CPO Experience

[aollivierre]

My cpo experience has been horrible. Although Tesla has fixed all of my issues, my car has been in the shop more than I’ve liked in the past 6 months. One of these shop visits actually lasted over 30 days.

I purchased a cpo for piece of mind. Now, no money has come out of my pocket and that is certainly a good thing. But my time and frustration levels is worth more than money as most of you would agree.

Since day one I have asked for cpo docs which Tesla has never provided because it could not be found. Keep in mind I have been since the day I purchased the vehicle. Finally I got fed up and sent a nasty note to every email address I could find for Tesla during my last service visit demand cpo paperwork and perhaps a partial refund due to misrepresentation of the vehicle I purchased. Suddenly within 24hrs, I get a call from the service center with a solution. Since the vehicle’s cpo paperwork could not be found (translation: IT NEVER HAPPENED). Tesla has agreed to perform a full cpo child on my vehicle while it was in the shop. Of course during this process, I had to be out my car and other issues where found which again, required more parts to be ordered and yes more time away from my car......craziness......

Should I.....,

A) Continue up the corporate latter due to misrepresentation by the company and selling me a car that was not truly cpoed

B) ask for some type of refund

C). Walk away and have a drink?

Don’t get me wrong, I love the car but the time and effort I have put into driving to the service center for all of these things that should of been fixed, caught and resolved prior to me buying a CPO vehicle has been draining.......

I am truly trying to keep legal away from this situation but I feel like Tesla is attempting to get one over on me......

Thoughts.....

 

[Electricious]

You had posted the above on a another thread and this is the response I gave... I am sure you can work with Tesla to find a solution and make this right. It's not going to be productive for you to get too upset and worked up, though you have every reason to be upset. Instead, approach this in a constructive solution-focused way so that you can get your CPO car in the condition you were expecting.

I really think Tesla needs to overhaul their entire CPO program to be more consistent and offer a smoother experience.

---

It's these kind of stories that make it really scary for me to consider buying a CPO car and sorry to hear about the hassle you are going through. If I go the CPO route, I will do my best to avoid such a situation by demanding to see the service and CPO history for the car and inspect the car in person and refuse delivery if there are issues.

However in your case you have already invested time (and money!) on finding a vehicle you like. At the end of the day, I have every confidence that Tesla will make it right for you so take a deep breath and rather than escalate your displeasure, look for a solution. This is what I recommend that you do:

1. Make a thorough list of EVERY THING that you want fixed in your car. Seems they did a poor job preparing your car. Have them agree to do everything on your list and for additional piece of mind, perhaps have a Tesla approved body shop look over the car to make sure you don't have repainted panels or any other damage that you were not expecting.

2. Ask Tesla for a loaner until all the issues identified are fixed.

3. Rather than some type of refund, ask for complimentary service visits for your hassle. This gives you something of value but does not cost Tesla the same as refunding any money and this arrangements is better for you and Tesla.

You are right -- The reason you are paying a premium for a CPO vehicle is to get a gently used car that is thoroughly reconditioned so you can buy a car in almost immaculate condition. We've bought other premium CPO cars before and each was presented to us in immaculate condition.

I think a big part of the reason the Tesla CPO buying experience is a crapshoot is because there is no accountability. They don't list the actual photos so no one bothers to recondition the car when the car listing goes up and worse yet some CPO cars are used as loaner cars and I bet some of those cars get the crap beaten out of them making the CPO conditioning process that much harder.

 

[aollivierre]

You had posted the above on a another thread and this is the response I gave... I am sure you can work with Tesla to find a solution and make this right. It's not going to be productive for you to get too upset and worked up, though you have every reason to be upset. Instead, approach this in a constructive solution-focused way so that you can get your CPO car in the condition you were expecting.

I really think Tesla needs to overhaul their entire CPO program to be more consistent and offer a smoother experience.

---

It's these kind of stories that make it really scary for me to consider buying a CPO car and sorry to hear about the hassle you are going through. If I go the CPO route, I will do my best to avoid such a situation by demanding to see the service and CPO history for the car and inspect the car in person and refuse delivery if there are issues.

However in your case you have already invested time (and money!) on finding a vehicle you like. At the end of the day, I have every confidence that Tesla will make it right for you so take a deep breath and rather than escalate your displeasure, look for a solution. This is what I recommend that you do:

1. Make a thorough list of EVERY THING that you want fixed in your car. Seems they did a poor job preparing your car. Have them agree to do everything on your list and for additional piece of mind, perhaps have a Tesla approved body shop look over the car to make sure you don't have repainted panels or any other damage that you were not expecting.

2. Ask Tesla for a loaner until all the issues identified are fixed.

3. Rather than some type of refund, ask for complimentary service visits for your hassle. This gives you something of value but does not cost Tesla the same as refunding any money and this arrangements is better for you and Tesla.

You are right -- The reason you are paying a premium for a CPO vehicle is to get a gently used car that is thoroughly reconditioned so you can buy a car in almost immaculate condition. We've bought other premium CPO cars before and each was presented to us in immaculate condition.

I think a big part of the reason the Tesla CPO buying experience is a crapshoot is because there is no accountability. They don't list the actual photos so no one bothers to recondition the car when the car listing goes up and worse yet some CPO cars are used as loaner cars and I bet some of those cars get the crap beaten out of them making the CPO conditioning process that much harder.

Thank you for the advice

 

[JPUConn]

My CPO experience was somewhat similar 2 yrs ago but I had a loaner each visit and made good friends with the service crew. I ended up putting a few thousand miles on Tesla loaners and the CPO car I purchased was retrofitted and better than I purchased it at the end of the day with upgraded components and features.

I’d do it all over again and change nothing, but I’m the kind of person who doesn’t mind racking up miles in a loaner S or X and seeing my car get new cool stuff for free (different perspective).

 

[JonG]

The problem is with the car - if you'd not bought from Tesla you'd have the same problems, at least with a CPO car from Tesla, despite your issues with paper work, you're going to eventually get what you should have.

The only time the CPO experience and premium isn't worth it is if the car is faultless

My advice would be to try and put the issues with getting it sorted to one side and decide if you want the car. If the car itself is beyond redemption in your mind (and we can all lose faith in a car) then working towards getting shot of it is what you must do. If you actually want to keep the car, then just tough it out and look for some goodwill like a free service or something.

 

[Pentium2004]

My CPO experience was somewhat similar 2 yrs ago but I had a loaner each visit and made good friends with the service crew. I ended up putting a few thousand miles on Tesla loaners and the CPO car I purchased was retrofitted and better than I purchased it at the end of the day with upgraded components and features.

I’d do it all over again and change nothing, but I’m the kind of person who doesn’t mind racking up miles in a loaner S or X and seeing my car get new cool stuff for free (different perspective).

That's why things don't get fixed at Tesla. This type of experience is unacceptable but too many people turn it around as a somewhat acceptable or even positive experience. When you buy a car you shouldn't be stuck driving around their loaner cars. Wreck one of those loaners and then tell us how it was all OK. I understand wanting to stand up for Tesla because you like them and want to support them but that doesn't make any of the experiences acceptable. They charge top dollar for these cars even when they aren't brand new so that car should be perfect when you take possession. It shouldn't take months after getting the car to finally get things right.

 

[Electricious]

My CPO experience was somewhat similar 2 yrs ago but I had a loaner each visit and made good friends with the service crew. I ended up putting a few thousand miles on Tesla loaners and the CPO car I purchased was retrofitted and better than I purchased it at the end of the day with upgraded components and features.

I’d do it all over again and change nothing, but I’m the kind of person who doesn’t mind racking up miles in a loaner S or X and seeing my car get new cool stuff for free (different perspective).

Except the "stuff" is not really "free" in that this is what you pay a premium for and they should have delivered to you a car that did not need so much work. It's nice that you are so patient but some people are going to have different expectations when they buy a CPO car from a manufacturer... Hence the situation with the OP.

The OP should have been delivered a car that was acceptable and not have to waste time, energy, and frustration to get his in the condition it is supposed to be.

 

[Electricious]

That's why things don't get fixed at Tesla. This type of experience is unacceptable but too many people turn it around as a somewhat acceptable or even positive experience. When you buy a car you shouldn't be stuck driving around their loaner cars. Wreck one of those loaners and then tell us how it was all OK. I understand wanting to stand up for Tesla because you like them and want to support them but that doesn't make any of the experiences acceptable. They charge top dollar for these cars even when they aren't brand new so that car should be perfect when you take possession. It shouldn't take months after getting the car to finally get things right.

I agree completely. If nothing else, this is going to end up costing Tesla even more because now you have to account for even more wear and tear on a loaner (that will then need to be extra reconditioned when sold as a CPO?) and plus they still have to fix and do what they were supposed to do in the first place!

 

[JPUConn]

That's why things don't get fixed at Tesla. This type of experience is unacceptable but too many people turn it around as a somewhat acceptable or even positive experience. When you buy a car you shouldn't be stuck driving around their loaner cars. Wreck one of those loaners and then tell us how it was all OK. I understand wanting to stand up for Tesla because you like them and want to support them but that doesn't make any of the experiences acceptable. They charge top dollar for these cars even when they aren't brand new so that car should be perfect when you take possession. It shouldn't take months after getting the car to finally get things right.

I don't disagree that there is room for improvement here and in this case appears to be a major miss on Tesla's part that should not be repeated and hopefully they make things right with the OP (Maybe option B in the OP - add in a free future annual service or something meaningful to make whole for the time and frustration). I don't understand why Tesla doesn't include in their CPO delivery process a review of the checklist, service history, and anything that was completed on the vehicle (without the customer asking for it).

Few things to clarify:

When I purchased my CPO from Tesla I did not pay a premium vs market, I actually paid less than what comparable vehicles were trading at private party and via dealerships and in turn set my expectations that it may not be perfect when I get it but they'd make it right. and they did. For me, the process was not inconvenient and the communication channels were excellent.

Wrecking a loaner? I'd imagine wouldn't be much different than if I wrecked my own vehicle or any vehicle I was operating - it would be my responsibility, why does that matter?

Maybe it's my luck (or that I'm very picky yet also reasonable) or maybe its that every company isn't perfect. Ever by a CPO Saab (before GM killed them) or Audi?