How to determine when Tesla was built based on VIN?

[lolgas]

For a CPO purchase, curious if you can determine the build timeframe based on the VIN alone so I can compare to this:

Model S options by year - a running history - Tesla Motors Club - Enthusiasts & Owners Forum

 

[breser]

For a CPO purchase, curious if you can determine the build timeframe based on the VIN alone so I can compare to this:

Model S options by year - a running history - Tesla Motors Club - Enthusiasts & Owners Forum

You can't. They aren't built in VIN order. My first car was one of the last cars before autopilot and had a VIN of P56107. But I've seen cars in the P55XXX range have autopilot. At the time I was getting my car there were still waiting for their cars with VINs in the P48XXX range.

I'm sure Tesla could probably say something like "All VINs < X don't have autopilot, VINS >= X and <= Y may or may not have autopilot, and VINS > Y do have autopilot." But I don't think any of us have any way to provide those ranges. It still leaves you with some uncertainty anyway.

So my suggestion is to just talk to Tesla and ask them what a given car has if you want something specific that isn't listed on the website.

 

[TesAus]

A number of the Australian cars have VINs starting 46xxx and we got autopilot features so the spread will be quite wide for any specific set of features. We have also noticed cars delivered a few weeks apart with similar VINs have different height rear headrests.

 

[breser]

Something useful that I didn't think to mention but the door jam sticker on the drivers door has the month and year the car was made in the top left hand corner. This will be far more helpful than the VIN. For instance any car before September 2014 doesn't have Autopilot. Any car during September 2014 may or may not have Autopilot. Any car after September 2014 will have it.