Photo by Ding Ting/Xinhua via Getty
Tesla will possibly consider the added value of FSD with vehicle trade-in, which could significantly save owners money, as well as attract more existing Tesla owners to swap their old cars with FSD for newer models.
Tesla accepts cars, trucks, vans, and SUVs for trade-in towards the purchase of a new or used Tesla. In order to calculate the cost of the car you want to swap, the company provides a calculator that estimates the current value based on specific data. At the moment, when Tesla owners who have FSD want to trade-in their old car for a new one, the current value of the car does not include the FSD value. FSD is considered by the company as a feature, therefore it does not affect the final cost estimate.
Nonetheless, FSD is a very important feature of the car, especially when you consider that it currently costs $10,000. Therefore, the community has repeatedly turned to the company with the request to make changes to the assessment of the cost of cars when the owner wants to trade-in a Tesla car with FSD. After one such appeal, Tesla CEO Elon Musk directly responded, writing that his team will consider this issue because FSD should undoubtedly be considered as reasonably valuable.
Looking into this. No question that FSD should be viewed as reasonably valuable when doing a trade-in.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 18, 2021
If the company realizes this opportunity, it could attract a lot of current Tesla car owners who would like to upgrade to newer car models. To date, the company already offers Model Y and a refreshed Model 3, and will soon begin production of Model S Plaid. Getting some extra value on your old car that has FSD will be a great stimulus to buy a new one.
Another option may be the transfer of FSD from an old car to a new one. It would also be a great alternative, and could definitely delight many Tesla owners. Also, if Tesla owners were sure that they would have the opportunity to transfer (at least once) the FSD feature from one vehicle to another, they might be more willing to buy FSD now.
© 2021, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
