guess, the argument is that they're not luxury vehicles.

But, would you say it's more aggressive depreciation? Or it's just the same and these headlines are just blown out of proportion?

Chip: We worked together at a BMW store for six or seven years. We know what depreciation looks like, and the Teslas follow it, just like a BMW, just like a Mercedes, just like an Audi. You're paying $100,000 for it. One day, three years later, it's worth half.

I think the Model 3 is very equivalent to a 3 series or a Mercedes C-Class as far as what you get. It may not have as nice of a build quality, but it does have other attributes that I think puts it in that class. And it follows the same depreciation schedule as those cars. You can buy a 2018 C-Class for about the same price you can buy a 2018 Model 3 for. You can buy a 2-year-old C-Class or 3 series for about the same price as you can buy a 2-year-old Model 3 for. So it's not out of line for me, [...] or for you, who's been in luxury car sales our whole life. It just seems to be on par with everything else.

Now, the people who are coming from Honda and Toyota and some of these other brands who are not used to these big depreciation drops - it can be shocking. Because you don't buy this car and you can sell it for basically what you paid for it, like the Honda Accord. [...] You're in an equity position in year three in most Hondas. You're not in an equity position in year three on any luxury car; Tesla's no example. And I would put it in that category.

Dennis: I see, yeah, that definitely makes sense.

So, in this next section we usually take questions from you that are watching. If you had any sort of questions you want to ask either of us on the new or the used service side, we'll definitely drop a link down below to a form so that you can send in a video or even ask us and write it out as a question. But thank you for making it to the end of our podcast.

We're now in the Discharge, where we talk about our hot takes or gripes with the current market or whatever it may be. I think I'll go first, and not to get political, but my gripe right now is the Teslas that are getting attacked or the Tesla Superchargers are getting attacked.

But really, it's the owners’ vehicles that are getting attacked. I really feel like, “hey, these people could have just bought the Tesla before.” They shouldn't be attacked for no reason. And the attacks are going kind of crazy - like people writing on vehicles, people throwing up on vehicles. I really felt like the mindset with that, it just doesn't make any sort of sense. And I think that really needs to come to a stop.

I know that's going a little bit off base, but that was kind of my gripe with what's going on right now.

Chip: Well, my hot take is, and I mentioned this earlier, that low mileage does not equal a better car and I'll die on that mountain. Extreme low mileage cars are some of the most problematic vehicles I've ever sold in my life.

Cars need to be driven regularly with some sort of frequency, and with a low mileage car, say we got a 2020. It's a 5-year-old car, it's got 10,000 miles on it. Was that 10,000 miles consistently driven over that 5-year period? Or was it all driven in one stint, and then the car was parked for four years, and you got rotted out/dry-rot all throughout the car. And that's the thing with the low mileage: you don't know how it was driven. And, like I said, I find more problems with extreme low mileage cars, and I find that people are willing to pay a premium for it, and it's really unjustified on some of them.

In your mind, if you're buying an extreme low mileage car, you expect the car to be perfect, cherry, garage kept, tire shine still on the tires. And, in fact, most of them are just rotted out, sitting. We're not talking Porsches or Lamborghinis or anything, we're talking everyday cars, you know, that need to be driven.

So, that's my hot take: that low mileage does not necessarily mean a better car and, in fact, in some cases, I think it means a worse car than one that's been driven an average of, like, 10,000 miles per year.

Dennis: And, I guess, it depends on the owner too. Like, if it was a one-owner vehicle that was driven a ton of miles but you've got service history of everything, then that could be a good case versus -

Chip: But that's the exception to the rule versus, I would say, if you have 10 cars and they're all really low mileage for the years, I think one of them is going to be that cherry car that you're thinking of. The other nine are going to be: really old people let it rot in their garage and they got it buffed. And that's what I find most of, so that's my hot take.

Dennis: I love it. Well, thank you all for watching. Definitely leave any sort of feedback in the comments down below. On our next episode, we're going to talk about the hidden costs of electric vehicle ownership that no one really talks about and really dive into how much are you actually going to be paying if you buy new, or more specifically, a used vehicle. But, thanks for watching and see you guys in the next one.