Tesla Motors Club
Not sure where to put this on, but since there are a lot of people on this forum looking to buy a used Tesla I thought this would be the most effective.
Recently, I saw an ad for a P85D from a private seller on cars.com (now removed). It was for $40,000, which is a good price, so I sent an inquiry. I received an email from a "Vince Lapinski":
"Hi,
The Tesla is still for sale. It has 61,240 miles, clean title owned outright. The price is $40,000. It has been recently inspected and rated in perfect condition. I have attached both the Autocheck report and the Inspection report. I am looking to sell it fast as I need the money for another investment. It comes with all the books, maintenance records, keys, and title signed by me.
I got a new job in Canada as a petroleum engineer for Suncor. Because of me being here, I hired a company in the US that will take care of the entire process in my absence, i gave them full power of attorney on this sale, so we can do this without me being present.
Let me know if you are still interested and here are some more photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qMRtHfZmN79AQFj37
Regards,
Vince Lapinski
+1 226-242-5011"
Dubious, but the photos he sent, the inspection report & Carfax all matched so I asked which company he hired to take care of the sale for him. I had also asked about the battery status earlier. His answer:
"The car gets around 245 miles @ 100% and 221 miles @ 90% charge. I have the car stored with Autobytel in NY Autobytel | New Car Prices, Used Cars for Sale, Auto Prices, Car Pictures and Car Reviews It can be shipped anywhere in the US, I will cover the shipping costs.
If you want to proceed, you can go and pick it up from their warehouse, or you can submit an offer on Autobytel website, they will contact you with all the information necessary to complete the transaction and secure the funds. Once the payment has been made, they will start the shipping process and deliver the car in 2-3 business days. You will have 5 days to inspect it, test it and check if the car is exactly as described. At the end of the inspection period, you will be able to accept or reject the car based on your impression.
You can check the details by going here: Check a Reference Number | Autobytel using the reference number: TW2BD51E4F
If you want to submit an offer, go to: Set Up A New Transaction | Autobytel using the same reference number: TW2BD51E4F
Regards,
Bryan Larrison
+1 226-242-5011"
His name changed from Vince to Bryan, and the deal is very good (cheap car, no shipping fee, grace period), so that's already super dubious. But the website works, and you can check the status of the car with the code, and the car info checks out!
Of course the website has bad grammar and is full of errors. It's also easy to miss that the URL is "autobytelonline.com" and not "autobytel.com" (which is a reputed car site).
Anyway, I'm not sure how this would have proceeded, but obviously I was going to get scammed. Be careful!
(One more thing - when I wanted to search for 'vince lapinski', Google autofilled to 'vince lapinski suncor'.. so they probably did this to a lot of people and they're all searching for this dude's name)
Recently, I saw an ad for a P85D from a private seller on cars.com (now removed). It was for $40,000, which is a good price, so I sent an inquiry. I received an email from a "Vince Lapinski":
"Hi,
The Tesla is still for sale. It has 61,240 miles, clean title owned outright. The price is $40,000. It has been recently inspected and rated in perfect condition. I have attached both the Autocheck report and the Inspection report. I am looking to sell it fast as I need the money for another investment. It comes with all the books, maintenance records, keys, and title signed by me.
I got a new job in Canada as a petroleum engineer for Suncor. Because of me being here, I hired a company in the US that will take care of the entire process in my absence, i gave them full power of attorney on this sale, so we can do this without me being present.
Let me know if you are still interested and here are some more photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qMRtHfZmN79AQFj37
Regards,
Vince Lapinski
+1 226-242-5011"
Dubious, but the photos he sent, the inspection report & Carfax all matched so I asked which company he hired to take care of the sale for him. I had also asked about the battery status earlier. His answer:
"The car gets around 245 miles @ 100% and 221 miles @ 90% charge. I have the car stored with Autobytel in NY Autobytel | New Car Prices, Used Cars for Sale, Auto Prices, Car Pictures and Car Reviews It can be shipped anywhere in the US, I will cover the shipping costs.
If you want to proceed, you can go and pick it up from their warehouse, or you can submit an offer on Autobytel website, they will contact you with all the information necessary to complete the transaction and secure the funds. Once the payment has been made, they will start the shipping process and deliver the car in 2-3 business days. You will have 5 days to inspect it, test it and check if the car is exactly as described. At the end of the inspection period, you will be able to accept or reject the car based on your impression.
You can check the details by going here: Check a Reference Number | Autobytel using the reference number: TW2BD51E4F
If you want to submit an offer, go to: Set Up A New Transaction | Autobytel using the same reference number: TW2BD51E4F
Regards,
Bryan Larrison
+1 226-242-5011"
His name changed from Vince to Bryan, and the deal is very good (cheap car, no shipping fee, grace period), so that's already super dubious. But the website works, and you can check the status of the car with the code, and the car info checks out!
Of course the website has bad grammar and is full of errors. It's also easy to miss that the URL is "autobytelonline.com" and not "autobytel.com" (which is a reputed car site).
Anyway, I'm not sure how this would have proceeded, but obviously I was going to get scammed. Be careful!
(One more thing - when I wanted to search for 'vince lapinski', Google autofilled to 'vince lapinski suncor'.. so they probably did this to a lot of people and they're all searching for this dude's name)