I am normally a huge proponent for Tesla. I was happy to recommend buying certified pre-owned, CPO, from them but am actually in quite a pickle that I have to say now "buyer beware." I bought a Model X certified pre-owned from Tesla (at Paramus NJ) without one issue on the Carfax report. It turns out that after I received a clear title from the DMV a month after the sale, there was an anomalous report of flood damage recorded to the DMV on the vehicle approximately 3 weeks after the issuance of my clean title, and I was not aware of it until recently.
Because of this report, supercharging was turned off. You can imagine my surprise learning this over a hundred miles from home. I was never sent a courtesy call, nor email, nor letter telling me they had this report on my VIN. No attempt was made by Tesla to their paying customer to rectify it. I would not have driven it that far had I known and would have taken another vehicle. They effectively kept me stranded and did not even turn on supercharging even temporarily for me to get home. I called roadside service twice out of desperation and the CSR had to tell me no exceptions because of policy--I could tell they said so reluctantly, but they know they stranded a family of five. They just turned it off without telling me, knowing full well I showed active use of the vehicle on my app and driving it nearly weekly since the day of sale. I was never in a flood or accident. I never went to a shop other than Tesla for anything more than minor repairs or tire change, and my insurance is up to date without any claims.
I wish I could tell you a happy ending to this. Currently I am actually sitting in a hotel, waiting on the trickle charge of 4 miles an hour, to get enough miles to get home. The hotel was nice enough to let me charge. I had a starting charge of 60 miles and need 140 miles to get home safely. You do the math to figure out how long we've been here.
I really am at a loss as to how to prevent this even after sale from Tesla, but aside from periodically screening Carfax, a brand on the title is a scarlet letter that will take serious effort to remedy. I know my experience is a really rare event among the thousands of vehicles they sell, but when it happens to a vehicle that you paid significant up front price to get, it can hit you hard if you cannot weather it. And it's an even harder hit when the company you trusted treats you now like a pariah.
