Anyone been through asking Tesla to buy back a car lately?

[BarrettF77]

To keep this high level, I've had this car for a year and a half. But in the ownership process I've enjoyed the car itself with the exclusion of every time the car is serviced it gets damaged to almost a 95% time success rate. I'm now on my 4th door panel from it being scraped by the tech as an example and this is one very frustrating and two time consuming.

No one in Tesla disagrees that it isn't unreasonable to expect the car to be returned in the same condition or better when having work done. But clearly this isn't happening and has occurred across multiple service centers and I'm beyond done trying to call and reason with them. I'd rather just get rid of this car.

Advice is appreciated and if there was a way to not have to keep from having this occur I'd happily take it. But I think this is just how Tesla operates.

 

[Watts_Up]

If you have pictures and damages documentation, can't you use a Lemon law Attorney?

 

[Unclepaul]

Better is often the enemy of good.

Every time you take any vehicle in for service, there is a chance that it will damaged during it's stay.

 

[holeydonut]

My household recently completed a buyback on a Model X in Northern California. The car didn't even have 500 miles on it. All I can tell you is the process is not easy. But I cannot stress enough, a buyback is 100x BETTER than a lemon process. Lemon involves lawyers and just SUCKS.

@AlexThePilot also completed a buyback in Florida, and I think his car didn't even have 500 miles. You should ping him to learn how he was able to pull off his buyback.

Also, there is a lot of buyback and lemon discussion going on in the Model X subforum. You can search there, but here's a recent thread about it.

NEW MX has several issues; Unethical Business Practice

First, I am new to this community. Sorry for the cross-posting, if similar things have been posted by other users. Can a company release and deliver a defective vehicle to customers? It seems to me that the following is Tesla's business model: anyway deliver the vehicle (even if it is a...

teslamotorsclub.com

I'll cross-post my comment below. Good luck, you're going to need it. Tesla basically told me never to buy Tesla again (we had 2 previously). If you do get your buyback executed successfully, I highly recommend you look into other BEVs.

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Keep in mind the lemon resolution process is the absolute last line of defense. I know most people are like "lemon!" because it's a familiar trope, but by the time a situation hits lemon territory, everybody is a gigantic loser. Lawyers used salivate at lemons because they make money. But as @rpo has learned, some states are even cutting off lawyers from making money on Lemons, so it's usually just a big pain for the customer now. Lemon process is absolute garbage.

Being said, you want to try and do a buyback. @AlexThePilot shared this email address that you should attempt to contact to figure out a path forward.

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(email removed at owner's request)

But here's the kicker. When you contact this email address, keep your email SHORT, SUCCINCT, and FACT BASED.

Put in the first few lines of the email what resolution you want this resolutions team to explore. If you simply want the service center to address an issue, make that clear. If you want your car transferred to another service center, make that clear. If you feel your car is unsafe to operate and a resolution involves a new vehicle, make that clear.

Keep your narrative / verbatim simple and COMPLETELY FACT BASED. Do not say stuff about how "maybe this or maybe that." Say unequivocally what was broken, what repairs were attempted, and what remains broken. And state very clearly how many days of service your brand new car has endured.

If you find yourself typing the word "possible" or "perhaps" then hit ctrl + z because you effed up. Stay with the facts.

 

[Grabthar]

Have you tried other service centers? Since nothing is wrong with the car itself, rather it's careless service employees, I doubt they're under any obligation to buy it back but good luck!

 

[BarrettF77]

I’ve tried other service centers. And across multiple SCs, it’s the same.

And when 19 out of 20 times they screw something up, I deem this excessive. So after they buy the car back hypothetically, rest assured I will never buy another. This is our first and assuredly last car from Tesla. And it’s really disappointing because most things I do appreciate about the car itself. It’s the terrible service and non existent customer service.

So really what I want to know is how to execute a buy back at 18 months as clearly my issue has been over time and is related to the fact that the company doesn’t show care or even appropriate training (example being my trunk gasket was installed inside out from factory only to have their tech come out and do the exact same thing spreading that sticky crap all over the inside and outside of the car while he was doing it).

I don’t know or think lemon law would apply because this is more of a Tesla training and company problem rather than the vehicle. But them damaging the car is definitely a problem which results in more time and energy wasted, and I just cannot afford to keep going through this. Like most, we have a life to live not constantly be dealing with a card dealership and it’s not like there are other dealerships that I can take this to.

 

[jcanoe]

Lemon law would not apply because the issue(s) with the vehicle would be considered cosmetic.

I do have experience with Saab USA buying back a one month old vehicle and selling me another at dealer transfer cost (different dealer than the one who sold me the first Saab.) Imagine all the slings and arrows your Tesla suffered over 18 months all rolled into one incident. An impaired employee of the first Saab dealership "parked" my month old vehicle so well that the driver side fender was smashed in up to the wheel well. The one point that could not be negotiated away was the sales tax; we agreed to split that.

 

[brkaus]

Your car has been worked on 20 times in 18 months?

 

[BarrettF77]

It’s been worked on probably 15 times. And 13 of those have been with incident. So I was just using an example.

 

[Watts_Up]

It’s been worked on probably 15 times. And 13 of those have been with incident. So I was just using an example.

It is kind of sade to have so many issues just for solving some kind of cosmetic matter.

Otherwise did you encoutered any problem with the drive train, the propulsion battery, or major component which was quite serious.

 

[BarrettF77]

It is kind of sade to have so many issues just for solving some kind of cosmetic matter.

Otherwise did you encoutered any problem with the drive train, the propulsion battery, or major component which was quite serious.

No, but the car only has 8k after 1.5 years of ownership.

It’s really ironic because this would be so easily remedied and I think the more we think about it the more we are just done. Tesla isn’t going to change their ways for us, and that’s ok. I think pursuing buyback is really the best way forward as it is important I think to anyone that when you have a service performed the staff are trained well and respectful of other people’s property. This has not happened with Tesla sadly.

 

[brkaus]

Well, my advice is to follow what @holeydonut wrote above. Starting with the facts and not “an example” that’s 33% inflated.

I personally feel like the reimbursement should be around diminished value of the damage and repaired damage. But that’s the best I can suggest without full details.

 

[BarrettF77]

Well, my advice is to follow what @holeydonut wrote above. Starting with the facts and not “an example” that’s 33% inflated.

I personally feel like the reimbursement should be around diminished value of the damage and repaired damage. But that’s the best I can suggest without full details.

That’s the route I’ve taken. But the issue/concern is these unqualified or untrained personnel that they employ aren’t careful. And that’s simply exhausting. We will see how this progresses.

 

[zoomer0056]

That’s the route I’ve taken. But the issue/concern is these unqualified or untrained personnel that they employ aren’t careful. And that’s simply exhausting. We will see how this progresses.

Lemon law in CA wouldn't apply (I know you're in another state), it requires a single problem could not be fixed in a reasonable time. The buyback seems to be a possible choice. Seems this won't be easy citing only service problems. This bad experience can be ended more quickly by selling to a private party. The car is mechanically sound, so you can feel good about passing it on to someone else. The song says "if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all."

 

[BarrettF77]

Lemon law in CA wouldn't apply (I know you're in another state), it requires a single problem could not be fixed in a reasonable time. The buyback seems to be a possible choice. Seems this won't be easy citing only service problems. This bad experience can be ended more quickly by selling to a private party. The car is mechanically sound, so you can feel good about passing it on to someone else. The song says "if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all."

LOL. Well I am happy to fight them. For me it’s principle and also about not taking a hit on their complacency. That’s their job to provide the warranty. They are not doing so as needed by damaging my property.

 

[El joe]

Lemon law in CA wouldn't apply (I know you're in another state), it requires a single problem could not be fixed in a reasonable time. The buyback seems to be a possible choice. Seems this won't be easy citing only service problems. This bad experience can be ended more quickly by selling to a private party. The car is mechanically sound, so you can feel good about passing it on to someone else. The song says "if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all."

Yeah, Tesla just bought back my 2019 SR+ with a screen issue that they couldn’t fix. After four tries under warranty, they finally bought it back. But I gave them the four chances before they agreed to buy it back.

 

[zoomer0056]

LOL. Well I am happy to fight them. For me it’s principle and also about not taking a hit on their complacency. That’s their job to provide the warranty. They are not doing so as needed by damaging my property.

Ok, check back to this thread every now and then to give us an update.

 

[BarrettF77]

I sent an email to them first of the week. Still no response. Was also told by the phone individual they would get back to my by Monday from a conversation I had with them on Friday.

Pretty much confirming what I figured all along. They don’t care.

Very unimpressive service for such an expensive (non luxury) car. More updates to come if I do get any resolution or pushback.

 

[BarrettF77]

So an update:

The service manager just emailed on the day they said exactly simply saying that buyback was declined, not further context. It was evidently sent to legal by her, she wrote the request for buy back and said legal won't say why it was declined. I also asked what she wrote as the reasoning for the buyback to get context in what was communicated. Also said that she wouldn't be able to say.

So the long and short of it is really that it is a worthless exercise and the best bet is really to just get an attorney or let them know you wish to have a mediator and remedy that way.

Since I don't have the most free time, I did put them on notice that further damage will result in actions outside of just working with the service Department but stopped short of using the terminology of legal. But the takeaway is that if you buy into this brand, expect little to no cooperation sadly from them. Like most things today, buy after doing extensive research and don't trust them to do the right thing as they will like any major corporation show you little interest. They have the same mentality of most other car makers, if not less so. I had Honda do way more for a friend than I have seen Tesla even consider. Not to mention the lack of car and concern you will get from them once they have your money.

If anyone has any other questions or things, feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to help.

 

[MP3Mike]

I had Honda do way more for a friend than I have seen Tesla even consider.

Did Honda actually do it, or did the dealer do it on their own? (That is one advantage of traditional OEMs you have a second company involved that might want to try to keep your business.)