Used i3 pricing on the rise?

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graememwl

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Messages
67
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
The word must be out about what a great value recently off lease i3's are.
Looking at my local inventory, there are a lot fewer vehicles available than when I bought mine in January. Not surprisingly, the pricing appears to reflect this. Vehicles with more miles, lower "worlds" and fewer goodies are easily $1k-$2k higher than I was seeing then. This is at the same dealerships I scouted in my search back then with "no haggle" pricing.

Is it just me, or have others noticed this too?

If you are on the fence, now might be a good time to jump in :D
 
Cars tend to sell faster, and with higher prices, when the weather is better...more people are looking.

You might find the best deal in the middle of winter when nobody is out looking!
 
Funny you mention that. I was thinking exactly the same thing as I was driving into work this morning :)

Good thing to remember though. Seasonally, used cars are less expensive around the beginning of the year.
 
I wrote an article on this. This is why: http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5053

The market environment for the discount on used i3's is temporary. It's not going through the normal depreciation for the normal reasons a car normally does.

Huge inventory of 2015 lease returns were sold second hand to new buyers. Now there's a lot fewer of these i3's left. As consumer confidence grows in EV's and people become more educated and come to the realization that they don't need a 200 mi range car to drive their 30-50 mi a day commute, people will start to accept the sub 150 mi range cars. They'll even prefer it as it takes less time to charge, will cost less to repair/replace, costs exponentially less and the car itself weighs less and is more efficient.

As time goes on, more and more people who are holding off for the Tesla Model 3 base model will realize they won't get the credit they were expecting to buy one and will look to alternatives. That's already happening. It'll happen a lot quicker later in the year as most people are still in denial and genuinely think they're getting a Model 3. For now, the competition for buying used i3's may be increasing, but not by a huge rate. That rate will be quicker as the year goes on.

People have an idea of what they want, what they need, and there's what they ultimately buy. Those typically aren't the same car. When it consumers become more honest with themselves, that's when we'll see prices on used i3's really begin to surge.
 
I tend to think it is the export market that is keeping US prices high. I've noticed US cars ending up in Canada or eastern Europe. For some time the bottom was falling out of Leaf prices, and you could easily pick up an '11 leaf for under $5K. But the prices have held steady lately. It could be that there's market incentives that get applied to used EVs in other markets, so that is helping the used pricing.
 
If you look at autotrader.com there are some barely used 2017 94 Ah models in the $28K+ range, some of them even with Rex. (There's a particularly nice looking Giga black BEV with moonroof in Texas.) I just got a '17 BEV myself. And it's not stripped, either -- Tech and Driver Assistant, Parking Assistant, HK audio, dark oak trim, etc. It was first sold in March 2017 so I should have three whole years of warranty left.

That's a pretty good deal even if it does depreciate another 10K over the next two years, which it might!
 
I think szarmar is right - part of this is due to the export market. I recently traded in my 9 month old Leaf for my Tesla Model 3 - the car sat at an auction lot for more than a month and ended up in the lot of an import/export company in NJ. Right now it is in the Port of Newark across from Manhattan, I assume waiting to be shipped out of the US, probably to Europe. I see that the price this car can get in Europe is much higher than what I traded it in for, and what it could get here in the US. ... and I actually traded it in for more than it cost me to buy brand new :)
 
Yep - the price of used leafs shot up mid/late 2016 due to someone getting smart and realized they could make a healthy profit buying them $5-8K and selling them for $20K+ overseas. I wonder if the battery warranty is still being honored?....
 
What may also help is the recent announcement for a concerted, multi-corporation advertising plan for EVs, at least for the US Northeastern states (the CARB states up here). The way they're applying credits is going to be changing, and the companies will need to sell more EVs to meet the rules. I think the article I read said 7 companies are involved. Too many people have either incorrect, or non-existent understanding of what an EV is, what it can do, and what it costs to both own or operate. This should help the prices for both new and used as more interest is drummed up.
 
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