--- title: The Tesla Model S Won't Be Out of Your Price Range for Long description: The ability to buy a used car is hardly hot news. But we're talking about Tesla here, and how the automaker will soon be selling certified pre-owned versions of the prized Model S for a fraction of the sticker price. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Shopping - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2014-10-07T02:15:53.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T04:30:05.000Z' section: Shopping tags: - Autos - driving - Electric Cars - electric vehicles - green - Tesla - used cars word_count: 453 canonical: https://money.com/tesla-model-s-used-certified-preowned/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Tesla Model S](https://img.money.com/2014/10/141006_em_teslacheap.jpg) Last week, Tesla CEO [Elon Musk tweeted](https://time.com/3462592/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-builds-buzz-before-big-reveal/) that the company would be making a big announcement on October 9. "About time to unveil the D and something else," Musk said cryptically. No one is sure about what "the D" is, let alone "something else," though some have speculated that the former could be a [faster all-wheel drive version](http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/10/03/tesla_d_elon_musk_tweets_teases_mysterious_new_product_maybe_all_wheel_drive.html) of the Model S, or perhaps even a Model S with self-driving features. It's also unclear if some or all of Musk's "something else" has anything to do with the company's forthcoming certified pre-owned (CPO) program, word of which was broken on Monday by [*Automotive News*](http://www.autonews.com/article/20141006/RETAIL04/310069963/teslas-trump-card-used-cars#). Virtually every automaker sells [CPO vehicles](http://www.edmunds.com/certified-cars/certified-pre-owned-vehicle-programs.html), which are basically just used cars with the warranty extended beyond the norm by the manufacturer, giving the buyer extra peace of mind compared to the purchase of any old jalopy on a used car lot. CPO programs are hardly sexy. Yet for Tesla, which [roared to success](http://business.time.com/2013/05/10/tesla-beats-the-odds-and-the-haters-but-now-comes-the-hard-part/) last year with strong sales of the Model S, even as the brand has been out of the question for the vast majority of drivers because the cars can cost in the neighborhood of [$100,000](https://money.com/invest-save-spend-100000-now/), this is pretty big news. Starting in the spring of 2016, many Model S's will be three years old, a point at which Musk had guaranteed customers he would buy vehicles back at or near 50% of their original price, should the customer be interested. The expectation is that many early Model S buyers will take Tesla up on its trade-in option (presumably to buy a new Tesla, the automaker hopes). Tesla will service these used vehicles and then resell them at prices probably in the range of $35,000 to $50,000—pricey by used-car standards, but a deal compared to the sticker price of a new Model S, which starts at around $70K. Anyone buying a CPO Tesla also benefits because it's being sold directly by the automaker. Though the particulars of the program remain unknown, Tesla will presumably make the purchase less worrisome by including certain warranties. One would hope that includes a guarantee on the strength of the battery, which is essential for an electric car to remain a practical vehicle that can be driven long distances without needing a recharge. What's interesting is that by the time Tesla is ready to start selling three-year-old Model S's for maybe $40,000, it will probably simultaneously be gearing up to sell a brand new model expected to be priced at around $40,000. This past summer, Musk said that the next generation of Teslas, due to be available for sale by around 2017, will sell for around half the price of a current Model S—and could start for as little as [$35,000](https://time.com/2992792/tesla-elon-musk-model-3/). ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/tesla-model-s-used-certified-preowned/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Shopping", "item": "https://money.com/shopping/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Electric Vehicles", "item": "https://money.com/electric-vehicles/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Tesla Model S Won't Be Out of Your Price Range for Long" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/tesla-model-s-used-certified-preowned/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/tesla-model-s-used-certified-preowned/", "name": "The Tesla Model S Won't Be Out of Your Price Range for Long", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2014-10-07T02:15:53.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/tesla-model-s-used-certified-preowned/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/tesla-model-s-used-certified-preowned/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T04:30:05.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "The Tesla Model S Won't Be Out of Your Price Range for Long", "articleSection": "Shopping", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2014/10/141006_em_teslacheap.jpg", "width": 2400, "height": 1350, "caption": "141006_EM_TeslaCheap" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2014-10-07T02:15:53.000Z", "description": "The ability to buy a used car is hardly hot news. But we're talking about Tesla here, and how the automaker will soon be selling certified pre-owned versions of the prized Model S for a fraction of the sticker price.", "abstract": "The ability to buy a used car is hardly hot news. But we're talking about Tesla here, and how the automaker will soon be selling certified pre-owned versions of the prized Model S for a fraction of the sticker price.", "@id": "https://money.com/tesla-model-s-used-certified-preowned/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-16T04:30:05.000Z", "wordCount": 453, "keywords": [ "Autos", "driving", "Electric Cars", "electric vehicles", "green", "Tesla", "used cars" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Shopping", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Electric vehicle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle" ] } ] } ] } ```