CarMax sold me a broken model 3?

[Jamison Shaw]

So I just purchased a Model 3 standard from Lakeland CarMax. I’ve had excellent experiences with CarMax in the past when my bmw 330e has issues and they basically covered everything. Test drive and everything went great. No notable issues. Then came the drive home. Shortly after joining the highway I received an error code and my speed was limited to 58 mph. As a new Tesla owner I simply followed the instructions on the a screen which said pull over and exit the car and restart it etc. I did exactly that and then resumed highway travel back to Tampa.

And again shortly after. Same code. So by now we’re almost 25 mins into a 40 minute drive and I am questioning turning around or going home and taking it to my local Tesla service center the following day as I have one in Tampa, and CarMax really can’t do anything about it.

So we make it all the way home in turtle mode which was not fun, and given CarMax barely charged the car I’m now at about 48% battery and want to top off slowly with the mobile charger. I plug it in, get the green Tesla light and go inside. Come back out shortly after (because the Tesla app had not transferred ownership to my name yet and I can’t see the charge on my app) and see they it has not charged a drop.

Yet another error code and this alert: Unable to AC charge - Unplug and retry Or try DC Fast Charging / Supercharging.

So now I’m dumbfounded and moderately annoyed. I have my previous vehicles charge cable so I use the adapter and attempt to charge with that and nothing, same issue. So as a last resort, I wait until evening and travel a minute or two down the street where there is a destination charger at a hotel with the standard level 2 charger Tesla makes. Plug it in. Finally see some numbers and voltage, 1 hour something minutes … and then the same error code within a minute.

I go home defeated and depressed. Next day I go to Tesla on my remaining battery. Why not CarMax? Because what are they gonna do but tow the car to Tesla, and I don’t want to have to have the car towed from CarMax to Tesla when they say there is nothing they can do..

So I bring it there as a walk in as I am unable to schedule a service appointment yet due to ownership transfer, and as this is critical with the car not being able to charge and soon to be cripled. They accept my walk up obviously and attempt to charge the car to diagnose the issue. I’m told after they need to keep the car as they’ve replicated the issue, to service it obviously, but are unable to provide me Uber credits because my account isn’t carried over yet.

So off to CarMax (down the street) I go via my own Uber. After sitting there for three hours, they finally give me a loaner car and say it’s good for seven days. They “usually don’t do this but given the situation they’re allowing it.” I would hope so, provided they sold me a Tesla they clearly did not properl asses the vehicle prior to offering it for sale…

So now here I am stuck with a used Chevy Malibu as my rental car. They’re not charging me for it so I can not complain.

My discussion and question for everyone is should CarMax cover all the costs of this as they essentially sold me a broken car. And also, will Tesla’s warranty cover repairs if it falls within their coverage, even though the car was purchased as third party? Or is Tesla going to try to slam this on CarMax as I imagine they might, and I’ll be stuck in the middle.

Thanks for all input. It should be noted I absolutely am obessed with the car. Other than the fact that I was unaware the previous owners somehow had not purchased auto pilot which will now come at additional cost. I may bring this to CarMax too as the car was sold with automated cruise control, which indicates autopilot.

Thanks for all feedback. Sorry if the post has grammar issues I am on mobile.

 

[Tam]

So I just purchased a Model 3 standard from Lakeland CarMax. I’ve had excellent experiences with CarMax in the past when my bmw 330e has issues and they basically covered everything. Test drive and everything went great. No notable issues. Then came the drive home. Shortly after joining the highway I received an error code and my speed was limited to 58 mph. As a new Tesla owner I simply followed the instructions on the a screen which said pull over and exit the car and restart it etc. I did exactly that and then resumed highway travel back to Tampa.

And again shortly after. Same code. So by now we’re almost 25 mins into a 40 minute drive and I am questioning turning around or going home and taking it to my local Tesla service center the following day as I have one in Tampa, and CarMax really can’t do anything about it.

So we make it all the way home in turtle mode which was not fun, and given CarMax barely charged the car I’m now at about 48% battery and want to top off slowly with the mobile charger. I plug it in, get the green Tesla light and go inside. Come back out shortly after (because the Tesla app had not transferred ownership to my name yet and I can’t see the charge on my app) and see they it has not charged a drop.

Yet another error code and this alert: Unable to AC charge - Unplug and retry Or try DC Fast Charging / Supercharging.

So now I’m dumbfounded and moderately annoyed. I have my previous vehicles charge cable so I use the adapter and attempt to charge with that and nothing, same issue. So as a last resort, I wait until evening and travel a minute or two down the street where there is a destination charger at a hotel with the standard level 2 charger Tesla makes. Plug it in. Finally see some numbers and voltage, 1 hour something minutes … and then the same error code within a minute.

I go home defeated and depressed. Next day I go to Tesla on my remaining battery. Why not CarMax? Because what are they gonna do but tow the car to Tesla, and I don’t want to have to have the car towed from CarMax to Tesla when they say there is nothing they can do..

So I bring it there as a walk in as I am unable to schedule a service appointment yet due to ownership transfer, and as this is critical with the car not being able to charge and soon to be cripled. They accept my walk up obviously and attempt to charge the car to diagnose the issue. I’m told after they need to keep the car as they’ve replicated the issue, to service it obviously, but are unable to provide me Uber credits because my account isn’t carried over yet.

So off to CarMax (down the street) I go via my own Uber. After sitting there for three hours, they finally give me a loaner car and say it’s good for seven days. They “usually don’t do this but given the situation they’re allowing it.” I would hope so, provided they sold me a Tesla they clearly did not properl asses the vehicle prior to offering it for sale…

So now here I am stuck with a used Chevy Malibu as my rental car. They’re not charging me for it so I can not complain.

My discussion and question for everyone is should CarMax cover all the costs of this as they essentially sold me a broken car. And also, will Tesla’s warranty cover repairs if it falls within their coverage, even though the car was purchased as third party? Or is Tesla going to try to slam this on CarMax as I imagine they might, and I’ll be stuck in the middle.

Thanks for all input. It should be noted I absolutely am obessed with the car. Other than the fact that I was unaware the previous owners somehow had not purchased auto pilot which will now come at additional cost. I may bring this to CarMax too as the car was sold with automated cruise control, which indicates autopilot.

Thanks for all feedback. Sorry if the post has grammar issues I am on mobile.

What's CarMax policy? If it is as-is with no warranty then that's that.

Tesla new car warranty covers the car no matter who's the owner as long as it's not a salvage title.

 

[Jamison Shaw]

What's CarMax policy? If it is as-is with no warranty then that's that.

Tesla new car warranty covers the car no matter who's the owner as long as it's not a salvage title.

To my knowledge they have a 90 day 4k mile coverage as default. I also paid for max care which is their extended warranty (60 mo/100k miles my coverage) that I’ve had good experiences with in the past. Will cover everything outside of the battery basically. The car falls within Teslas warranty due to age and mileage of only 27k, so I am hoping these issues are covered by Tesla… my concern is if they don’t should I expect CarMax to cover it? I’d assume so provided the day I purchased the car I experienced issues…

 

[jamesxtxt]

I got this from the website, hope this helps you out.

 

[Tam]

To my knowledge they have a 90 day 4k mile coverage as default. I also paid for max care which is their extended warranty (60 mo/100k miles my coverage) that I’ve had good experiences with in the past. Will cover everything outside of the battery basically. The car falls within Teslas warranty due to age and mileage of only 27k, so I am hoping these issues are covered by Tesla… my concern is if they don’t should I expect CarMax to cover it? I’d assume so provided the day I purchased the car I experienced issues…

Sounds like CarMax should fix your car during their 90 day guarantee.

 

[Jamison Shaw]

Sounds like CarMax should fix your car during their 90 day guarantee.

That’s what I’m getting at too. I was told they’re currently working on the car right now at Tesla, so I’ll post back with updates on how all of this plays out, if anyone is interested.

 

[mpgxsvcd]

That’s what I’m getting at too. I was told they’re currently working on the car right now at Tesla, so I’ll post back with updates on how all of this plays out, if anyone is interested.

I would simply return that car. Who knows what the previous owner did to that car. CarMax certainly doesn’t.

I wouldn’t buy a used EV. I just wouldn’t. Hope you get it sorted out.

 

[Jamison Shaw]

I would simply return that car. Who knows what the previous owner did to that car. CarMax certainly doesn’t.

I wouldn’t buy a used EV. I just wouldn’t. Hope you get it sorted out.

Well.. I think I’ll see what Tesla and CarMax are going to do for the car. In my eyes it’s brand new. It’s in good condition. Parts break. It happens. It just sucks it’s the same day I bought my car. And if I return the car, it’s already in negative equity thanks to our current market situation. So I’ll hold strong and see what happens.

 

[TigerNinety]

Well.. I think I’ll see what Tesla and CarMax are going to do for the car. In my eyes it’s brand new. It’s in good condition. Parts break. It happens. It just sucks it’s the same day I bought my car. And if I return the car, it’s already in negative equity thanks to our current market situation. So I’ll hold strong and see what happens.

Slight detour, but—having considered buying a used Tesla from a private party—this is an area that will take some time to shake out. Looking back on my purchase prospect, I worried that the owner might have treated the car (more specifically the battery) in ways that would have been hard for me to recognize before purchase. I know CarMax isn’t a “private party”, but I don’t think our used car market is quite ready to offer the kind of confidence that EVs are going to need.

 

[mpgxsvcd]

If I was even going to consider buying a used Tesla you better believe I would hook up a Scan my Tesla on the test drive.

 

[The Other Dan]

Meh, right now seems like the best time to buy a used tesla model 3. So many people bought new cars and sold them within months of receiving them to carmax and the like.
Don't know what year or mileage the OP bought, but wouldn't surprise me if it was almost new.

 

[Jamison Shaw]

Meh, right now seems like the best time to buy a used tesla model 3. So many people bought new cars and sold them within months of receiving them to carmax and the like.
Don't know what year or mileage the OP bought, but wouldn't surprise me if it was almost new.

It’s a 2020 with less than 28k miles. I really don’t think it was abused lol. But I’ll never know.

 

[wmo168]

I would simply return that car. Who knows what the previous owner did to that car. CarMax certainly doesn’t.

I wouldn’t buy a used EV. I just wouldn’t. Hope you get it sorted out.

Just return the car to carmax. Find another one

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

. Other than the fact that I was unaware the previous owners somehow had not purchased auto pilot which will now come at additional cost. I may bring this to CarMax too as the car was sold with automated cruise control, which indicates autopilot.

You did not specify the year. Sounds like the car has AP just like all cars do (TACC and lane keeping but no lane changing, etc.) after a certain date. Adding FSD would be a lot more but assume you’re not talking about that as that would seem ill-advised for such a vehicle.

Presumably if it is telling you to pull over all the time AP might be unavailable and it might give that error message.

 

[Knightshade]

You did not specify the year.

It’s a 2020

2020 should have basic autopilot by default. Which is just TACC, and autosteer within a single lane.

If you want the more advanced features like auto-lane change, NoA, etc, you will need to pay for FSD.



EDIT-- Correction... if this is an SR+ it should have it by default. You said 'standard' initially so maybe not?

If you somehow found the super rare SR non plus it might NOT have it by default as this was the cheapest (legendary 35k) model and never came with AP standard AFAIK.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

2020

Thanks. Missed that.

I had forgotten that SR did not come with even basic AP. Or never realized it.

 

[calidreamz808]

Doesn't CarMax have a 7 day return policy? That car would have been returned the same day if it were me.. literally would have turned around and gone back soon as the error came up. That's way too much drama to buy a car.

 

[StellarRat]

I'd give it back to CarMax ASAP. You already have bad feelings about it and those aren't going to go away anytime soon.

 

[valaeyron]

Not worth getting stuck with the car and two companies pointing fingers at each other but ymmv. Mine would not.

 

[davewill]

Might as well wait to see what Tesla does. If the fix is easy, then no worries.