Enhanced Autopilot removed - Bought From 3rd Party Dealer

[DoctorVenkman]

Legally they can do whatever they want if it’s sold to a dealer. Read your purchase agreement.

Just because something is in a purchase agreement doesn't necessarily mean it's legal. Companies practice blatantly illegal anti-consumer behavior all the time, and often they get away with it because of this misconception.

If OP has the means and the wherewithal I would encourage them to speak to a lawyer about this to see if they have a case.

 

[glide]

Just because something is in a purchase agreement doesn't necessarily mean it's legal. Companies practice blatantly illegal anti-consumer behavior all the time, and often they get away with it because of this misconception.

If OP has the means and the wherewithal I would encourage them to speak to a lawyer about this to see if they have a case.

Sure. Good luck fighting city hall.

I can guarantee it will cost OP more than if he just paid to re-enable FSD.

I’m not saying Tesla is in the right here, just that this has been their stance for many years and I’m not surprised by their actions. Which is why I would never buy a used Tesla from a 3rd party dealership.

 

[brkaus]

Just because something is in a purchase agreement doesn't necessarily mean it's legal. Companies practice blatantly illegal anti-consumer behavior all the time, and often they get away with it because of this misconception.

If OP has the means and the wherewithal I would encourage them to speak to a lawyer about this to see if they have a case.

If Tesla owns the car, I see no reason they cannot make changes to it. Heck, they can smash the dude window, take the rear seat, and put on rusted steel rims if they want.

however, as soon as it leaves their possession it darn well better be in a fixed state. Whatever the heck it takes them to do it.

 

[DoctorVenkman]

If Tesla owns the car, I see no reason they cannot make changes to it. Heck, they can smash the dude window, take the rear seat, and put on rusted steel rims if they want.

however, as soon as it leaves their possession it darn well better be in a fixed state. Whatever the heck it takes them to do it.

This is not Tesla buying a used car, removing software, and reselling it without the feature. This is Tesla removing software from a vehicle after a completely third-party transaction. It would be like if you bought an iphone from your friend, and then Apple decided to remove the ability to make calls and asked you to to pay $500 to restore the phone feature.

 

[MP3Mike]

This is Tesla removing software from a vehicle after a completely third-party transaction.

Not exactly. This situation is something like:

1. Original owners purchases/leases from Tesla with EAP.
2. Original owners trades car in, or returns the lease, to Tesla.
3. Tesla deactivates EAP in their system.
4. Tesla sells the vehicle to a third party dealer.
5. Third party dealer sells vehicle to second owner.
6. Second owner registers car with Tesla.
7. Vehicle is updated to reflect that it doesn't have EAP.

If the third party dealer registered the vehicle with Tesla it would have updated between 4 and 5. But in reality Tesla should force an update at step 3.

 

[Tam]

I have bought my 2017 Model X from a 3rd party dealer and it has enhanced autopilot when I bought and I have used it multiple times for auto lane change. But now I see that the feature is removed after I submitted my ownership change looks like. I have the features list printed when the X was originally bought and has EAP with $5000 cost. Anyone experienced a similar situation? This is frustrating and I wrote to Tesla customer support for help.

This is what I think the routine is:

Tesla got cars back into its own possession (trade-in, leases...).

It then wants to unify its used fleet with specific parameters. In this case, all EAP cars would be changed to plain Autopilot.

The correct way Tesla should have done is:

1) It should not wait for a new owner to receive it to do that. It should have done that before selling to another used car seller. What you see should be what you got. All stripped features should have gone prior to leaving Tesla's parking lot. Whatever not stripped out by the time it's in your possession, Tesla can still strip it out but it needs to follow the law and go to court to get permission for repossession. You then should be notified of the intention of repossession legally.

2) Tesla should have updated the Window Sticker or " features list printed" as plain Autopilot and not EAP as currently presented on the list.

Unfortunately, Tesla seems not to care so new owners just need to nicely request Tesla to do the right thing by restoring the feature since the 2 above steps were not done.

If the nice talk doesn't do the trick, you might get some publicity from the news outlets.

If that doesn't work, you can present your case in a small claims court. Since it only costs $5,000, Tesla might be too cheap to pay its staff to appear in small claims court, and most likely, you'll get the feature restored.

 

[brkaus]

This is not Tesla buying a used car, removing software, and reselling it without the feature. This is Tesla removing software from a vehicle after a completely third-party transaction. It would be like if you bought an iphone from your friend, and then Apple decided to remove the ability to make calls and asked you to to pay $500 to restore the phone feature.

Per post #7 this thread - the 3rd party dealer purchased from Tesla. Had Tesla removed all signs of the feature prior to delivery (via auction probably) to the dealer there wouldn’t be an issue. But, they didn’t so they should put it back.

 

[rajbsn]

I hope Tesla will understand, consider the request and handle this gracefully. I will keep you all posted.

 

[Qbenjamin]

Had this happen to someone I sold my M3 to. Long story short, I had to find my credit card statement showing it was paid for. Took about a week to resolve and this was done randomly by Tesla after the guy had the car for nearly a year.

Curious as to what you disagree about here @Sandiegodoug ..?

 

[VikH]

Not exactly. This situation is something like:

1. Original owners purchases/leases from Tesla with EAP.
2. Original owners trades car in, or returns the lease, to Tesla.
3. Tesla deactivates EAP in their system.
4. Tesla sells the vehicle to a third party dealer.
5. Third party dealer sells vehicle to second owner.
6. Second owner registers car with Tesla.
7. Vehicle is updated to reflect that it doesn't have EAP.

If the third party dealer registered the vehicle with Tesla it would have updated between 4 and 5. But in reality Tesla should force an update at step 3.

This is a weird one. If Tesla is selling to dealers and at auction, they need to update the cars to the proper spec before it leaves their possession and then update the physical Monroney sticker in the car.

 

[Tam]

This is a weird one. If Tesla is selling to dealers and at auction, they need to update the cars to the proper spec before it leaves their possession and then update the physical Monroney sticker in the car.

The only ones who are affected are current owners who believe the feature list provided by Tesla/used-car dealer/car's screen (until Tesla takes it away later).

So economically, there's nothing weird about it because it doesn't affect Tesla's pocket.

 

[MIT_S60]

Tesla also drops free Supercharging on used cars unless it is an older car. My 2018 came with "Free Supercharging for Life". But in the fine print, it says "free .. for the original purchaser...".

This was well known a while back ago, but Free Unlimited Supercharging was supposed to be killed off back in January 2017, but Tesla decided to keep it around as a sales lever, with the caveat that for new-as-of January 2017 sales no longer allowed Free Supercharging to be transferrable.

The exceptions were original Model S60 which required I think $2000 to have Supercharging enabled.

Lately, it seems Tesla has been disabling Free Supercharging on older Teslas that pass through their ownership, as well as it looks like those that go through 3rd party dealerships. Private party sales *should* be exempt, but who knows nowadays with Tesla.

 

[rajbsn]

Tesla customer service came back saying Tesla stripped the features and the dealer should have mentioned the features to me clearly. I have clearly told them the car has enhanced auto pilot when I have checked the car and also used the features 1 month after my official purchase of the Model X and then lost it. I have referenced similar cases in the past where Tesla resolved it positively.

I'm hoping they will honor the request and if not I will file the case in local small claims court.

 

[jboy210]

Tesla customer service came back saying Tesla stripped the features and the dealer should have mentioned the features to me clearly. I have clearly told them the car has enhanced auto pilot when I have checked the car and also used the features 1 month after my official purchase of the Model X and then lost it. I have referenced similar cases in the past where Tesla resolved it positively.

I'm hoping they will honor the request and if not I will file the case in local small claims court.

Or go back to the dealer and have them refund you the difference.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

here's the problem, if you trade in a vehicle to tesla, they value fsd/ap/eap at $0. Tesla then disables those functions so they can offload the vehicle quickly (and thus cheaply). Then the new buyer can opt in to the software upgrades if they want.

So features are OK if you buy direct from a 3rd person seller, but if the vehicle touches tesla first, know that all options are removed (and might have a delay in being removed)

Inaccurate info.

Tesla often, perhaps nearly always, upgrades their trade-ins for maximum resale value.

Thus, they nearly all have FSD since the hardware/equipment is already installed.

Recommend you simply check Tesla's used vehicles to confirm this is the case . . . .

 

[TMThree]

Inaccurate info.

Tesla often, perhaps nearly always, upgrades their trade-ins for maximum resale value.

Thus, they nearly all have FSD since the hardware/equipment is already installed.

Recommend you simply check Tesla's used vehicles to confirm this is the case . . . .

You should read this thread before commenting. Tesla is not adding FSD to cars it sells wholesale.

I mean, come on, this entire thread is about Tesla REMOVING it.

 

[morgen]

Tesla customer service came back saying Tesla stripped the features and the dealer should have mentioned the features to me clearly. I have clearly told them the car has enhanced auto pilot when I have checked the car and also used the features 1 month after my official purchase of the Model X and then lost it. I have referenced similar cases in the past where Tesla resolved it positively.

I'm hoping they will honor the request and if not I will file the case in local small claims court.

Any luck? I’m in the exact same boat as you.

 

[tengtengvn]

I hope Tesla will understand, consider the request and handle this gracefully. I will keep you all posted.

Any update @rajbsn?

 

[Doc Brown]

Not exactly. This situation is something like:

1. Original owners purchases/leases from Tesla with EAP.
2. Original owners trades car in, or returns the lease, to Tesla.
3. Tesla deactivates EAP in their system.
4. Tesla sells the vehicle to a third party dealer.
5. Third party dealer sells vehicle to second owner.
6. Second owner registers car with Tesla.
7. Vehicle is updated to reflect that it doesn't have EAP.

If the third party dealer registered the vehicle with Tesla it would have updated between 4 and 5. But in reality Tesla should force an update at step 3.

It has to be done at 3. Imagine it being any other feature - like new rims. Tesla sells the car to a dealer. Then, tesla realizes it forgot to remove the rims. Can Tesla go to the car dealer lot and remove the rims?

 

[drtimhill]

It has to be done at 3. Imagine it being any other feature - like new rims. Tesla sells the car to a dealer. Then, tesla realizes it forgot to remove the rims. Can Tesla go to the car dealer lot and remove the rims?

Is is done at step 3 most of the time. But Tesla mess up (they shouldn't, but they do) on occasion and it doesn't happen until later. That's when a post turns up here from an angry buyer. The fault here is a bi diffuse, Tesla take some blame (for messing up removing it), the seller (for mis-representation, or ignorance), and the buyer (for perhaps not doing their homework). Basically, Tesla need to fix their systems so that a car that goes through their hands never leaves it mis-configured.