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FSD Stripped From Private Sale? Or Did Seller Not Own It?
- Thread starter ABQP3D
- Start date
sublimejackman
Member
He said he'd look but I'm not holding my breath. Tesla's method of keeping paperwork is a loose pile in a drawer somewhere. I'm still dealing with the lease turn in from my company Tesla from almost two weeks ago. Like I look forward to never interacting with another Tesla employee. If my current Model S breaks in a way that I can't get it fixed without them, I'll go the route of that guy who blew up his Model S. Then buy another used one before going to the service center again.
sublimejackman
Member
Not ot beat a dead horse but over six years, I've been to 7 service centers located in the DC, Boston and LA areas. I have yet to have a single good experience. This is in addition to the sales, lease, financing staff all being either Tesla zealots or apathetic. I know this is a broader issue with customer service/big companies in general but Tesla seems to be one of the worst.
That being said, this is a good idea. If I can get something saying FSD was purchased by the previous owner, I will attempt to email some people at Tesla, since it something that is at least worth a try.
Does the car dealer/seller contract list you get FSD Capability package? If it just says FSD upgraded then that is just the FSD Computer (hardware). If it doesn't say you get FSD Capability package then it is likely your mistake or misunderstanding in thinking you were were getting it. May be a case of caveat emptor.
FSD Capability cost $12k so it is highly doubtful the dealer will just say OK and buy it for you, unless you can legally prove otherwise. If you have it is the contract it is more likely they would buy the car back since FSD Capability is so expensive.
I'm pretty sure I don't own anything about my car except the after-market floor mats and my winter tires and rims. Tesla can take away the use of things I paid for (looking at you RADAR) at any time. They can change the infotainment options at any time. They have full control over the vehicle and I drive it solely at their discretion because they also have the ability to brick it at any time.
It's a whole new world out there and the concept of what is bought when someone registers a tesla to their account is not what we think of when we say we 'bought' something. The use of the vehicle has been transferred but the control over the vehicle that car ownership used to imply is not there with a tesla. Seems we got all the bad stuff: insurance costs, lease/car payments, liability if it hits something, maintenance costs. But we got none of the benefits: ability to customize it, keep all the features on the car when it was 'purchased', right to sell the vehicle and its features on to someone else.
Just to add it must be the FSD Capability package and if the owner bought FSD Capability Package and didn't transfer it to a new Tesla then it would be on the car. There is NO WAY the dealer could remove it. Only Tesla has the "power" to remove the FSD Capability package.
There is no such thing as FSD. And you said the car had the FSD Computer upgraded. So it does have the FSD Computer upgrade when you purchased it.
sublimejackman
Member
No. I did not think I was getting anything but what was on the window sticker. This car was originally sold with EAP and there was only one previous owner. I was surprised when I picked it up to see it had HW3, I was expecting MCU1. No car dealer really advertises, nor cares about, FSD/AP that I've seen (and I've spent months looking for this specific car). Except for a narrow group of a few hundred thousand in the US, no one cares about paying for FSD. Like Joe 6 pack isn't gonna babysit FSD to work every morning, nor does he care to. (and I'm talking about today, not what it may or may be capable of in years, I'm sure he will enjoy it when/if it ever becomes a robotaxi service).
As for FSD being transferred, I can only take the original owner's word on this but he said that he did not buy another Tesla, let alone transfer anything.
As stated before, I'm not interested in FSD but it would be nice to have EAP with auto-lane changes on the highway (which it would have came with if the MCU wasn't updated and/or the FSD transferred to me). But it's not $6,000, nice to have.
And before anyone gets on me, this isn't about me trying to get something for nothing. I just want to understand what I'm entitled to when I bought the car. Tesla's complete lack of public relations or post-sale customer service makes topics like this contentious when clear documentation would solve it immediately.
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I dont know Model S, but its possible on early model 3s to pay to upgrade the computer from HW 2.5 (what they shipped with) to hardware 3, WITHOUT purchasing FSD itself.
If you wrote exactly what the previous owner told you, the statement doesnt say they purchased FSD. It says they purchased the upgraded hardware upgrades. Purchasing the hardware upgrade doesnt give full FSD, but purchasing FSD outright does give you the hardware upgrade, at least for model 3s.
If this is the sequence of events, AND they bought "FSD" and not "hardware upgrades" they should have a separate Tesla invoice in their Tesla account that would take about 5 minutes for them to find, showing the FSD upgrade. Thats how it is for my model 3 that shipped with hardware 2.5, and that I bought EAP with on purchase, then later upgraded to FSD in april of 2019.
I have a separate purchase that shows the purchase of FSD separately, not hardware. They should have it too, so you should be able to easily get FSD back. They will have it in their account, and whatever they bought should be easily identifiable to them... unless model S is completely different than model 3 (which is possible).
sublimejackman
Member
Yep. This is exactly where we are right now.
Before I added it to my account, it was still on the previous owner's account and did have FSD software enabled, not the subscription but the purchase.
I asked the previous owner for the documentation a few hours ago and he said he would get it over to me...
But what I don't understand is what I do once I get that documentation? I was gonna email some folks I worked with at Tesla on my business leases in the past but I doubt that will get anywhere...
And as I said above, I specially bought this car personally, with cash and from someone other than Tesla so I could avoid dealing with them again. I probably will not drive over the Tesla dealer just to get auto-lane change.
Do you have any insight on an email or phone # I could try?
sublimejackman
Member
I dont, I dont have any contacts inside Tesla, unfortunately. Thats one of the hard (to put it mildly) things about dealing with Tesla. Without me climbing on a soap box, I am not a fan of "automate everything", because when that is done, edge cases typically are not handled great. Automation works for a large portion of contacts, but when (not IF but when) something is amiss, it takes people, not computers, to suss it out and deal with it.
This is one of those cases where it appears something failed, so it sounds like you should have FSD on the car to me. If I were dealing with this situation, I would go to a Tesla sales center, and see if I could get help from a manager there in escalating it on my behalf (using my knowledge of how customer service people prefer to be talked to / dealt with, from my own decades of experience in customer service or customer service management).
Thats not for everyone though, and Tesla has gone out of its way to make dealing with this type of thing extremely difficult.
I have been trying for MONTHS (basically since January of 2023) to get my model 3 OUT of FSD beta since I never applied for it, it just was pushed to my car because I have FSD... and I didnt want FSD beta). Several emails to what I was told is the appropriate email address have gone unanswered, which is how Tesla does things (heh). There is no one I can contact to do this, so I just have to deal with it in silence.
I just say this to say, I am not making an excuse for Tesla, and this lack of customer service is built into their process on purpose. If the previous owner has proof of FSD purchase (not just on their account, but actually buying FSD upgrade, and not hardware upgrade), then you should be able to call Tesla, tell them you have an issue with missing features after a private party purchase, and "can you provide the process by which I can request this be evaluated?"
Or, you could let it go, because its going to take some patience, and work (which it should not), and I totally, completely 100% get not wanting to deal with it.
sublimejackman
Member
Oh man that sounds super frustrating. Which I think Tesla does on purpose. The process is designed to frustrate. Which is unfortunate.
In 2016 you couldn't find a more vocal supporter of Tesla and their goals than me. But over the years they wore me down. With one miserable experience after another. Generally, I have no problem going toe to toe with anyone but with Tesla it's so awful every single time.
The Model S is far and away the best car I've even driven. I absolutely love it, why I just went way out of my way to buy another. But this will likely be my last, at the very least I'm done buying new ones.
And despite my best efforts, Tesla managed to give me one more middle finger with this FSD situation. I'm glad I have MCU2 but I really wish I had never seen it with FSD enabled. That being said, if I don't figure out a way to re-activate it, I'll get over it.
If the seller can provide you with a receipt stating they paid for FSD, then you can just take that to the Service Center, whom should be able to get it reinstated. If he can’t get a copy of his invoice from his Tesla account, then is likely he never purchased FSD. At that point, you would need to go after the seller for false advertising.
sublimejackman
Member
Quick Recap:
-I bought the car thinking it still had MCU1 + EAP as listed on window sticker
-When I first picked it up, the previous (and only) owner was still logged in with FSD + HW3 (paid for not subbed)
-When I added the car to my account, it reverted to plain jane AP
-The previous owner claims that he is not buying a new Tesla and therefore could not have transferred it
-He is sending me the receipt for when he bought the FSD HW and SW
-I have no interest in FSD but EAP would be nice for auto-lane change, but not nice enough for me to fork over $6,000
My question is short of driving to the innermost circle of hell (Tesla service center), what, if any, recourse do I have to getting (at minimum EAP) FSD?
I purposely went out of my way to buy a used car from literally anyone on the planet but Tesla. As noted in a previous post, if I can avoid it, I will never interact with another Tesla employee, that includes for this purpose.
Well, you can either hold on tight to that indignation and keep thumbing your nose at Tesla as you drive around in one of their cars, or you can go and talk to one of their employees and find out if you're owed a $12,000 software option that is in active development with free updates.
Why do you keep flipping this into a Tesla issue. The Seller Sold you a high value accessory it’s His issue to prove he owned it to sell not Tesla. He may have upgraded the CPU but that doesn’t mean FSD. This is a Seller issue sorry.
sublimejackman
Member
You're not wrong, I have become indignant again. If only there was some sort of way Tesla could effectively relate with the public and clearly state policies to their customers.. But alas we live in a world where the only way to communicate the rights you get for a five figure software package is thru tweets and in forum posts.
Last time I'm saying this, gonna drop this subject tomorrow and move on with how the car is. I went way out of my way to no longer interact with the apathetic (the good ones) or sanctimonious (most of them) Tesla staff. Maybe buying even a used one was a mistake as even now I am stuck in this ridiculous scenario AGAIN. It's like groundhog day. Not knowing what I bought and no customer service or clear documentation.
sublimejackman
Member
Scroll back a few to my recap of events. But the TLDR of the TLDR is that when I picked up the car it had FSD, not subbed, not transferred. When I adopted the car into my account a few hours later, it went away.
Further details the post a few back
If you bought a car that did not have a purchased license for FSD, like a former Tesla employee car, then the mechanism to make the FSD disappear would be exactly as you described “I transferred the car to my account and it disappeared.” So since your seller isn’t producing a proof of purchase and you subsequently aren’t producing one for us, call us skeptical.
Now there may have been legitimate mixups where FSD disappears and it shouldn’t. But it is frequently the case that folks just don’t want to find out the reality that they bought something the seller simply didn’t own.
Hence the thread title change. Prove us wrong and I’ll change it back.
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