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To be fair, this all sounds great to a person who would be interested in buying a CPO! As many others have said, if you are buying a Tesla or any car as an investment, your priorities are in the wrong place.

Absolutely, there's always a million stipulations with terms and services. In general, lifetime RARELY means lifetime.

File suits? Dare I say they could probably put him in prison for quite some time.

Metallic silver was certainly my favorite color. It was a nice balance between white and black!

Thanks for chiming in. I personally don’t feel comfortable with completely relying on some dude totally unaffiliated with Tesla to firstly ensure your safety when your life is on the line, and second, not screw you over when something goes wrong. Disabling someone’s software or allegedly...

You’re absolutely right, you can never be sure what’s wrong with the car until you get down and dirty taking it apart. That’s the biggest gamble and it’s one you have almost no control over. If possible, I will absolutely search to find the right one in New Jersey and take a ride to inspect it...

I believe this thread accomplished the gist of what I’m trying to get at without prior experience. Simply an interest, desire, some money, a good find, and the help of the kind folks on the forum seem to be all that’s necessary to accomplish it...

Thanks for the reply. Looking into the very little I was able to find this week, It's very confusing to me. Unfortunately, there is not a single in-depth video of the process with explanations. If there's a better resource available, please feel free to share :)

From what I've seen, there's no short supply for quarter panels going for around 800+ on the grey market like eBay.

Very interesting, thank you! Did you supply the person who repaired it the parts or did they source them out? I definitely don't have the tools to cut/weld that quarter panel properly. Have you attempted to repair/replace one yourself since?

And welding, forgot to mention that. I still wonder if the cost to have it done and painted at a shop would be over the cost for repairing a front collision by myself.

Where it stands right now is that I will be looking for a P85D with front collision damage and hopefully a perfect condition frame. You all have advised me to avoid rear collision as quarter panel damage is apparently more difficult than it seems watching these videos. (Even though it appears...

Looking for P85D, I'm sorry if it doesn't come off that way, but I DO take everyone's comments seriously, it's a big project with lots of money involved and here's a bunch of people who know more than I do. :)

I believe you will need to call Tesla Support to use the app if you bought the car used. Edit: See phone number in comment from @David.85D below ;)

I've read every response from wk057; here I am asking questions and you act is if I'm not looking to learn? :D The gist of what I got from wk057 was that it's a bad idea and will cost more than a used car. I simply don't see that being possible. Even if the salvaged car was completely totalled...

Thank you so much for the response, I'll definitely watch the video! I had looked at some quarter panel repair/replacements for normal cars that aren't built with aluminum, I'm assuming this procedure would be different? :p Edit?: I was under the impression welding would be involved like the...

Are you able to elaborate on that?:confused: Again, I'm specifically asking for advice here on what to avoid when purchasing a salvage tesla rather than to avoid it entirely. Unless someone has a better idea than spending 40k on a very old Tesla model that is ;)

Another question here regarding the sourcing of parts/painting. If you can't find the part in the right color online, what would be the estimate to get it painted by a local place? Could they get the color right?

How does rear QP damage come out to 10k? I see great condition parts on eBay for 900. Second, you make a great point about the crumple zone, It looks as if the frame was damaged like you mentioned with the sunroof being bent/broken. Where is the rear QP damage? Just from looking at the photos...

Great information and thank you for sharing the prices in your case! No better way to see what I'm in for other than the experience of others! I don't know if you plan to repair or part out that particular P85D assuming you purchased it, if you plan to repair it, I'd love to hear what damage you...

Thank you for the information, part picking/shady practices are definitely a risk here. I'm hoping that bidding on a car with the keys/working dash at the time the pictures were taken will lessen my risks significantly. An inspection just wouldn't be possible for me unless one popped up for sale...

The highest I've seen for across the country shipping was about 2k.

Ideally if and when I decide to begin, 30-35k completed for either a P85D or P90D

I understand what you are saying but I simply don’t have the funds to spend that much. Looking through eBay, finding parts seemed to be relatively easy but you are SOL if you have one of the premium paint colors for the salvage car. I believe with decent planning (as decent as planning for a car...

Don’t be mistaken, I want to learn here but I also want a damn Tesla when all is said and done.

To add to my last comment, If the welding is able to be done in the spirit of saving cash with just a propane torch and some aluminum rods for under a hundred bucks, I'd be happy to give it a go when I go ahead with the project! If it requires tons of experience and multiple pieces of equipment...

If anyone is gracious enough to give me a quick lesson/explanation of the frame, that would be amazing! Is there a diagram or video anywhere that shows/explains the frame? Is the entire frame being welded together or is it just being held together with bolts? Assuming it's welded together, what...

Ahh here we go, this is essentially all I could find regarding recertification. https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1305093/tesla-salvage-release.pdf Unfortunately, It was pretty difficult for me to really grasp. It seems that they can happily just deny you and force you to...

IIRC, If you get your car recertified after all the fees, you are able to receive updates/supercharging, but no LTE?

Demundus, do understand, the ability to receive updates, use autopilot, and supercharge are all important features for myself. Obviously, nothing can be guaranteed, not even the car itself being repaired to working condition. Do you have any more documentation or sources for what can be...

A couple other questions I had, has anyone ever actually managed to get their disabled Tesla back up and running with some computer magic? If not, what's the recertification process like?

Spot on! Call me crazy but I'm pretty enthusiastic about it and think it will be a great learning experience and hopefully a success. As far as metalwork goes, I'm looking to avoid that almost entirely as I don't have the experience or tooling. I've bought from auctions before but never an...

In NJ, you get a probationary driver's license at 17. Like I had said, I've only done minor wiring work on my current car (speaker installation, radio installation, headlights) I've never needed to go as far as disassemble the thing.

Interesting to hear, obviously transportation of these parts would have a fee unless picked up locally. I wonder if it’s still a better option to part out after shipping costs.

Completely agreed! Great fun in this case unfortunately comes with many risks and a steep price. If one was to completely abandon such a project, what's the typical situation with selling? Is it easy to find someone local looking to purchase the entire thing or would it be easiest to part it...

Once again, thank you everyone who has responded so far, I absolutely respect and consider both sides that will discourage me or encourage me. At the end of the day, it's you folks who will sway me to move in either direction! I'm happy to hear anything you want to share :)

Thanks for the reply! :) I've looked/watched through essentially all his videos before I had the guts to make a fool of myself or post here to begin with! He is definitely inspiring with what he's been able to accomplish or even get started with for that matter.

Oddly enough, I've seen several Teslas that were salvaged up for auction with a clear VIN, I'm wondering if not all Tesla's will have their updating/supercharging revoked? Perhaps there's a possibility some remain under the radar?

I'm aware these cars even severely damaged can go much past 20k which I'd say is more or less about what I'm willing to put up.I also considered what you mentioned about merging the best halves before I made this post but I decided that I just don't have the skills, space, or ability to...

This is the exact type of response I was looking for! I will definitely look into all these parts and read up on them. An example like this with the information you provided is perfect for learning more about the parts/car and the type of damage you can expect from accidents in certain areas :)

Hello everyone! I’ve been a tinkerer for the better part of my life and have been “dreaming” about getting a Tesla for the last year or so; there’s just one problem, I have nowhere near the money needed to spend 100k on a new one or 60k+ for a used! After just recently looking through the...