Buying a used Tesla from an independent dealer

[MOzzA]

Anyone done this?

I'm considering all options whilst I wait for the sale of my car to go through so I can have a deposit in hand.

There are a number of used S models (eBay, Autotrader etc) out there for reasonable money.

Is the 8 year drive warranty and 4 year 50k warranty from Tesla transferable?

If a car is bought from any outlet away from Tesla officially, can things like Autopilot (albeit AP1 on older cars) be remotely activated if you pay Tesla direct?

Does the cars Supercharger access work seemlessly with a new owner? Same question for the data access (I presume the internet access the car needs from 3/4G always stays with the car.

I'd appreciate any experiences of owners of such cars on here.

Yes I know the referral won't work!!!

 

[Terry_B58]

Great questions, same as I have been pondering.

Doing a comparison between, say, Autotrader and Tesla Used Inventory there doesn't seem to be much price difference though.

Also with the Tesla Used, hopefully, you know what you are getting.

I suppose it is a minefield out there.

I am still looking and trying to win the lottery

 

[Lasttoy]

Took me 3 months. Made spread sheet to keep track of every car in USA, had to give up on calf, they have export tax
Join ev-CPO.COM THAT SHOWS EVERY TMS car in USA.
I bought in Atlanta, flew up to get it.
Some dealers were insane. They bought at auction, and tried to make double.
Carfax was very helpful
I called Tesla several times to check records, some folks were very helpful, others were not.

 

[MOzzA]

I guess the UK experience is the info I'm after. Thanks for sharing though.

Everyone in the UK bought direct from Tesla then???

 

[12Pack]

Yes, can highly recommend the Tesla CPO experience. The warranties are indeed transferable which makes a big difference to me. I picked up a low mileage MS. The car, and overall experience, was that of buying a brand new car - except that all the gremlins have already been worked out. The car has been perfect so far.

Yes, free supercharger access and data stay with the car for life, but that’s no different than if you purchased privately or through an independent.

 

[MOzzA]

And that's the info I'm after. Those who have bought a car from other sources away from Official Tesla outlets. There must be some members on here who've done it??

 

[HankLloydRight]

Not in the UK, but yes. I sold my P85+ and bought a P85D both private sales which worked out great. Not sure if that helps.

 

[Chris Z]

I got mine from Ryan at Zero Cars in August and so far I'm happy. I was after a CPO car but couldn't find the spec I was looking for and spotted this one on Autotrader. Like you I was concerned about not buying from Tesla directly but have been happy with the car, sales experience and prompt follow up to a couple of queries. I also made a worthwhile saving compared to similarish cars at Tesla at the time.

Good luck finding the right car.

 

[MOzzA]

Have you had to contact Tesla about anything concerning the car Chris? Was the Supercharging included and did it work seamlessly.

Another question, if I was to buy a used car without autopilot, can it be added, even if the used car wasn't Tesla supplied, afterwards??

 

[BrettS]

I bought my 2015 Model S in April of this year from a private seller, so I can answer some of your questions.

First, the standard factory warranties are transferable without issue. Additionally, the extended warranty is transferable if the original owner purchased it, however, I ran into an issue where my original owner was given the extended warranty as a goodwill gesture. I don’t know what the circumstances were surrounding that, but I found out after I had purchased the vehicle that goodwill extended warranties are not transferable. (Although in the end after quite a few phone calls, Tesla did make it right for me). I believe there may be a small ($50 or $100, I think) fee to transfer the extended warranty (no fee to transfer the standard warranty).

Yes, you can pay Tesla to enable Autopilot if it’s not already enabled, but keep in mind that this will only work if the car already has autopilot hardware. For the most part this should be any car built in 2015 or later and some cars build toward the end of 2014. The easy way to tell if a car has autopilot hardware is to look through the windshield from outside the car for the camera above the rear view mirror.

No problems for supercharger access or data access. I have supercharged my car a number of times (including the day I purchased it) and I’ve never had issues. Same with the data access... there was never an interruption in data after the car was purchased.

The only other thing I’ll mention is that in order to transfer ownership to you Tesla will want a copy of the bill of sale as well as a copy of your state registration. Once they get this info it will take about 3 business days to get the car transferred into your name, but they can’t start the process until the car is registered. In my case in Florida I wasn’t able to get the car permanently registered for about 45 days after I purchased the car, but I did get a temporary registration and temporary tags right away. Tesla did accept the temporary registration to transfer the car to my name. Until the car is transferred to your name you won’t be able to use the phone app with the car or enable autopilot if it isn’t already enabled. Everything else will work fine, though.

 

[CotswoldSara]

Hi MOzzA, I just signed up for a new Model S. I started looking for a second hand car but at the moment the quite high cost of second hand cars and loan rates in the UK it actually worked out better value for me to order a new one with all the bits on it that I wanted including the latest auto-pilot, I stopped short of full self drive as there're questions over how long it's going to take for that to become legal in the UK. The thing is ATM Tesla are doing 1.5% APR and if you use a referral code you get £750 off plus free supercharging. I'm a private purchaser BTW so no company write-down (or whatever it's called here I'm afraid). Ping me if I can help with anything, and good hunting

 

[12Pack]

Have you had to contact Tesla about anything concerning the car Chris? Was the Supercharging included and did it work seamlessly.

Another question, if I was to buy a used car without autopilot, can it be added, even if the used car wasn't Tesla supplied, afterwards??

For an AP1 car - yes assuming it had the hardware, i.e., later than Oct 2014 build. It was quoted at £2600, the same price as when the car was new. However, this was concerning a Tesla CPO, though I don't see why it would any different if purchased independently.

 

[JonG]

There are a lot of poor listings in the uk with incorrect details, so check carefully. There are also some mad prices so it’s worth checking several before taking the plunge and don’t be fooled by any ‘deals’ as advertised prices are falling all the time on some cars which were over priced and not selling. But Tesla will honour the warranty.

My advice, below 2 years and 20k miles, buy on price, above that a car outside Tesla needs to be a fair bit cheaper as the warranty extension from Tesla is worth having. Above 50k miles without a warranty, you need to be brave!

 

[MOzzA]

Gutted at the moment. It would seem many of the more refined finance houses (eg Halifax PCP who I have used before) will not quote on a used Tesla. Other places seem to have very high rates.

I suppose the next thing would be Tesla used. I just can’t stretch to their new inventory prices

 

[JonG]

Gutted at the moment. It would seem many of the more refined finance houses (eg Halifax PCP who I have used before) will not quote on a used Tesla. Other places seem to have very high rates.

I suppose the next thing would be Tesla used. I just can’t stretch to their new inventory prices

Tesla have the cheapest MS for sale in the country right now (although I wouldn’t personally want it), but their prices are fairly competitive especially when you factor in the warranty. The issue is they don’t advertise them, check my link to see the whole uk market

 

[Terry_B58]

I am leaning towards the Tesla Used, just need to get finances sorted

 

[MOzzA]

I have checked your link - not that user friendly on a smartphone and doesn’t seem to include the cars the Tesla SA can access

 

[JonG]

I have checked your link - not that user friendly on a smartphone and doesn’t seem to include the cars the Tesla SA can access

Way too much detail for a smart phone - try on a proper browser or a tablet.

And it has over 400 Tesla owned cars listed, Tesla only publically list about 50, over 500 in total including pistonheads and autotrader - not sure why you think it doesn't include ones Tesla SA ones. Give me a VIN and I'll get you all the details.

Look again and if you think something is missing, tell me, and if you can find a better resource to find a UK car then I'm not aware of it.

 

[MOzzA]

I’ll try the laptop. Just got frustrated with all the scrolling around the screen I had to do to find stuff.

How can you access Tesla SA lists?

 

[MOzzA]

Current thinking is to buy a new one - I’m in no hurry and it would sort of guarantee the finance rate, £750 discount and referral supercharging.

My concern is future value. As more and more mainstream car manufacturers start to introduce EVs where will that leave Tesla? A new 75D will still leave me with £35k owned in 4 years time. What if that value bombs??

The other option is to put a deposit on an i-Pace instead..... is that like swearing on here???