Advice on 2014 Model S 85 with Autopilot for $55K

[raphy3]

Last 5 of the VIN are 60996, based on that it should have AP1 and I confirmed with the SA that it has AP1 Hardware (the listing just said Tech Package with Autopilot where a lot of them list Autopilot 1 Hardware as well.

Actually what is the 8th digit of your VIN? I think it's supposed to tell you the drive unit.

 

[Ness]

Actually what is the 8th digit of your VIN? I think it's supposed to tell you the drive unit.

It does, except for a 2014 85... the 8th digit on mine is a 1, which just means Single Motor

From: Decoding Tesla Model S VINs

Digit 8, Motor/Drive Unit (2012+) & Battery Type (2012-2013):
C = Base A/C Motor, Tier 2 Battery (31-40kWh)
G = Base A/C Motor, Tier 4 Battery (51-60 kWh)
N = Base A/C Motor, Tier 7 Battery (81-90 kWh)
P = Performance A/C Motor, Tier 7 Battery (81-90 kWh)
1 = Single Motor - Standard
2 = Dual Motor - Standard
4 = Dual Motor - Performance

and

2014

Model S VINs for 2014 are encoded according to these rules for the US:
ftp://ftp.nhtsa.dot.gov/mfrmail/ORG9130.pdf

The 2014 encoding made some changes to the use of some fields. A new restraint system encoding of digit 6 was added to allow for a non-bench backseat. It dropped the inclusion of the built-in charger from being included in the VIN in digit 7 to be replaced with a new indication of the battery size (Standard or High Capacity). It also changed the combined motor/battery size digit 8 into a Dual or Single motor indicator. The net effect of these changes makes it impossible to distinguish a S85, P85, or P85+ from each other. Nor can the P85D or S85D be distinguished from each other.

So 2014's fall into this strange limbo where you can't use the VIN to determine if it is a S85, P85 or P85+ because the all have a 1. I think this may explain how something like this happens, where they can't confirm it without hitting the original sales list and they may not have access to that. It appears that a new page is generated when they go up for CPO and someone fills out the options (maybe the owner?).

Wow this is crazy. If you really got a P85 late 2014 with 22k miles with AP1 it's the deal of the year. Regular old P85s with more miles from 2013 routinely cost more. I would take that deal in a heartbeat if I had been presented with it. If it's real then honestly it annoys me that my advisor didn't put more effort into finding me an awesome car like that. To this day they still have 295 miles listed as the range of the 85D while folks at Tesla have been assuring me it's only 270. I'm surprised that they would list a P85 as an 85. Makes you wonder if they're also making the same error in reverse...

Yeah, that is why I am so excited. I was super excited to get an 85 with AP1 and that mileage. I was ready to put a deposit down on a earlier 2014 P85 with more miles that evening (expiring lease) and was doing one last check for anything new that popped up and my car and the car the OP got both popped up. I really wanted AP1, but wasn't seeing anything for less than high 60's which was more than I wanted to pay. The car was available for about 10 mins total.

I wouldn't hold it against your adviser, he can only sell you what he sees and he may or may not know when new inventory is getting posted. Considering the pricing doesn't appear to be consistent, it makes sense that the best deals disappear quickly. The main site also appears to do some regional filtering so ev-cpo and teslainventory may be better options, but then you have to factor in shipping (something other people may generally need to do, but between the Bay Area, LA and San Diego there are a large number of cars).

 

[b team]

Got pictures of mine today, the angles aren't great but it sure looks like I got a P85. Hopefully you have similar luck!

Wow. Congratulations! I hope I win the P lottery too.

 

[raphy3]

Well let us know how this ultimately turns out. It would be interesting to see what your odds are if you go for a late 2014 85 of getting a P85 by accident. They are probably low odds but if they are appreciably nonzero this would be a nice strategy (or, it would have been, had I known about it before reserving a 2013). Funny thing is I had a blue 2014 85 (i think it was early 2014) reserved at some point before I decided to explicitly transfer it to a P.

By explicitly turns out I mean make sure some dork didn't just rebadge his Tesla

 

[Ness]

Yeah, is my concern. I think I may give the local service center a call today and see if they can look up the car based on the VIN.

Apparently it is up in Fremont right now waiting to go through the Reconditioning and Certification process.

 

[Ness]

Checked with the local service center and confirmed with the Sales Advisor...

Turns out the previous owner did rebadge the car to a P85. Still a deal I am very happy with, not a ridiculous deal like I had hoped when I got the pictures, but now I have fewer concerns that there is something wrong with the car or that it was in a major accident or something.

Also not terribly out of line with this car: 85 kWh Model S 5YJSA1H17EFP58564 | Tesla

 

[b team]

Does that mean that the previous owner added the badge only? Does it have the Performance seats?

 

[Ness]

The listing had "Tan Performance Leather Seats" which the service center confirmed as well as part of the original build.

It sounds like he/she just rebadged it.

 

[raphy3]

I hate when people do things like that. Shouldn't be done to a Tesla. While I'm sorry this turned out that way, at the same time you're still getting a good deal as you noted. In a way it's good news for the rest of us: we can have a little faith that Tesla isn't doing stupid things and misrepresenting CPO cars. However, I am still alarmed by the range listed for 85d. It literally cost me a couple hours of sleep.

 

[b team]

I hate when people do things like that. Shouldn't be done to a Tesla. While I'm sorry this turned out that way, at the same time you're still getting a good deal as you noted. In a way it's good news for the rest of us: we can have a little faith that Tesla isn't doing stupid things and misrepresenting CPO cars. However, I am still alarmed by the range listed for 85d. It literally cost me a couple hours of sleep.

I guess it's P for Poser, not Performance.