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"CPO" vs. "Used" terminology

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You cannot purchase an extended warranty directly from Tesla for a used car. You can purchase a third-party warranty from Xcelerate (X-Care) and will probably do better financially.

Regarding the whole "used" vs. "CPO" thing, I think NOW Tesla falls somewhere in-between. Once they stopped posting photos, they have assumed the responsibility of reconditioning cars as stated on their listings but just not to the level that they did before they changed from CPO to used.

Tesla's original CPO program was far and beyond the best CPO program in the industry where you would receive effectively like-new conditioning as well as a full 4-year warranty. Seat with a blemish = new seat. Curb-rash on a rim = new wheel. This program was unsustainable which is what I think led to the change to just plain used.

Now they agree to remediate certain issues like curb rash, scratches, dents, etc... if it's beyond a certain degree. I think this is reasonable but I am not crazy about the downgrade in the warranty to 1 year/10k miles.

As for whether they are CPO or not - CPO is defined as (source: Wikipedia):


Based on this - cars sold by Tesla would absolutely qualify as CPO. As to why they went through the trouble of changing the nomenclature, my guess is to avoid comparison to their original program which far exceeded what the definition above states.
Actually, I helped start the Used Car Department at Tesla, and we were never officially known as CPO. Elon hated that terminology for some reason, so we landed on Pre-Owned. Eventually, they made us change it to Used Cars, I think as a way to further differentiate between the core business (building and selling new cars) and our express purpose, to do something with the trade ins. It always bothered me that we didn't offer an extended warranty for purchase to non-first owners, but now XCare does. Frankly, I think having XCare levels the playing field, and allows pre-owned car buyers a true choice for the first time.
Happy to advise, hit me up. [email protected] xcelerateauto.com/x-care and scroll down to the calculator to explore. Cheers, Brent Seavey, ex-Tesla OG.
 
At least in California if you market a car as Certified Pre-Owned, it has a specific legal meaning, and you have to follow certain laws. It appears that Tesla didn't want to follow those laws so they discontinued the CPO program and started selling used cars instead. So no, cars sold by Tesla now do not qualify as CPO.
Right you are, it appears!

 
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You cannot purchase an extended warranty directly from Tesla for a used car. You can purchase a third-party warranty from Xcelerate (X-Care) and will probably do better financially.

Regarding the whole "used" vs. "CPO" thing, I think NOW Tesla falls somewhere in-between. Once they stopped posting photos, they have assumed the responsibility of reconditioning cars as stated on their listings but just not to the level that they did before they changed from CPO to used.

Tesla's original CPO program was far and beyond the best CPO program in the industry where you would receive effectively like-new conditioning as well as a full 4-year warranty. Seat with a blemish = new seat. Curb-rash on a rim = new wheel. This program was unsustainable which is what I think led to the change to just plain used.

Now they agree to remediate certain issues like curb rash, scratches, dents, etc... if it's beyond a certain degree. I think this is reasonable but I am not crazy about the downgrade in the warranty to 1 year/10k miles.

As for whether they are CPO or not - CPO is defined as (source: Wikipedia):


Based on this - cars sold by Tesla would absolutely qualify as CPO. As to why they went through the trouble of changing the nomenclature, my guess is to avoid comparison to their original program which far exceeded what the definition above states.
Thank you for your reply. My only question is when I bought my 2014 Tesla P85 from a private party, I was able to purchase a 4 year bumper to bumper warranty direct from tesla. Are you saying that doesnt happen anymore?
 
Thank you for your reply. My only question is when I bought my 2014 Tesla P85 from a private party, I was able to purchase a 4 year bumper to bumper warranty direct from tesla. Are you saying that doesnt happen anymore?
That has never been Tesla policy to do that. The system must have not caught that it had changed hands, and allowed the purchase against the VIN. Lucky break for sure.
 
Actually, I helped start the Used Car Department at Tesla, and we were never officially known as CPO. Elon hated that terminology for some reason, so we landed on Pre-Owned.

When Tesla was selling used Roadsters in 2013-14 or so, they were officially referred to as certified pre-owned. Also, when the used MS program launched in 2015, it was definitely referred to as "certified pre-owned" at least in printed documents and materials. I think the certified term was dropped after that.
 
That has never been Tesla policy to do that. The system must have not caught that it had changed hands, and allowed the purchase against the VIN. Lucky break for sure.

I thought that as long as a car wasn't sold by a third party dealer and was still under the original 4/50 warranty, that an extended warranty (service agreement) could be purchased by an existing owner whether bought new or used through a private sale. No?
 
I purchased 2016 MS from Tesla in May, 2020. Main reason was the 4 year extended warranty. Sucks that its only 1 year now.

I don't think they really went through my car like they say they do. The cabin air filter certainly would be on the checklist. I think the filter I changed was the original one...very dirty. I also suspect that they didn't check moisture in brake fluid like you're supposed to.

Meanwhile, I love the car, no regrets.
 
I thought that as long as a car wasn't sold by a third party dealer and was still under the original 4/50 warranty, that an extended warranty (service agreement) could be purchased by an existing owner whether bought new or used through a private sale. No?
Tesla policy has always been that the ESA is only available to the original purchaser. Some owners would purchase one prior to sale as part of the price, as a workaround. Tesla is notoriously slow in updating systems on the customer side, and often non-first owners were able to slip through the cracks. I think they've become much better at sussing this out now. Just like the Tesla Used warranty is not supposed to transfer through a non-Tesla dealership, but I have a client that went into Tesla after purchasing from a dealer and Tesla honored it. Go figure, there's policy and what actually happens a lot of the time. :) The only problem is if they retroactively figure this out they can cancel his warranty at any time, so unless he checks regularly he is in peril of having something go wrong and being quite unpleasantly surprised when they've canked his warranty.
 
Right you are, it appears!

Tesla’s current “used car” program certainly meets all of the conditions laid out in that law. They could call it “certified” tomorrow and change nothing. So I’m not particularly convinced of @MP3Mike ’s suggestion that this is a matter of legal consideration.
 
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Tesla’s current “used car” program certainly meets all of the conditions laid out in that law. They could call it “certified” tomorrow and change nothing. So I’m not particularly convinced of @MP3Mike ’s suggestion that this is a matter of legal consideration.

Nope. I know of at least one item Tesla has almost always refused to follow:

(6) Prior to sale, the dealer fails to provide the buyer with a completed inspection report indicating all the components inspected.

They normally won't even provide an inspection report if you demand it.

And Tesla is already being sued by a customer that claims Tesla didn't follow the rules for the "certified" program in California. (They dropped the CPO program some time after that law suit was filed.)
 
Nope. I know of at least one item Tesla has almost always refused to follow:



They normally won't even provide an inspection report if you demand it.

And Tesla is already being sued by a customer that claims Tesla didn't follow the rules for the "certified" program in California. (They dropped the CPO program some time after that law suit was filed.)
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My interpretation of this requirement suggests they could meet it by providing every buyer a photocopied piece of paper that lists these 145 items and has a “pass” checkbox ticked. Indeed, that’s more or less exactly what I’ve received from other “CPO” purchases in the past (non-Tesla).

The conditions of this law don’t seem particularly onerous. They’re basically “don’t sell lemons/salvage/floods”, “provide a warranty”, and “inspect the car”.
 
My interpretation of this requirement suggests they could meet it by providing every buyer a photocopied piece of paper that lists these 145 items and has a “pass” checkbox ticked.

Correct they could. But they never did, and don't. (Well I have heard of one person getting a report, but most people that asked for it didn't get one, even during the CPO program.)