Did Tesla just try to sell me an old build?

[amoeba]

I had reserved my model 3 long time back and recently just pulled the trigger to order in August. Lo and behold a week later a Tesla rep calls me and say I'm eligible for early delivery and can pick up the car this weekend. I was skeptical so asked him if this was a new car or left over inventory, he assured me it's a new build.

Just got the VIN today and it's showing up as a 2017 build. When I questioned the delivery manager she finally stated that it was an early 2018 build but the VIN shows up as 2018 in her system. As I understand 2017 Builds have a 'H' in the 10th digit and 'J' if it's 2018.

VIN Decoder | TeslaTap
5YJ3E1EA3HF00138X (I crossed out the last digit, substitute any number)

I'm planning to refuse delivery of this vehicle. It'll cause a problem with the loan and also on future resale value. Have you guys seen this before?

 

[Johnny Mac]

I had reserved my model 3 long time back and recently just pulled the trigger to order in August. Lo and behold a week later a Tesla rep calls me and say I'm eligible for early delivery and can pick up the car this weekend. I was skeptical so asked him if this was a new car or left over inventory, he assured me it's a new build.

Just got the VIN today and it's showing up as a 2017 build. When I questioned the delivery manager she finally stated that it was an early 2018 build but the VIN shows up as 2018 in her system. As I understand 2017 Builds have a 'H' in the 10th digit and 'J' if it's 2018.

VIN Decoder | TeslaTap
5YJ3E1EA3HF00138X (I crossed out the last digit, substitute any number)

I'm planning to refuse delivery of this vehicle. It'll cause a problem with the loan and also on future resale value. Have you guys seen this before?

yes that’s a stupid early build. I would reject the crap out of that.

 

[PoitNarf]

That's very surprising that they'd still have a 2017 build laying around.

 

[jeffro01]

I had reserved my model 3 long time back and recently just pulled the trigger to order in August. Lo and behold a week later a Tesla rep calls me and say I'm eligible for early delivery and can pick up the car this weekend. I was skeptical so asked him if this was a new car or left over inventory, he assured me it's a new build.

Just got the VIN today and it's showing up as a 2017 build. When I questioned the delivery manager she finally stated that it was an early 2018 build but the VIN shows up as 2018 in her system. As I understand 2017 Builds have a 'H' in the 10th digit and 'J' if it's 2018.

VIN Decoder | TeslaTap
5YJ3E1EA3HF00138X (I crossed out the last digit, substitute any number)

I'm planning to refuse delivery of this vehicle. It'll cause a problem with the loan and also on future resale value. Have you guys seen this before?

Really? You haven't even seen the car yet but you've decided to reject delivery because of the VIN number? That is just silly...

Jeff

 

[amoeba]

I just realized the VINs are in the 100k range now. So my build was one of the first thousands ever made?!

 

[jeffro01]

I just realized the VINs are in the 100k range now. So my build was one of the first thousands ever made?!

So what? That doesn't mean it's not a quality car. So much obsession over a VIN number when it's the car itself that matters...

Jeff

 

[MacGreiner]

You might get the alcantara headliner?

 

[amoeba]

Really? You haven't even seen the car yet but you've decided to reject delivery because of the VIN number? That is just silly...

Jeff

According to Model 3 VINs (@Model3VINs) | Twitter. The earliest post was:
Model 3 VINs‏ @Model3VINs 27 Oct 2017
#Tesla registered 9 new #Model3 VINs. Highest VIN is 2145.

My VIN is 138x, so even earlier than that probably August 2017? Do I want to pay $63k now for a car that was built a year ago???

That's a beta test car to me still early in the process before they started working out the kinks/fixes and other issues. It also affects my resale value buying a car that's a whole year older. I don't see how this makes any sense.

 

[PoitNarf]

I wouldn't take it either. They've made a good amount of changes since late 2017 to all sorts of things on the Model 3.

 

[kbecks13]

I have one of these early Model 3's. You will get Alcantara headliner, stiffer suspension and Gen 1 seats.

 

[amoeba]

I'm also concerned about a battery that's likely been sitting in a discharged state for almost a year and what reason it's not been put into delivery. A re-worked car? Loaner? Test vehicle employee take out to lunches?

It has 56 miles on the odometer.

 

[brkaus]

I'm also concerned about a battery that's likely been sitting in a discharged state for almost a year and what reason it's not been put into delivery. A re-worked car? Loaner? Test vehicle employee take out to lunches?

It has 56 miles on the odometer.

The main battery will isolate itself once it goes below a certain %. It would take a very long time to self discharge from that point to zero...

The seats would be a bigger concern for me.

 

[thewishmaster]

It’s possible that they registered the VIN in 2017 but didn’t use it until 2018 for some reason. I’d check out the car out of curiosity to see whether it truly is a 2017 build, but prefer a newer VIN if possible.

 

[JeffK]

I'd check the build sticker.

 

[kwazi7]

I would definitely check it out.. check the build sticker, check the seats, etc.

There are some advantages to the 2017 build as long as they've applied 2018 fixes which they should be able to (they've done a number of them post-factory after all). That alcantara is like 100X better than the crap that the new ones come with. Really makes it feel like a 60k+ car.

 

[clmason]

My VIN is 1600 or so and the build quality is pretty darn good. I have had zero problems since day 1.
I often wonder if the newer ones are prone to more issues now that they're really pumping them out.

 

[ℬête Noire]

VIN is somewhat correlated to build date but is not strictly the build date.

Someone in the Order sub-form last week reported being given a, IIRC, 0013xxx VIN that had an Aug 2018 build date.

 

[EricUSC]

I would actually be excited to get such a low number because of Alcantara headliners. For reference, Porsche has Alcantara headliners as a $1550 option on the Macan. I have heard that Tesla service centers will swap out the stiffer springs for the softer ones on request, and I personally would take the Alcantara headliners over the Gen 2 seats. Model 3's with Alcantara headliner will be the highly sought after originals in many decades when these cars become collector items. Just buy a paint meter on Amazon for $100+ and bring it with you to make sure that the car hasn't been repainted.

 

[Gavyne]

Who knows the build might be good and they might even have the new seats in there (I would worry about old seats more than anything as older version isn't as comfortable). If it happens to be a showroom car they should be giving you a discount for it.

 

[Trevor B]

My VIN is 1600 or so and the build quality is pretty darn good. I have had zero problems since day 1.
I often wonder if the newer ones are prone to more issues now that they're really pumping them out.

Gen1 seats work out for you?