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Best practices when purchasing a used Tesla

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Hi all,

I'll be purchasing a used Tesla Model S within the month or so. I've got a few questions. I am looking at both Private Party sales (preferred) and dealer. Most that I've seen are from out of state so I plan to fly out and drive it back.

1. Is it advised to "reset" the car so all settings from previous owner(s) are wiped? If so, how do I go about doing this?
2. In the event the previous driver has PIN to drive enabled, how do I ensure that is off before I drive off?
3. Some dealers only show the vehicle with one key, what is the price for a new key/reprogram?
4. Once I purchase, am I able to create a Tesla account and add it with my credit card info for FSD purchase / supercharging visits?
5. If I purchase FSD, how long does it take to add to the vehicle? Do I need to have it connected to Wifi?
6. Can I link ABRP to the Tesla to use that rather than the built in route planner? Or is the built in planner better?
7. Should I be worried about API's if the previous owners had them enabled with various apps or is that reset when I do a full reset?

I'm aware I wont have the FSD Beta when I purchase, just looking on utilizing the NoA feature for the drive home.

Is there anything else I am not thinking about. Thanks in advance!
 
Hi all,

I'll be purchasing a used Tesla Model S within the month or so. I've got a few questions. I am looking at both Private Party sales (preferred) and dealer. Most that I've seen are from out of state so I plan to fly out and drive it back.

1. Is it advised to "reset" the car so all settings from previous owner(s) are wiped? If so, how do I go about doing this?
2. In the event the previous driver has PIN to drive enabled, how do I ensure that is off before I drive off?
3. Some dealers only show the vehicle with one key, what is the price for a new key/reprogram?
4. Once I purchase, am I able to create a Tesla account and add it with my credit card info for FSD purchase / supercharging visits?
5. If I purchase FSD, how long does it take to add to the vehicle? Do I need to have it connected to Wifi?
6. Can I link ABRP to the Tesla to use that rather than the built in route planner? Or is the built in planner better?
7. Should I be worried about API's if the previous owners had them enabled with various apps or is that reset when I do a full reset?

I'm aware I wont have the FSD Beta when I purchase, just looking on utilizing the NoA feature for the drive home.

Is there anything else I am not thinking about. Thanks in advance!

I wiped the settings and that’s never a bad thing to do. Pin to drive is easy to detect: get in and it’ll ask (or not). I found that enabling or changing it would sometimes not work: you would need to enter your Tesla credentials first. My recommendation is to make sure it’s off when you take ownership of the car and don’t fiddle with it until the car is in your Tesla account.

another odd thing: after a reset the car started to require “authentication” from the remote. Double-clicking the “roof” of the remote did the trick for me. Again here, get that car into your account before you reset so you have something to fall back on.
 
I purchased a 2016 Tesla S from an auction in Sanford, FL I understood that the Tesla Dealers did not sell used and sent them all to auction. Was extremely pleased with my purchase. Dealer salesman was a great help with my research. Check it out.
 
To Q3 I bought a used Model S which only had one key. The new one was £129 plus VAT including programming.

Q6 - I don't believe you can link ABRP for the car to use directly, though the in-built nav is pretty good and does take account of the need for charging along the way and the location of chargers on route.
 
Thanks for the replies. Anyone have any info on Q4 and Q5.

Q4. no, you will not get access to the car until you do a LONG and TEDIOUS process of manually uploading your bill of sale documents to tesla and someone will manually add the car to your account. this will take longer than a day.. longer than a week.. possibly longer than a month before you can log in. mine took 5 weeks from the time i submitted my bill of sale.

Q5 FSD can be added instantly once you complete Q4 process. but be aware that FSD beta that you see on your favorite news will probably not be available till 2021+
 
Q4. no, you will not get access to the car until you do a LONG and TEDIOUS process of manually uploading your bill of sale documents to tesla and someone will manually add the car to your account. this will take longer than a day.. longer than a week.. possibly longer than a month before you can log in. mine took 5 weeks from the time i submitted my bill of sale.

Q5 FSD can be added instantly once you complete Q4 process. but be aware that FSD beta that you see on your favorite news will probably not be available till 2021+


Thanks for the answers. So in a situation where I plan to buy a used MS cross country and fly out. It wouldn't allow me to supercharge on my way home? Or it wouldn't allow me to add FSD to my account right away? I only care about NoA currently for the drive home. By the way what year did you buy your car?

Does anyone else have experience with buying used and adding FSD or supercharging visits?
 
Thanks for the answers. So in a situation where I plan to buy a used MS cross country and fly out. It wouldn't allow me to supercharge on my way home? Or it wouldn't allow me to add FSD to my account right away? I only care about NoA currently for the drive home. By the way what year did you buy your car?

Does anyone else have experience with buying used and adding FSD or supercharging visits?

Actually this is a good question. If the car is not in your name, you cannot add your payment method to your Tesla account which means you cannot supercharge unless you work out some kind of arrangement with the previous owner where he would a.) add your credit card to his account or b.) paid him upfront for your expected supercharging costs which would be billed to him until the car is transferred.

Any reason why you wouldn't opt for paying a few hundred to have the car shipped to your home?
 
Actually this is a good question. If the car is not in your name, you cannot add your payment method to your Tesla account which means you cannot supercharge unless you work out some kind of arrangement with the previous owner where he would a.) add your credit card to his account or b.) paid him upfront for your expected supercharging costs which would be billed to him until the car is transferred.

Any reason why you wouldn't opt for paying a few hundred to have the car shipped to your home?

The problem is the ones I am looking at currently are held at private dealerships. So who knows how that would work. I have to imagine Tesla has something in place for issues like this. Maybe im wrong.

I don't mind paying to have it shipped but just thought it would be exciting to fly out and drive it back.
 
The problem is the ones I am looking at currently are held at private dealerships. So who knows how that would work. I have to imagine Tesla has something in place for issues like this. Maybe im wrong.

I don't mind paying to have it shipped but just thought it would be exciting to fly out and drive it back.

you have too much faith on tesla. they arent gonna help you very much since you didn't buy the car from them.. tesla is terrible at oversight and design and planning, and especially service. get ready to pull your hair out talking to a computer when you have to do service.

i'm on my second model S, just bought this 2018 6 months ago but i'm ready to leave once the following happens: i get a deal on the taycan that i cant refuse, someone offers me what i paid for it, or if it self destructs somehow..
 
Q4. no, you will not get access to the car until you do a LONG and TEDIOUS process of manually uploading your bill of sale documents to tesla and someone will manually add the car to your account. this will take longer than a day.. longer than a week.. possibly longer than a month before you can log in. mine took 5 weeks from the time i submitted my bill of sale.

That isn't true if you buy private party. They can go into their Tesla account and transfer it to you directly: Tesla Account Support

If you buy from a third-party dealer they likely haven't registered it with Tesla so they can't transfer it to you and you have to submit paperwork to Tesla to get it added to your account.

So if you buy from a private party make sure they fill in the new buyer details and that they don't just remove it from their account.
 
Actually this is a good question. If the car is not in your name, you cannot add your payment method to your Tesla account which means you cannot supercharge unless you work out some kind of arrangement with the previous owner where he would a.) add your credit card to his account or b.) paid him upfront for your expected supercharging costs which would be billed to him until the car is transferred.

At one point Tesla added the feature to allow you to put a credit card in on the screen to pay for an individual Supercharging stop on a car that wasn't registered: Tesla Adds In-Car Payment Option For Supercharging Sessions

But some people have said that it was no longer available.
 
That isn't true if you buy private party. They can go into their Tesla account and transfer it to you directly: Tesla Account Support

If you buy from a third-party dealer they likely haven't registered it with Tesla so they can't transfer it to you and you have to submit paperwork to Tesla to get it added to your account.

So if you buy from a private party make sure they fill in the new buyer details and that they don't just remove it from their account.

yea the guy said he's buying from a private dealer
 
Speaking from recent experience about question #4, I have bought two Teslas, a MS P90D and a M3P. The P90D still had the unlimited Supercharging and premium connectivity attached to the MS. The M3P had the FSD active and will be updated in the future.

‘when I registered and setup a Tesla online account, I filled out and sent in the required documentation to Tesla support. Both the P90D and M3P were added to my Tesla account within TWO HOURS of sending in my documentation!! Now there were several factors involved. It has to be during a business day and living in Texas, it is advisable to send in the required documentation when it is 2-4pm California (Pacific Standard Time.).

And on the P90D, the unlimited Supercharging and premium connectivity stayed with the vehicle since it was never traded or sold back to Tesla Motors. Same thing with the M3P... the FSD stayed with the vehicle. Good luck on your search for and here is an awesome listing at Momentum Volvo on a preowned 2016 MS P90D with unlimited Supercharging, the panoramic sunroof, and AP1 HW1.

Used 2016 Tesla Model S For Sale in Houston TX | Stock: TGF139386
 
And on the P90D, the unlimited Supercharging and premium connectivity stayed with the vehicle since it was never traded or sold back to Tesla Motors. Same thing with the M3P... the FSD stayed with the vehicle. Good luck on your search for and here is an awesome listing at Momentum Volvo on a preowned 2016 MS P90D with unlimited Supercharging, the panoramic sunroof, and AP1 HW1.

Used 2016 Tesla Model S For Sale in Houston TX | Stock: TGF139386

I wonder if the 'complementary home delivery' would stretch to the UK?

(I could even live with the steering wheel being on the wrong side)