"Find a suitable order and give tea 1,000 yuan to 2,000 yuan." Recently, Xu Jin, a second-hand car practitioner from Shandong, told the first financial reporter.
Xu Jin said here the orders, mostly from the Tesla low-priced orders a few years ago, he wants to collect the Model 3 after-drive version of the order budget within 260,000 yuan (after subsidies), Model Y rear-drive version is budgeted within 285,000 yuan (after subsidies), the delivery location is best in Shandong Province.
At present, Tesla China's official website shows that the model 3 after-drive version subsidy price is 279,900 yuan, a difference of nearly 20,000 yuan from the above budget; model Y after-drive version subsidy price of 316,900 yuan, and the above budget difference of 31,900 yuan.
"We collect a lot of Model Y orders, how many we want. Take the money when you find it, it's that simple. Xu Jin told reporters that he was recruiting relevant intermediaries, and the intermediaries did not even have to wait until the order car was sold, and they could get money when they found the achievements.
Not only Xu Jin, the reporter found that there was a lot of information on "buying and reselling" Tesla orders on second-hand trading platforms, Tieba and forums, which was common throughout the country. On the one hand, "scalpers" first acquired Tesla orders before this round of price increases, which often need to add transfer fees ranging from 3,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan; on the other hand, second-hand car dealers have successively hung up the sale information of "new first-hand cars", and the price of these cars is often higher than their purchase price but slightly lower than the current official price of Tesla.
Rising prices spawn new business?
Tesla's frequent price adjustment is no longer news, and the "cost principle" on which tesla is adjusted has also been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Since last year, the trend of sharp price increases in commodities and new energy vehicle power battery raw materials, as well as the decline of new energy subsidies this year, have become the reason for Tesla's price increase.
At the end of July last year, the price of the Model 3 standard renewal version reached an all-time low of 235,900 yuan. At the beginning of November last year, the Model 3 standard sequel was removed from the shelves, replaced by the Model 3 after-wheel version, the list price reached 250,900 yuan, and then the price rose to 265,700 yuan. At the end of last year, the price of the Model Y after-driving version also rose to 301,800 yuan after three increases.
Since the beginning of this year, Tesla's price adjustment frequency has made netizens directly call to buy a car to buy a "wealth management product".
From March 10 to 17, Tesla raised the price of its products three times in 8 days. Among them, the Model 3 rear-drive version was raised by 14,200 yuan, and the Model Y rear-drive version was raised by 15,100 yuan. The Model 3 "entry model" ordered before November last year has a price difference of up to 44,000 yuan compared with the current price, and even after changing to the rear-drive version, the maximum price difference is as high as 29,000 yuan. The Model Y after-drive version ordered before November 24 last year has a difference of 36,200 yuan with the current price.
Of course, this year's round of new energy vehicle price increases does not only include Tesla, since March this year, there are nearly 20 new energy vehicle companies more than 40 electric vehicles announced price increases.
The spread generated by the continuous price increase makes the "scalper" smell the business opportunity. The reporter found that in this round of price increases driven by rising costs, the phenomenon of "buying and reselling" is not limited to Tesla, xiaopeng, Nezha and other brands also exist, but from the current point of view, Tesla's transaction volume is the largest. This may be because compared with other new energy vehicle brands, Tesla also has the characteristics of good sales, higher retention rate of used cars, more frequent price adjustments, and lower deposits, which make it the best target of "scalpers".
Worsening "mark-ups"
According to the reporter's investigation, the low-priced Tesla orders transferred on multiple platforms are mostly undelivered orders between October and December last year, and some of them are individual consumers who choose to give up for objective reasons, and after the price increase, they can also make a difference.
Li Fang, a prospective owner of the Tesla Model Y rear-drive version from Shanghai, told reporters that he successfully got a license plate in January this year, and he had bought a Toyota car, and a buyer was negotiated in the middle of this order, and the sales confirmed that the car was picked up at the end of March, but it was jumped off.
Another prospective owner in Shanghai also told reporters that he chose to resell the order because it was inconvenient to charge and his unit did not allow Tesla cars to enter.
There is another part of the low-priced orders that are "scalpers" selling. Some analysts said that under the rising trend of raw materials, the "scalper" determined that Tesla is bound to choose to raise the price according to the cost increase, so as to place an order in advance to "dormant", and the cost of its early order is not high, tesla deposit only needs 1000 yuan. From the current point of view, its yield is not low.
Under the premise of no price reduction, many Tesla order transfer fees are still rising with the increase in vehicle prices.
Xu Jin also pointed out to reporters that although there are many transfers of Tesla orders now, the transfer fee is often very high, and this "tea fee" is not easy to take.
The reporter contacted a Tesla prospective owner from Qingdao, Shandong Province, who listed an order on a second-hand platform for 3919.99 yuan to transfer the model Y with a naked car price of 280,700 yuan, but when the reporter chatted privately, he said that the transfer fee was 9,000 yuan, and if he could not sell it, he would keep it for himself.
In addition, when Li Put put up the order in early March, he marked the transfer fee as 6,000 yuan, and now it has risen to 9,000 yuan.
The reporter also found that a seller on a second-hand platform in Shanghai sold a Tesla Model Y order for a transfer fee of 5,000 yuan on February 20, and it placed a new Model Y order on March 13, but the transfer fee was increased to 10,000 yuan.
Multi-party restrictions still cannot be contained
In addition to the price difference caused by the rising price tide, there are also factors that buyers can pick up the car as soon as possible.
On March 22, Tesla's official website showed that the model 3 after-wheel drive delivery cycle is 20 to 24 weeks, Model Y is 10 to 14 weeks, and in the transfer orders on major platforms, the reporter can also be delivered at the end of April at the latest.
But in fact, although buyers as ordinary consumers can get "new cars" at cheaper prices and in less time, they also need to bear corresponding risks.
Many sellers and second-hand car dealers of resale orders have told reporters that in addition to their immediate family, Tesla officials do not allow direct transfer orders, so the operation method of their resale orders is to take the buyer to pick up the car together, and immediately transfer the house to the buyer after the new car is delivered. Although Tesla's used car retention rate is higher than other new energy vehicle brands, it has also depreciated for buyers.
In order to circumvent the above transfer procedures, the reporter found that there was also a transfer order service specifically for Tesla on a second-hand platform. A seller who sells transfer services on the platform told reporters that his so-called "transfer service" is "renaming", and after the name change, it is the same as the order he placed, eliminating the step of transfer, and his transfer service fee is 2999 yuan.
The reporter learned from an insider of Tesla that this "transfer order service" is non-compliant and will be dismissed once it is found.
As far as Tesla, the "stickler" of the direct operation model, is obviously unwilling to see the existence of resale orders.
In the "Tesla Vehicle Subscription Agreement", the reporter found that Tesla focused on the requirement of "prohibiting resale", which pointed out that Tesla directly sells cars to end customers, and Tesla has the right to unilaterally terminate the agreement for any order that it believes is for resale or has other non-bona fide purposes.
In addition, a few days ago, Tesla's "no resale commitment letter" was also exposed on the Internet. The letter of commitment requires the owner to undertake not to transfer or actually transfer any vehicle to any third party for 365 days after picking up the car, otherwise it will be subject to a liquidated damages of 20% of the price of each vehicle.
Afterwards, Tesla relevant personnel responded to the media that the commitment letter was aimed at people who bought multiple cars at one time or a year, and had no impact on regular customers.
Tesla's transfer service has more restrictions, while Xiaopeng Motors' transfer service is easier to operate. Recently, a number of sellers who resold Xiaopeng Automobile's orders told reporters that their orders are supported for modification, including the licensee, vehicle configuration, pick-up location, etc., and do not need to be transferred.
However, the sales staff of Xiaopeng Automobile's Shanghai Experience Center told reporters that Xiaopeng actually only allows orders between immediate family members, and if (insiders) modify orders in violation of the law, they will also be dismissed.
(At the request of the interviewee, Xu Jin and Li Fang are pseudonyms)