Bad experience with inventory car

[OliLondon]

Went to pick up a “new” inventory M3P today with a trade in of my 21 LR. bearing in mind i paid £58.4K for the car in black as it was 3 months old ex demo with 700 miles on it….i have no idea what someone had done with this car but the condition was awful.

drove 1 hour to pick it up, all excited, got there and all 4 wheels are curbed….not like touched the curb curbed….but rammed into a curb at speed curbed. Scratches on the side panels and front. Long story short i ended up rejecting the car and was pretty pis*ed off. Be careful if you order existing inventory with any mileage on guys!

there is some good news though, i saw the model Y there and actually really liked it, so have ordered a black one with the 20 inch induction wheels for May delivery

 

[browellm]

Yeah it's always going to be a lottery, especially with demand so high at the moment I would always be asking myself "why has this car been returned to the inventory?". I'm sure there are many innocent explanations but it would nag at me.

 

[Kansalis]

Went to pick up a “new” inventory M3P today with a trade in of my 21 LR. bearing in mind i paid £58.4K for the car in black as it was 3 months old ex demo with 700 miles on it….i have no idea what someone had done with this car but the condition was awful.

Likely because some people are ar**holes when they test drive cars & clearly don't care about curbing or being careful in the car. The M3 I test drove was pretty scratched up in the centre console area. I didn't bother looking at the wheels etc as it was just a test drive. 700 miles is a fair few different people running quick test drives & throwing the car around.

I'm not sure how they think an ex demo car can be considered "new" at all, for inventory purposes.

 

[OliLondon]

yeah it’s a lesson learnt for me for sure…I would have had no issue if the car was £8k cheaper and advertised as “cosmetic damage” etc but i just don’t understand how anyone could have classed this as new condition.

My wife has even given me the green light to buy acceleration boost for the Y to cheer me up ha - so every cloud….

 

[Irata]

Tesla need to be careful doing this and ensure any product description is accurate

A big mistake might be the images they provide against inventory cars, they match the colour and model and so to the consumer this could be argued as a description of the product quality. Any "artist's impression" needs to be crystal clear on any marketing.

There is an argument for this to be investigated.

 

[Kansalis]

I wonder if they would respond to a request for the same photos they insist upon for trade-in vehicles. I certainly wouldn't buy a used/demo car sight unseen, regardless of whether they list is as "new". And as the OP quite rightly says, I'd be very upset if the car was in such a state after travelling to collect.

 

[Katic1972]

When I took a M3P out at my local Tesla sc the wheels were pretty badly curbed, wonder what happens to the test drive cars a) to get them in that condition on a single 30min test drive and b) do these cars end up as inventory stock?

 

[Slow_Lane]

Went to pick up a “new” inventory M3P today with a trade in of my 21 LR. bearing in mind i paid £58.4K for the car in black as it was 3 months old ex demo with 700 miles on it….i have no idea what someone had done with this car but the condition was awful.

drove 1 hour to pick it up, all excited, got there and all 4 wheels are curbed….not like touched the curb curbed….but rammed into a curb at speed curbed. Scratches on the side panels and front. Long story short i ended up rejecting the car and was pretty pis*ed off. Be careful if you order existing inventory with any mileage on guys!

there is some good news though, i saw the model Y there and actually really liked it, so have ordered a black one with the 20 inch induction wheels for May delivery

Do they send you photos of any damage or is it literally assumed to be in as new condition?

 

[OliLondon]

Do they send you photos of any damage or is it literally assumed to be in as new condition?

No photos, just a computer render or the car spec and the car listed under the “new” section of the existing inventory. When i first spoke to customer services they actually didn’t even know where the car was, just assured me it would be “as new” with any issues taken care of by the service centre before pick up

 

[Doudeau]

I’ve bought two inventory M3s - first one was unregistered and perfect condition (although it was a US car so perfect is debatable) and the second had 2000+ miles on the clock.

The 2nd one (2021 MIC) was better built, as expected, but it had 3 very small stone chips on the bonnet. I had no pushback when I asked them to be repaired and the bonnet was resprayed for me.

I’m mentioning as I at least found that you can get even very minor issues with an inventory car fixed.

 

[OliLondon]

I’ve bought two inventory M3s - first one was unregistered and perfect condition (although it was a US car so perfect is debatable) and the second had 2000+ miles on the clock.

The 2nd one (2021 MIC) was better built, as expected, but it had 3 very small stone chips on the bonnet. I had no pushback when I asked them to be repaired and the bonnet was resprayed for me.

I’m mentioning as I at least found that you can get even very minor issues with an inventory car fixed.

To be fair the guys at the service centre were great and did offer repairs…however i just didn’t feel comfortable paying a little under list price for a damaged vehicle, it also made me think that other issues and imperfections might appear later on down the line..

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Yeah it's always going to be a lottery, especially with demand so high at the moment I would always be asking myself "why has this car been returned to the inventory?". I'm sure there are many innocent explanations but it would nag at me.

I'm not sure the returned to inventory is such a big deal as buying a demo car. I've been under the impression if Tesla register the car to themselves (for demo purposes) then its sold a New Demo, if its been registered to someone and returned a week later it has to be sold as a used car, so I would be suspsicious of any used car thats only a few months old.

The final category would be rejected at handover so Tesla never press the "register" button with the DVLA, I'd have thought that was fairly rare. I thing the inventory numbers, which always seem to peak as you get close to quarter end, is where delivery can't happen because of failed finance, change of mind, wanting to delay, a whole bunch of reasons that has nothing to do with the car.

Oli, you did the right thing. Their used cars has a fairly poor set of criteria they have to meet and it sounds like the Demo cars are in the same camp, scratches, curbing, chips etc are all allowed up to a certain size.

 

[OliLondon]

I'm not sure the returned to inventory is such a big deal as buying a demo car. I've been under the impression if Tesla register the car to themselves (for demo purposes) then its sold a New Demo, if its been registered to someone and returned a week later it has to be sold as a used car, so I would be suspsicious of any used car thats only a few months old.

The final category would be rejected at handover so Tesla never press the "register" button with the DVLA, I'd have thought that was fairly rare. I thing the inventory numbers, which always seem to peak as you get close to quarter end, is where delivery can't happen because of failed finance, change of mind, wanting to delay, a whole bunch of reasons that has nothing to do with the car.

Oli, you did the right thing. Their used cars has a fairly poor set of criteria they have to meet and it sounds like the Demo cars are in the same camp, scratches, curbing, chips etc are all allowed up to a certain size.

it’s a lesson learnt, and excited about my Y now. I would have had no issue if they had managed expectation, but to sell as “new” just seems fairly deceptive to me, i did feel a little sorry for the staff there as it seemed this wasnt the first time this had happened, as i mentioned they couldn’t have been more helpful

 

[UrbanSplash]

Regardless if it’s registered by another customer or Tesla, it’s second hand and shouldn’t be sold as ‘new’. You will be the second registered keeper. Tesla blur the lines of ‘new’ to suit.

Y is amazing though. You will love it. Mine is perfect.

 

[OliLondon]

Regardless if it’s registered by another customer or Tesla, it’s second hand and shouldn’t be sold as ‘new’. You will be the second registered keeper. Tesla blur the lines of ‘new’ to suit.

Y is amazing though. You will love it. Mine is perfect.

View attachment 786552

Wow, looks great in white with the black wheels, i did like the white but have gone with black and the black wheels just as my current M3 is white

I have to say i’m a little nervous about my wife and the black wheels…..considering getting some alloygators fitted immediately post pick up ha - she had a track record of “contact” with curbs

 

[UrbanSplash]

Wow, looks great in white with the black wheels, i did like the white but have gone with black and the black wheels just as my current M3 is white

I have to say i’m a little nervous about my wife and the black wheels…..considering getting some alloygators fitted immediately post pick up ha - she had a track record of “contact” with curbs

Oh my wheels will be wrecked within a week! Haha

 

[OliLondon]

Oh my wheels will be wrecked within a week! Haha

Reminds me of when i picked up a car many moons ago, a brand new Audi TTS (when i was younger and considered myself very cool driving a convertible) - my now wife then girlfriend took the car out with her friend, called me 40 mins later - “oh i’m really sorry i curbed the wheels (plural)” - me thinking she touched them on the curb gently parking…and then “yeah i wasn’t going very fast so don’t worry…….only 40 or 50 mph”

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Regardless if it’s registered by another customer or Tesla, it’s second hand and shouldn’t be sold as ‘new’. You will be the second registered keeper. Tesla blur the lines of ‘new’ to suit.

There’s a legal difference for tax purposes. An ex demo has all the same tax incentives such as qualifying for 100% FYA, VAT (not than many can make use of that) etc. They sell them under new inventory but do make it clear it’s a demo. I take your point in general, it’s just a bit of both.

I’ve a white MY coming too. I’ve gone for smaller wheels but looking into options to change the colour. Cheapish option is a new set of covers. I used the tesla-info notification thing and order to delivery will be 5 days, worked very well and they make it really clear if it’s a demo car. Tesla are having my M3 back having offered 3k more than I paid for it when I bought it from them as a used car a year ago, can’t complain at that!

 

[candida]

I bought an inventory M3P in September 20 (having checked the tax break applied). 1700 miles - got to Bristol and nsr badly kerbed. Refused to take delivery and to be fair they drove me in convoy to the service centre and took a fresh wheel off a demo strator there and then (and calibrated tpms etc).
I'd photographed the car but missed a gouge under the front splitter and a (slightly) misaligned panel under the charging socket - my ceramic guy spotted both and to be fair Tesla Bristol took it back without any complaint six weeks later and sorted both.
And I know it shouldn't have been like that, they should have done what they did, but I thought (given we've all got bad service stories from one manufacturer or another) that I should tell a good story...

 

[phil4]

Last time I bought an Ex-demo was a VW golf... and it was in pristine condition when I picked it up. It might have been treated badly, and wheels damaged, but when I collected it, it was perfect.

I don't see how anything other than that can be justified for something described as New and with a close to list price. That's just wrong.

Oh well, we've all learned from your lesson, thanks for sharing.