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Buying from a dealership vs CPO
- Thread starter Sisco
- Start date
The pros for buying through Tesla is:
- The 70pt inspection.
- Continued warranty of the powertrain (battery and drive unit), and a warranty for 2yr/100K miles or 4yr/50K miles.
- Assured Supercharging capabilities.
- Ease of vehicle registration for mobile app, MCU, Slacker Radio, future service appts, etc
- Option for prepaid service/maintenance plans.
I believe you would be unable to purchase an extended warranty from Tesla.
Extended Service Agreement
Extended Service Agreement
The pros of the purchasing direct from Tesla I think would be the ability to buy an extended service agreemnt.
I decided to buy through a dealer that will give me a extended multi-day test drive (e.g., Carmax, Carvana, Sonic, etc). I don't usually by extended service agreements for anything and the Tesla extended service plan is quite expensive.
Buying from Tesla unfortunately there is no extended test drive available or even any at all until you buy the car. Also, you must put down $2500 and it is non-refundable. If the car you would like is not available nearby then Tesla will ship it to another dealer but charge you $2000, also non-refundable. Was too much money risked for me to go ahead with this so I opted to try and go for a dealer with no shipping charges and extended multi-day test drive.
If you leave near a Tesla dealer and the car you want is local, Tesla might be a good way to go also.
I decided to buy through a dealer that will give me a extended multi-day test drive (e.g., Carmax, Carvana, Sonic, etc). I don't usually by extended service agreements for anything and the Tesla extended service plan is quite expensive.
Buying from Tesla unfortunately there is no extended test drive available or even any at all until you buy the car. Also, you must put down $2500 and it is non-refundable. If the car you would like is not available nearby then Tesla will ship it to another dealer but charge you $2000, also non-refundable. Was too much money risked for me to go ahead with this so I opted to try and go for a dealer with no shipping charges and extended multi-day test drive.
If you leave near a Tesla dealer and the car you want is local, Tesla might be a good way to go also.
I bought from both.
The dealer wanted my sale and treated me properly during the whole process.
Tesla sold me a car that did not have a functioning door and the ring around the MCU. They were super disorganized and the entire purchase of the vehicle was very painful.
This said I could have purchased a 2 or 4 year extended warranty with the car I bought from the dealer and the Tesla purchase came with a fresh 4 year warranty.
In both cases the price was good and the car was great. At the end of the day if you end up with the car you are ahead.
Also look at the Rich Rebuilds YouTube channel as he is documenting his used Tesla purchase...
The dealer wanted my sale and treated me properly during the whole process.
Tesla sold me a car that did not have a functioning door and the ring around the MCU. They were super disorganized and the entire purchase of the vehicle was very painful.
This said I could have purchased a 2 or 4 year extended warranty with the car I bought from the dealer and the Tesla purchase came with a fresh 4 year warranty.
In both cases the price was good and the car was great. At the end of the day if you end up with the car you are ahead.
Also look at the Rich Rebuilds YouTube channel as he is documenting his used Tesla purchase...
I purchased from a dealer after being frustrated with the Tesla used car purchasing process. I cancelled my order with Tesla even after buying a plane ticket to Denver for delivery.
The disadvantage of buying from dealer is Tesla won't sell extended warranty. Not something id be likely to purchase anyway but might be meaningful to you.
The advantage of buying from Tesla is they start the clock over on a bumper to bumper warranty. 4 years 50,000 miles from delivery on late models with under 50k miles. Battery and drive motor warranty are same from either.
Advantage of buying from dealer IMHO are many. You can see the car you can drive the car get good pictures of the car all before forking over cash. Its true I'm not lying, kidding or mis leading you in anyway. And they answer all your questions. Not days or weeks later or not at all. You'll have to deal with Tesla for that kind of neglect. I'm also assuming, yeah I know, you'd like the car to be clean and detailed and the paperwork processed in a timely manner.
I found a 2016, facelift, AP2 75D with 10,486 miles for pretty much the same price as Tesla used. And it was in Denver so I didn't waste my airline ticket.
All that being said if you find one that you like, once you have it doesn't matter where you got it. You're gonna love it.
dark cloud
Active Member
I got mine through a 3rd party reseller and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. I have had no issues at all having Tesla warranty the car: Through Vancouver SC I felt as valued as someone who just bought a fully loaded P100D model X.
I got mine in Vancouver, but I noticed a place in Ontario who has a sort of partnership with Tesla Canada as a reseller for their cars, claiming they get them direct from Tesla, or maybe they just get them from the auction, but they have about 40 currently with some awesome prices. Yes, they can ship it to you.
Shift Motors Burlington - BMW, MINI, LOTUS,MIATA & TESLA SPECIALISTS
Shift would also like to welcome Raphael Chan to our team. ‘Raphy’, as he is endearingly known, arrives to us fresh from Tesla Motors, having run the remarketing and pre-owned divisions of Tesla Canada and more or less blazing trails on the Electric Vehicle forefront. Now, we are excited to have him here at Shift Motors where he will help to lead us into the EV revolution that has already started to change the landscape of our business, our environment and our lives (in a good way!) and will do so for all time to come!
The only disadvantage is not having the 4yr or 2yr (based on mileage) warranty extension given through the CPO's, Even with the 4yr 80000 km warranty with my mileage it would only be a 2 year warranty. I'll let you know in 2 years if I made a good decision or not.
*This is about the 4th edit I have done on this page, but how can they do this? Check it out: A factory Tesla warranty on a used car from a 3rd party??
TESLA MODEL S 70D - PREMIUM PKG, AUTOPILOT, ACCIDENT-FREE (1-18-184) - Shift Motors Burlington
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One can not inspect the car through Tesla’s USED car buying program (stop calling it CPO... it isn’t anymore).
After seeing Rich Rebuilds horror story video about his attempt to purchase a model X from Tesla online, I would not recommend that to anyone.
After seeing Rich Rebuilds horror story video about his attempt to purchase a model X from Tesla online, I would not recommend that to anyone.
The best thing about buying from tesla is the warranty. They also tend to price the cars just a bit lower IMO. Other than that, the dealer experience would be far superior as you can actually see the car, drive it before you buy it.
The 70pt inspection done by tesla is completely made up. They won't tell you what they do and won't give you a report. They will sell any crap as pre owned without checking it. Bald tires, bad alignment, one guy had a nail in the tire. Not made up.
The 70pt inspection done by tesla is completely made up. They won't tell you what they do and won't give you a report. They will sell any crap as pre owned without checking it. Bald tires, bad alignment, one guy had a nail in the tire. Not made up.
dark cloud
Active Member
They probably just plug in Tesla tools in the OBD port and if it trips no faults then 70 points have passed.
I am targeting a used 2017 100D with low miles so I can save the 30% first year depreciation. Since there will still be at least 2 years of bumper to bumper warranty left if I buy through a dealer, I don't see a down side going that route. I can see the car, negotiate a lower price and get it inspected. I guess the only negative is you may be guessing at the options included unless they have the original order sheet.
I highly doubt most experiences are like this. A big part of the problem is that Tesla shouldn’t sell the car until they have the title in hand from the previous owner.
Agreed. But like many companies, it’s the worst experiences that define the system and “make the rounds” to force change, not the best or the average.
Situations like this is how companies get bad press. It should never get this far it last this long. The fact that it is not resolved indicates that there is a lack of... something... at Tesla.
How a company handles the worst experience defines them. Don’t dismiss it because “it doesn’t happen all the time”. It’s happening. We’re watching it. It’s a disaster.
Situations like this is how companies get bad press. It should never get this far it last this long. The fact that it is not resolved indicates that there is a lack of... something... at Tesla.
How a company handles the worst experience defines them. Don’t dismiss it because “it doesn’t happen all the time”. It’s happening. We’re watching it. It’s a disaster.
Eevee
Member
When I researched the options, I decided to buy direct from Tesla for two reasons:
- WARRANTY: if you buy from a dealer or previous owner then you can't get the warranty that Tesla offers
- SELECTION: there are simply as not many cars available from dealers as there are directly from Tesla, assuming you use EV-CPO.com
I also noticed that many dealers are advertising Teslas for sale without proper descriptions. For instance, I saw descriptions that said the car had free supercharging but the manufacture date didn't line up with that. Or they said the car had full self-driving but that's not possible, etc. Tesla is doing that too, but I feel like there's more recourse when Tesla gets the listing wrong.
- WARRANTY: if you buy from a dealer or previous owner then you can't get the warranty that Tesla offers
- SELECTION: there are simply as not many cars available from dealers as there are directly from Tesla, assuming you use EV-CPO.com
I also noticed that many dealers are advertising Teslas for sale without proper descriptions. For instance, I saw descriptions that said the car had free supercharging but the manufacture date didn't line up with that. Or they said the car had full self-driving but that's not possible, etc. Tesla is doing that too, but I feel like there's more recourse when Tesla gets the listing wrong.
Rich Rebuilds generally does not have good things to say about Tesla
