Good Guys: 1 - Scammers: 0

[SamDean]

Please forgive the overly dramatic title.

About 4 months back I bought a used Model S from a dealership in Florida. The listing had "Has Autopilot" no less than 11 times. Clearly this led me to believe that it....had autopilot. I fly down, pick it up and drive it home. I didn't feel comfortable engaging AP on the first night and made it into Georgia where I got a hotel for the night. The next day I decided to give it a shot. I look up how to engage, i find a fairly dead chunk of highway, I double pull and..... and nothing. I googled, asked questions on here and reddit and it became very clear that I did not have AP at all. I shot a text to the dealership and they explained to me that my car "has AP hardware and it's up to me to pay for the software". They also stated on multiple occasions that "We sell tons of Teslas, this is how they all are". This did not jive well with me. I felt conned. I am typically not very litigious, but I was pretty hacked about it. My local SC put together statements from Tesla stating that having AP means Software, and just having hardware doesn't mean anything. I hired a Lawyer in FL and I went after his ass. If he would have been a decent human it would have cost him 2k to just pay for the software for my car. Instead it cost him over 5k, plus whatever is legal fees were. There's a lot of scammers out there. I am sharing this to let you all know that sometimes it pays to fight.

Cheers!

 

[kdphan]

If the dealer has been selling a lot of Teslas before, they should probably know what AP is by now.
They just has to tap the screen a few times to find out if AP is enabled.

But they probably knew and tried to get away with it.

Kudos to you for doing what's right.

 

[islandchick]

Florida isn't the punchline in so many jokes for nothing. By Florida standards, that dealer is on the more honest end of the spectrum. good for you!

 

[Brettski]

While I think that "caveat emptor" applies better to used car dealerships than almost anything else - reading your post and so many others recently makes me think it would be reasonably useful for a Tesla to be able to display a spec sheet or "features list" on the MCU.

 

[TampaRich]

Florida isn't the punchline in so many jokes for nothing. By Florida standards, that dealer is on the more honest end of the spectrum. good for you!

This could have happened in any state.

 

[SamDean]

While I think that "caveat emptor" applies better to used car dealerships than almost anything else - reading your post and so many others recently makes me think it would be reasonably useful for a Tesla to be able to display a spec sheet or "features list" on the MCU.

I do agree with this. It's more like buying a used MacBook in that regard than a traditional car.

 

[kg7jo-]

This could have happened in any state.

Google search: “Florida Man”, and look at the first three news.

 

[S-ALSET]

Google search: “Florida Man”, and look at the first three news.

you can do the same thing with "Utah man"... youll be surprised.

 

[Carlog]

Frustrating, indeed. My first test drive of a Tesla was at a used car dealer, a 14 S 85. Advertised it with autopilot. I get there and look at the door sticker. Hi, Feb 2014. I drive the car, not knowing how autopilot works. When I get back, I ask the salesman about it. He said, oh, it has the hardware, you just have to pay Tesla 3k to activate it. They can activate it online. I said, I don't think so, it's an early 2014. He said, you don't need autopilot anyways. I have family members with Teslas and they never use autopilot. It's just a gimmick. That was my queue to leave.

 

[aerodyne]

If you buy used, EV CPO Hunter will give you all the features based on VIN, including AP and free SC, etc. No need to trust the "Stealership"

 

[iqless]

If you buy used, EV CPO Hunter will give you all the features based on VIN, including AP and free SC, etc. No need to trust the "Stealership"

only if Tesla ever offered the car used

 

[aerodyne]

only if Tesla ever offered the car used

or new.... the above site covers all Teslas sold in NA

 

[iqless]

or new.... the above site covers all Teslas sold in NA

If it's never been on Tesla's website it's not gonna be on EV-CPO. AFAIK most cars are custom built so they never get there.

 

[kg7jo-]

you can do the same thing with "Utah man"... youll be surprised.

Too boring with that search

 

[EV-CPO]

or new.... the above site covers all Teslas sold in NA

If it's never been on Tesla's website it's not gonna be on EV-CPO. AFAIK most cars are custom built so they never get there.

This is correct. Just to clarify, the Option Code Lookup tool using a VIN on EV-CPO.com is only going to return results for almost any new or used Tesla that had been offered for sale on Tesla's New/Used Inventory websites. It does not cover every new or used Tesla sold, like custom builds or used Tesla's sold by third-parties.

The Option Code Lookup tool will work for all cars if you supply the option code list available from some images on Tesla's website, configuration PDFs, or using an API tool or website to extract your own option code list from your car.

 

[Shaggy]

or new.... the above site covers all Teslas sold in NA

No VIN or Option Codes found. Please try again.

Please note: This tool is not a 'VIN Decoder' that can decode any Tesla VIN.

The only VINs that will work with this tool are Model S or Model X vehicles that have been listed for sale on the Tesla.com New or Used Inventory websites.

This page can not decode VINs of any other used, dealer, or third party cars for sale. Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[Travis681]

No VIN or Option Codes found. Please try again.

Please note: This tool is not a 'VIN Decoder' that can decode any Tesla VIN.

The only VINs that will work with this tool are Model S or Model X vehicles that have been listed for sale on the Tesla.com New or Used Inventory websites.

This page can not decode VINs of any other used, dealer, or third party cars for sale. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The VIN Decoder on the EV-CPO site is great but it's not 100% accurate. My wife and I just purchased a Model X via the Tesla site and picked it up this weekend in Florida. I ran the VIN through their decoder and most of it was correct but it said that the car had no spoiler yet when we picked it up it actually has the active spoiler on it. Yes, it's relatively minor and most of the details were correct that were listed on the VIN decoder but just know it wasn't 100% accurate in my case.

 

[EV-CPO]

The VIN Decoder on the EV-CPO site is great but it's not 100% accurate. My wife and I just purchased a Model X via the Tesla site and picked it up this weekend in Florida. I ran the VIN through their decoder and most of it was correct but it said that the car had no spoiler yet when we picked it up it actually has the active spoiler on it. Yes, it's relatively minor and most of the details were correct that were listed on the VIN decoder but just know it wasn't 100% accurate in my case.

Just to clarify, again, it's not a "VIN Decoder" -- i.e. it does not decode the VIN into option codes. What it does is store and display the option codes provided from Tesla's own website for cars listed or sold there.

Second, the data reported is exactly what Tesla publishes, so if the option code for the active spoiler was missing, it was absent on the source data directly from Tesla. The Option Decoder is only as good as the data provided from Tesla, and there are lots and lots of data errors from Tesla, that there's no way to correct or verify.

Just so I can confirm the data, what is the VIN?

 

[jj88]

Not a scam, but we took two test drives. The 2nd car had the Net, so I assumed they all did. Call me gullible, but I was mistaken. I didn't ask what came with the car, they didn't mention anything. Same with the rugs, or the actual price of the damn paint, which varied the 3 times we went in.
We had read a lot about the car, but I've never felt dumber about what I bought. One of the problems of not having an actual dealership. Just some guys showing cars. I talked to 4 guys. No one knew what the other had said, or which car we would buy - which in the end was over the phone, to another guy in the store. None of the problems mattered, much. Our main interest was beating the next rebate drop.
But you were scammed. We all thank you for making the road smoother, for other buyers.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

There are so many dealers who do not understand Teslas at all. When I was looking for a used Model S, I responded to several dealer ads where they (probably unintentionally) misrepresented the Teslas on their lot. This is par for the course with dealers unfamiliar with the brand. I ended up buying from Ideal Motors in Costa Mesa, CA. All they sell are used Teslas so they're knowledgeable.