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Most car manufacturers take some efforts to try and ensure residuals stay reasonable, otherwise customers will be less keen to repeat buy for obvious reasons. Setting prices correctly at launch is key for this. What Tesla did, which historically is not a "normal and expected part of buying a car", is repeatedly slash list pricing after launch, thus meaning the used market does not trust valuing them, as so many used car dealers got very badly burned on inventory they paid too high a price for when the new car prices came down, putting them all underwater. These aren't small or predictable market moves either; they are random swings. The Model S and Model X have been reduced new by as much as 24% at times. This Simply Does Not Happen at most car companies, most of the time, and residuals are more stable as a result. Imagine you had just taken stock of a used model S, valuing it based on purchase price "n", then tomorrow the manufacturer slashes the price of a new one by 24%. That's very, very hard not to end up underwater. Similarly, for existing owners - that 24% cut has just shifted the depreciation curve massively, and not in your favor. Existing owners frankly have every right to be pissed. |
+ Parts availability woes
In short, buying a Tesla is a terrible decision from a financial perspective.
Maybe from a fun or cool perspective!
But if you're interested in maintaining $-value-over-time, there are much better options (Corollas, Accords, Tacomas, Subarus, etc).