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Yet another car that was "buttoned up" that car has been around the block a few times.
They stitched the front passenger side back together, last I recall the rear door wasnt even attached to the car. There is definitely passenger side suspension damage as well.
I wouldnt buy it now for 32k. I would jump in on the auction and try to get in lower.
They stitched the front passenger side back together, last I recall the rear door wasnt even attached to the car. There is definitely passenger side suspension damage as well.
I wouldnt buy it now for 32k. I would jump in on the auction and try to get in lower.
Hmmm, should have Googled the VIN, shouldn't I? Now that sill damage makes sense despite the door on the car not matching the damage:
Riddle me this Batman... They clearly didn't just bang the damage out of that rear door and slap it on. We know that. So what is especially perplexing now is how they got two doors with matching damage on them that flows into the quarter panel. I mean this is clearly the same car. You can compare the fender dents and the tear in the bumper cover to verify that. I don't get why they would put two bad doors on it though.
Is it just to make it look like it was in an lighter accident than it was? And despite that, the doors match up perfectly right now. When I saw the sill damage I specifically looked for that. Seeing this wouldn't prevent me from making an offer on it. I just don't understand why they would go through the effort of doing some of the work and seemingly only making a lateral move in swapping damaged un-savable doors for less damaged un-savable doors.
$25,000 feels like a good buy on this car. They just approved my account a lot earlier than I thought. I think I'll hop in at $25,000.
Riddle me this Batman... They clearly didn't just bang the damage out of that rear door and slap it on. We know that. So what is especially perplexing now is how they got two doors with matching damage on them that flows into the quarter panel. I mean this is clearly the same car. You can compare the fender dents and the tear in the bumper cover to verify that. I don't get why they would put two bad doors on it though.
Is it just to make it look like it was in an lighter accident than it was? And despite that, the doors match up perfectly right now. When I saw the sill damage I specifically looked for that. Seeing this wouldn't prevent me from making an offer on it. I just don't understand why they would go through the effort of doing some of the work and seemingly only making a lateral move in swapping damaged un-savable doors for less damaged un-savable doors.
$25,000 feels like a good buy on this car. They just approved my account a lot earlier than I thought. I think I'll hop in at $25,000.
Yeah I was looking at the photos and was wondering why the wheels were straight yet the steering wheel was pointing to the left. After looking at 100s of salvage cars you tend to pick up on some things.
I remember something else being fishy on this car but I do not recall now.
They put two bad doors on it because thats probably what they had available to slap on the car with no money being spent. They just grabbed them from another black car. There are many teslas that are sold without doors, not necessarily because they flew off in the accident, but because someone took them to put on another car, or they were so jacked up they were too embarassing to leave on.
Thats EXACTLY why they did it, to make it look like the accident wasn't that bad, and it worked. You thought 32k was a fair price until you dug a little deeper, they ALMOST had you
Yes it seemed like a lateral move, until you think back as to which damage looks worse and which one you'd be willing to pay more for.
I'm not saying its a bad car, but I probably wouldn't pay the buy it now price.
Did you look underneath the car?
I remember something else being fishy on this car but I do not recall now.
They put two bad doors on it because thats probably what they had available to slap on the car with no money being spent. They just grabbed them from another black car. There are many teslas that are sold without doors, not necessarily because they flew off in the accident, but because someone took them to put on another car, or they were so jacked up they were too embarassing to leave on.
Thats EXACTLY why they did it, to make it look like the accident wasn't that bad, and it worked. You thought 32k was a fair price until you dug a little deeper, they ALMOST had you
Yes it seemed like a lateral move, until you think back as to which damage looks worse and which one you'd be willing to pay more for.I'm not saying its a bad car, but I probably wouldn't pay the buy it now price.
Did you look underneath the car?
satoshi
Electrical Engineer
(-___-)... I don't understand how anyone can possibly think buying a salvage at over $20k is worth it.
Well that's an interesting peak into the industry. I always assumed these cars were buttoned up in the sense that perhaps they'd put the bumper cover on and put lipstick on a pig but not go so far as to go through the hassle of putting lesser damaged (but still damaged) parts on the car.
The good news is other than that sill it's got no frame damage. The bad news is that if that sill is part of the frame it won't be able to be re-certified unless I have it replaced to Tesla spec. Probably not that big of a deal though. No visible hit to the battery that I could see. Now that I think of it, the AC compressor making noise makes sense. I bet a suspension component gave it a solid whack during the accident.
The good news is other than that sill it's got no frame damage. The bad news is that if that sill is part of the frame it won't be able to be re-certified unless I have it replaced to Tesla spec. Probably not that big of a deal though. No visible hit to the battery that I could see. Now that I think of it, the AC compressor making noise makes sense. I bet a suspension component gave it a solid whack during the accident.
yes, these things happen, and they do work to make the buyer think they are getting a better deal, just think, which car would you pay more for?
I know a guy that knows a guy that knows another guy that bought a car with the battery pack removed...
The battery pack shell was still intact but the pack was opened up and the modules removed, so it looked like there was a pack installed, but it was empty!
Well that's just a world of F'd up. The way I see it is at $25,000 worst case scenario I retrofit parking sensors and folding mirrors over to my early VIN S85, maybe swap my A pack for a D pack and then sell it all for close to what I bought it for. Best case scenario, I fix it good enough, give it to my wife and let her hit things with it and use it as a road trip car.
$32,000ish all in on a car that I can fix well enough, stack miles on, use for road trips and has auto-pilot seems like a win to me. I got a few days to mull it over. Now that I see those other damage pictures I'm probably going to go back down and look at it more closely.
$32,000ish all in on a car that I can fix well enough, stack miles on, use for road trips and has auto-pilot seems like a win to me. I got a few days to mull it over. Now that I see those other damage pictures I'm probably going to go back down and look at it more closely.
Any concern that the frame bent into the battery? I don't know how easy that is to check, but I'd look real carefully at that. Also check out those suspension components, I'd be very wary that the guys who slapped it together to look pretty didn't do a good job.
Also 2.12.126 is only like 2 months old. If its got another update stage too, there is a chance its not blacklisted, which would be awesome.
Also 2.12.126 is only like 2 months old. If its got another update stage too, there is a chance its not blacklisted, which would be awesome.
ElectricLove
Member
If it wasn't obvious on first inspection, make sure to check for the side curtain airbags, on the one I bought they cut most of the bag off and tucked the last little bit back up into the ceiling and pushed the liner back in place so it gave the appearance that those airbags were intact. Pull the headliner away from the edges to check for this.
Also check the seat-belt (drivers seat belt) to see if it is locked, if it is it's due to SRS deployment and it will need replacement. These lovely individuals who resell these after putting lipstick on them generally know how to jump the wires up front to make it "Run and Drive" despite airbag deployment (and consequently pyro-fuse deployment).
Airbags are expensive but more importantly then that, very tough to find, if you need the airbags you should add a couple grand to your budget on this. Resetting the SRS ecu is less expensive, send it to ingineer and he does it for about $125-ish.
Also check the seat-belt (drivers seat belt) to see if it is locked, if it is it's due to SRS deployment and it will need replacement. These lovely individuals who resell these after putting lipstick on them generally know how to jump the wires up front to make it "Run and Drive" despite airbag deployment (and consequently pyro-fuse deployment).
Airbags are expensive but more importantly then that, very tough to find, if you need the airbags you should add a couple grand to your budget on this. Resetting the SRS ecu is less expensive, send it to ingineer and he does it for about $125-ish.
I'll have to dig into my service manual later today when I have time but initially no, I don't have any concern. Generally something like that is going to be boxed and it's pretty clear from looking at it that just the top took the hit. I'll go digging through the flood car threads and the service manual to confirm but I suspect the battery didn't take a hit.
satoshi
Electrical Engineer
If you're only able to sell it for $40k you don't have a $80k+ car you have a $40k car.
Just because the MSRP may be $80k+ for a new one does not mean the car post-fixing is an $80k car.
The point is that you're driving it for half of what you might otherwise be paying to own one. What's a 2014 S85 with AutoPilot worth? I'd say on the low side $65,000. So if someone could potentially be into the car for $25,000, $7,000 in parts and labor and some sweat equity they're driving the car for less than half of market value. And let's say I then want to sell it. What's it worth with a salvage title? $45,000? $50,000?
For reference, I just sold a respectably fixed 2013 S85 for $35,000 and the gentleman that bought it wasn't the high bidder. People were tripping over each other at the opportunity to buy the car for less than they usually sell for. The reason for that is that Model S's have a very well defined price floor and if you dip below that price floor at all interest in your car increases ten-fold.
I would expect this to fetch $50,000 if it was fixed properly aesthetically. I'd leave the sill damage or research having the sill cut out and replaced. People have paid more for less, happily.
The beauty of an open market is that it determines the worth of any given product. You might say "Well I don't understand why that's worth that" or "I would never pay over $x.xx for that" but at the end of the day the hows, the whys and your personal opinion don't matter. They are all irrelevant.
satoshi
Electrical Engineer
That was a really long way to avoid directly saying that you agree with me, only to conclude with exactly my point.
MSRP stands for Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price... Tesla's opinion, people's personal opinions, and "the highest bidder who didn't finalize the sale" are all equally irrelevant.
If you sold a 2013 S85 for $35k, it was worth $35k and was a $35k car.
The rocker can't have a section cut out and replaced; too many internal components in the extrusion, as well as an internal reinforcement extrusion. Not to mention the heat weakening the annealing.
It'd have to be replaced as a unit, which may not be worth it. If the damage is minor or non-structural maybe bondo would be sufficient.
It'd have to be replaced as a unit, which may not be worth it. If the damage is minor or non-structural maybe bondo would be sufficient.
satoshi
Electrical Engineer
Last I saw, the bet for that car was at 28.5k... did you win?
If not here's another good one: 2015 TESLA MODEL S 70
If not here's another good one: 2015 TESLA MODEL S 70
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