Bought a model Y that I thought had clean title and found out it was salvage

[EVer Hopeful]

"sometimes"???????

 

[bpobill]

Stupid advice Look t all the crap this guy is going though because he bought from used car dealer. You can't even trust new car dealers sometimes

Yes stupid advice. The overwhelming majority of used cars sales at dealerships go perfectly fine. Sometimes bad things happen like this. Doesnt mean you should avoid dealerships at all costs. With this mentality you shouldnt do anything. Sometimes restaurants mess up an order. Sometimes a GC messes up a house. Sometimes you get a bad tank of gas. I could go on and on.

 

[VT_EE]

I'm curious what Tesla will do now that so many other brand cars will be using Superchargers. Is Tesla going to try and blacklist GMs, Fords, Rivians? At some point they are going to have to abandon this Supercharger salvage blacklist BS.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I'm curious what Tesla will do now that so many other brand cars will be using Superchargers. Is Tesla going to try and blacklist GMs, Fords, Rivians? At some point they are going to have to abandon this Supercharger salvage blacklist BS.

Tesla can't blacklist those because they don't pass through their VIN to Tesla, plus even if they do, I doubt GM/Ford/Rivian would agree for Tesla to do so as terms of their agreement. Been said a billion times, but a fire happening with those cars is not equivalent to a fire happening to a salvage Tesla. A salvage Tesla fire would 100% be blamed on Tesla by the media, and almost none of them will bother to find if the car is salvage (and by the time that is determined, the news cycle has moved on). Thus, I don't see Tesla changing their policy.

Tesla have released a salvage recertification program, so at least now salvage cars have a way to get supercharger re-activated.

Salvage voiding the warranty applies to all automakers, so that obviously will not change.

The OP seems to not have their title from the DMV yet. If it's a clean title (and title was not washed by moving the car between states), then there are ways to get Tesla to fix the status (as others noted up thread).

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

If you have time, try to watch a Steve Lehto (lemon law attorney) You Tube video on this topic.
Dealer has to give you a good title or else.

 

[Ivan009]

Can't believe this. I have the sama case. Bought from IAAI frist week of April and it was Clean title. Now Carfax it shows clean but Tesla says its Salvidged. Tomorrow I am going there again to see what is going on.

The car I bought is Model Y Long Range 2023. I will follow how is going with the other car. May be we have to file togather agains IAAI...

 

[jjrandorin]

Can't believe this. I have the sama case. Bought from IAAI frist week of April and it was Clean title. Now Carfax it shows clean but Tesla says its Salvidged. Tomorrow I am going there again to see what is going on.

The car I bought is Model Y Long Range 2023. I will follow how is going with the other car. May be we have to file togather agains IAAI...

You should probably start by reading post #29 in this thread. It contains the the IAAI disclosure that the original poster of this thread posted, which is:

And notice that it SPECIFICALLY calls out " Including that vehicles sold with a clear title may appear as junk / salvage in subsequent reports to NMVTIS reporting".

This is (or should be) a part of doing your due diligence if you are buying at that type of auction. There is no "case" to have, other than you bought a vehicle from IAAI, who appears to report all vehicles this way.

 

[Ivan009]

You should probably start by reading post #29 in this thread. It contains the the IAAI disclosure that the original poster of this thread posted, which is:

View attachment 952929

And notice that it SPECIFICALLY calls out " Including that vehicles sold with a clear title may appear as junk / salvage in subsequent reports to NMVTIS reporting".

This is (or should be) a part of doing your due diligence if you are buying at that type of auction. There is no "case" to have, other than you bought a vehicle from IAAI, who appears to report all vehicles this way.

Yes I have been reading the whole story but still went and discussed with IAAI the issue and they did agree that such information should be listed. They will not take full responsibility but they are trying to make it clear for the next Tesla viechles.
It seems Tesla had the car at their lot and after the damage they reported it to themselfs and later send it to the auction.

 

[rlsd]

There are many reports in California that car dealers rolled back odometer mileage.

 

[Alex Dru]

I have the same problem

 

[Mrbrock]

I am surprised no one has picked up on two facts. This vehicle is leased not owned and the original owner was Tesla. It was a lease vehicle that was in an accident and was sold at auction. I have never leased a vehicle but I’d assume Tesla as the actual owner would have a say as whether to fix the vehicle or to auction it off. The fact that it was auctioned means Tesla knew about these problems from day one.

Something to think about when buying a used Tesla from a third party, maybe reach out to Tesla to verify the status of the vehicle and see if it is on any blacklist. Id assume service centers would have access to this list.

 

[davewill]

I am surprised no one has picked up on two facts. This vehicle is leased not owned and the original owner was Tesla. It was a lease vehicle that was in an accident and was sold at auction. I have never leased a vehicle but I’d assume Tesla as the actual owner would have a say as whether to fix the vehicle or to auction it off. The fact that it was auctioned means Tesla knew about these problems from day one.

Something to think about when buying a used Tesla from a third party, maybe reach out to Tesla to verify the status of the vehicle and see if it is on any blacklist. Id assume service centers would have access to this list.

I took this a little differently. Apparently, Tesla sent this to auction and didn't update the records until after it sold, presumably getting a higher price than they would if it were clearly labeled salvage. So who thinks they would have verified anything about the car?

Does sound as bad to anyone else as it does to me?

Mind you, I'm sure all of the insurers are doing the same thing.

 

[Hormold]

@Ivan009, @Alex Dru or anyone who has a similar problem with zero-response from Tesla, please contact me by direct messages (in forum) or Telegram (My nickname is @define). I have a few ideas.

After three weeks, still no any answer from Tesla. I understand they have a lot of requests. And the team that works on these requests is very small.

The main problem right now - (maybe) incorrect interpretation of information from NMVTIS by Tesla.

I understand that there may be some other hidden facts that I do not know about, and the car was in a terrible accident that damaged the battery or motors.
But I held the Clean Title in my hand, signed by the Tesla employee who sold this car.
The car was not in other states, this is not laundering the title.

I have seen all the photos of the car after the auction and the process of fixing the dent.
I finally registered my car in California DMV with clean papers and took out clean-title car insurance with full coverage for 500/month (ha-ha, another credit for a car).

And I understand that perhaps Tesla is really interpreting this information from NMVTIS (mistakenly) as a salvage title.

I combine all thoughts and notes here - tesla-y-salvage.com/story

 

[brainhouston]

Couple of good sites to check if the car was at auction:

VIN: 5YJYGDEE0MF186849 | TESLA MODEL Y 2021 car history - Stat.vin

Car history TESLA MODEL Y 2021 Gray ➡️ VIN code: 5YJYGDEE0MF186849 Auction IAAI USA ✔️ Sale status: Sold ➡️ Lot number: 36386562 - Stat.vin

stat.vin

https://en.bidfax.info/tesla/model-y/18162084-tesla-model-y-long-range-2021-gray-dual-vin-5yjygdee0mf186849.html

Its also interesting that name is "Loaner"...
It did in fact was sold as Clean.
I see a lot of cars like that at IAAI, not sure if its price inflation on purpose or just wrong info sent to IAAI, but looks like u can't trust it.

Also, in my experience, u can't trust any auction cars around LA area, way too many shady things going on there...

 

[stopcrazypp]

I took this a little differently. Apparently, Tesla sent this to auction and didn't update the records until after it sold, presumably getting a higher price than they would if it were clearly labeled salvage. So who thinks they would have verified anything about the car?

Does sound as bad to anyone else as it does to me?

Mind you, I'm sure all of the insurers are doing the same thing.

Nope, the OP is clear it's a clean title (and not title washed unlike some previous cases). What happened is the car went to auction at IAAI and IAAI automatically reports the car to a database (NMVTIS) which is a database for salvage cars. IAAI even has a disclaimer that their auctioned cars may be reported as such. Tesla uses that database (or a similar one that takes data from it) and the car is thus reported as salvage to Tesla.

If this is the case, this can be fixed by proving to Tesla it's a clean title, which I have read people successfully doing, although it's a slow process.

It's an entirely different case if the car was actually salvage, in which case the used car dealer that sold it would be liable if it was advertised as clean.

 

[MP3Mike]

I understand that there may be some other hidden facts that I do not know about, and the car was in a terrible accident that damaged the battery or motors.

That certainly sounds like something that would get the car classified as a total loss. At a minimum the warranty would be voided:

The following will also void this New Vehicle Limited Warranty:
• Vehicles that have had the VIN defaced or altered or the odometer or other related system
disconnected, altered or rendered inoperative so that it is difficult to determine the VIN
number or actual mileage;
• Vehicles that do not have clean title or have been sold, designated, labeled or branded as
dismantled, fire-damaged, flood- damaged, junk, rebuilt, salvage, reconstructed, irreparable
or a total loss; and
• Vehicles that have been determined to be a total loss by an insurance company.

Which doesn't require a branded title.

 

[Hormold]

That certainly sounds like something that would get the car classified as a total loss. At a minimum the warranty would be voided:



Which doesn't require a branded title.

Oh, no. I mean - maybe my car was in accident which I didn't know.

 

[Mrbrock]

Nope, the OP is clear it's a clean title (and not title washed unlike some previous cases). What happened is the car went to auction at IAAI and IAAI automatically reports the car to a database (NMVTIS) which is a database for salvage cars. IAAI even has a disclaimer that their auctioned cars may be reported as such. Tesla uses that database (or a similar one that takes data from it) and the car is thus reported as salvage to Tesla.

If this is the case, this can be fixed by proving to Tesla it's a clean title, which I have read people successfully doing, although it's a slow process.

It's an entirely different case if the car was actually salvage, in which case the used car dealer that sold it would be liable if it was advertised as clean.

Why would Tesla send a car to auction that could easily be fixed? Tesla Lease Trust was the original owner which means it was in an accident while on lease. Sounds like insurance fraud if they totaled something they could easily fix. There is a lot here that doesn’t add up.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Why would Tesla send a car to auction that could easily be fixed? Tesla Lease Trust was the original owner which means it was in an accident while on lease. Sounds like insurance fraud if they totaled something they could easily fix. There is a lot here that doesn’t add up.

IAAI also auctions cars that are not totalled. Their disclaimer says that. Tesla is not generally in the business of selling used cars, so I can see them using IAAI even if car is not totalled to liquidate it quickly.

 

[Rocky_H]

Why would Tesla send a car to auction that could easily be fixed?

Because that's their standard practice--they send most used cars off to auction/wholesalers because they don't have much interest in being a used car business.