I was offered a damaged Model 3 without telling me about it

[virpio]

Hey,

Last week I was looking for a good deal on an inventory Model 3 AWD and was contacted by a Tesla sales person who then send me a link for a nice midnight silver, silver rims, black & white interior Model 3 from end of 2018 with 6600$ off. It was listed as new and only has 62 miles on it. The only explanation given was that it was a cancelled order. I assumed it was probably used as a showroom car afterwards and the price sounded good for this.

I placed the order since I expected that car to go fast and started filling out all the paperwork, with the delivery expected next week. Yesterday I contacted the store where the car currently is located and they told me that car had damage but couldn’t tell me exactly what was wrong with it. I drove to the store since it’s only 30 minutes away from my place to check it out myself.

I very much had the impression that in the meantime the super nice sales representative had a word with his manager. When I came in, suddenly the story was very different. It had damage but that had been repaired and the price would be a super great deal. I shouldn’t worry too much about it. Everything would be fine. They still couldn’t tell me what the damage was.

If I hadn’t called them, I may or may not have been disclosed on the issue during delivery when asked to sign a damage disclosure. But I can’t help but feel like Tesla is trying to trick me in to buying a car that might have been in a serious accident.

Did something like this happen to someone else?

—Michael

 

[brkaus]

Every auto dealer is allowed to sell repaired new cars up to a certain cost of repair without disclosure. They are even allowed to replace some items without regard to cost - bolt on items like bumpers, wheels, glass, lights.

that’s what the big back lot at a dealership is for Prepping cars for sale.

laws vary by state, but it’s pretty common.

 

[gaswalla]

This is a case of managing expectations. If the prior damage had been disclosed as fully repaired and a substantial discount being offered in recognition of such, buyer would be show up, and be pleasantly surprised-‘it looks great’
Unfortunately, poor communication led to expectations of a totally perfect car with an amazing discount - and expectations definitely not met

 

[virpio]

Just to be clear: I am totally okay with them repairing something. Like a defective motor, or a replaced bumper or something. Sure. I don’t mind. I would get a great discount. What leaves me very skeptical is that they don’t seem to want to tell me what was wrong. And the sales person said I probably would have to sign a damage disclosure during delivery which also would not list the extend of the damage.

Now I don’t know if there are any laws in California that force them to make me sign such a disclosure even for small fender benders, but it sounds like if I have to sign some sort of disclosure, there probably was extensive damage to the car?

 

[jjrandorin]

Just to be clear: I am totally okay with them repairing something. Like a defective motor, or a replaced bumper or something. Sure. I don’t mind. I would get a great discount. What leaves me very skeptical is that they don’t seem to want to tell me what was wrong. And the sales person said I probably would have to sign a damage disclosure during delivery which also would not list the extend of the damage.

Now I don’t know if there are any laws in California that force them to make me sign such a disclosure even for small fender benders, but it sounds like if I have to sign some sort of disclosure, there probably was extensive damage to the car?

As mentioned, there is an amount under which they do not have to report that the car is damaged. If the damage was under this amount, there would not be any damage waiver. if there is a damage waiver, you can assume the repair costs were above that amount. I dont remember, but I think its something like $750 or so... but have not looked it up in quite some time.

The reason you should be assuming it has extensive damage is the fact that its a 2018 car, being sold right now, with very low miles on it. I know tesla is not a traditional dealer and does not operate as such, but there is no reason at all for them to hold onto a car for that long (almost a year at this point), unless there was some sort of extensive damage.

I would absolutely pass, but my risk tolerance is low for this type of thing. With that being said, they are not offering a "great discount", "just because they want to". They also likely did not hold onto a car that had 62 miles on it "because they wanted to"/ . If it was a demo car it would have miles on it.. probably a couple thousand for as old as the car is. The fact that it doesnt, it had damage, etc... they couldnt discount that car enough to get me to buy it, personally.

 

[Sherlo]

As mentioned, there is an amount under which they do not have to report that the car is damaged. If the damage was under this amount, there would not be any damage waiver. if there is a damage waiver, you can assume the repair costs were above that amount. I dont remember, but I think its something like $750 or so... but have not looked it up in quite some time.

The reason you should be assuming it has extensive damage is the fact that its a 2018 car, being sold right now, with very low miles on it. I know tesla is not a traditional dealer and does not operate as such, but there is no reason at all for them to hold onto a car for that long (almost a year at this point), unless there was some sort of extensive damage.

I would absolutely pass, but my risk tolerance is low for this type of thing. With that being said, they are not offering a "great discount", "just because they want to". They also likely did not hold onto a car that had 62 miles on it "because they wanted to"/ . If it was a demo car it would have miles on it.. probably a couple thousand for as old as the car is. The fact that it doesnt, it had damage, etc... they couldnt discount that car enough to get me to buy it, personally.

“Most states set a threshold of three to six percent of the MSRP as the required amount for disclosure to a buyer.”

California at 3%

Reference: Your brand new car might not be completely new after all

 

[TydalForce]

My parents bought a car (Subaru) a few years ago. They got a great deal on it but they thought it was because it had been a demo model AND their sales guy got fired while they were there buying the thing!

a few weeks ago they started thinking about a new car and went to another dealership, who ran a CarFax on their Subaru. Turns out there had been damage and a repair, too, that wasn’t disclosed.

So the moral of this story is, maybe get them to “show me the CarFax” before you sign anything.

 

[Led Jetson]

I bought the Model 3 Performance in Sept 2018 with many disappointing paint issues. When you pay a friend to drive you 120 miles to deliver what you think is a brand new car, its a major punch to the face and embarrassing to say the least. At delivery to try to make up for it, they promise you the world and more to make good on it, and at the end, they just stop responding to you as the workers are just so embarrassed as they have no ability to resolve anything.

 

[Madmacs]

I take delivery of my m3 on Thursday and was right by the service center today so figured I would just cruise through and see if it was there yet. I did see it and it had a paper on the dash with "Repair" checked. Not sure what is up with that but needless to say I'll be inquiring about it tomorrow.

 

[jonquiljo]

Just to be clear: I am totally okay with them repairing something. Like a defective motor, or a replaced bumper or something. Sure. I don’t mind. I would get a great discount. What leaves me very skeptical is that they don’t seem to want to tell me what was wrong. And the sales person said I probably would have to sign a damage disclosure during delivery which also would not list the extend of the damage.

Now I don’t know if there are any laws in California that force them to make me sign such a disclosure even for small fender benders, but it sounds like if I have to sign some sort of disclosure, there probably was extensive damage to the car?

Just spend the $50 or whatever and get your own CarFax.

3% of the MSRP (of a $50,000 car) is approximately $1500. A dent would cost easily that much or more. I personally would not sign a damage disclosure that does not list the damage. That isn’t disclosing anything!

BTW ... how much warranty is still left on the car? Get the dealer to document that too. Good luck.

 

[virpio]

Just spend the $50 or whatever and get your own CarFax.

3% of the MSRP (of a $50,000 car) is approximately $1500. A dent would cost easily that much or more. I personally would not sign a damage disclosure that does not list the damage. That isn’t disclosing anything!

BTW ... how much warranty is still left on the car? Get the dealer to document that too. Good luck.

Tesla is still selling it as new, so it comes with the usual 4 years / 50k miles warranty as well as the drive train warranty.

I checked CarFax for the VIN but before I can even buy anything they just tell me they don’t have any records for that VIN. Given that it is a new car that is probably not surprising as it was never registered.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

My parents bought a car (Subaru) a few years ago. They got a great deal on it but they thought it was because it had been a demo model AND their sales guy got fired while they were there buying the thing!

a few weeks ago they started thinking about a new car and went to another dealership, who ran a CarFax on their Subaru. Turns out there had been damage and a repair, too, that wasn’t disclosed.

So the moral of this story is, maybe get them to “show me the CarFax” before you sign anything.

Exactly what I was thinking. A necessary condition for sale of something not absolutely new: Car history and damage report.

 

[ewoodrick]

Hint: If it is too good to be true, it probably isn't

 

[virpio]

I just got off the phone with my sales person. He looked the car up again and he reassured me there was no serious damage to the car at any point. I guess I'll just move forward with it for now and see if they want me to sign a damage disclosure during delivery, which I would definitely not sign.

 

[virpio]

I took delivery of the car today. I couldn't find any issues whatsoever, I didn't have to sign a damage disclosure and I have a witness for them saying that the car has no previous damage.

So I am going to enjoy a pretty great deal on a new Model 3 for now and don't worry about it too much. If in the end something does show up that indicates previous damage, Tesla would be in violation of California law, so I am probably covered pretty well. I doubt it though. Seems legit and as chaotic as Tesla is with a lot of things, it should be fairly easy for them to pull up the previous service visits of a car given how much data they have on it.

So far all I can say is that it is an amazing car and I love driving it!

 

[jkoya]

I took delivery of the car today. I couldn't find any issues whatsoever, I didn't have to sign a damage disclosure and I have a witness for them saying that the car has no previous damage.

Congrats !!!

 

[ZappCatt]

I took delivery of the car today. I couldn't find any issues whatsoever, I didn't have to sign a damage disclosure and I have a witness for them saying that the car has no previous damage.

So I am going to enjoy a pretty great deal on a new Model 3 for now and don't worry about it too much. If in the end something does show up that indicates previous damage, Tesla would be in violation of California law, so I am probably covered pretty well. I doubt it though. Seems legit and as chaotic as Tesla is with a lot of things, it should be fairly easy for them to pull up the previous service visits of a car given how much data they have on it.

So far all I can say is that it is an amazing car and I love driving it!

Congrats on the car!

What spec did you get? SR?SR+LR?Stealth?Performance?

 

[Madmacs]

I picked up my LR AWD today and did a thorough inspection and could not find a single thing wrong either.

 

[jkoya]

I picked up my LR AWD today and did a thorough inspection and could not find a single thing wrong either.

Congrats on the new 3 !!!

 

[dmurphy]

I took delivery of the car today. I couldn't find any issues whatsoever, I didn't have to sign a damage disclosure and I have a witness for them saying that the car has no previous damage.

First of all, congratulations on your new car!! It really is an amazing, transformative vehicle.

So that said ... this all turned out to be much ado about nothing. Which is a good thing.

I chalk most of these incidents up to Tesla being much more transparent than the usual car companies. In the “regular” world, vehicles are delivered from the factory to a dealership. That dealership does the PDI (pre delivery inspection) where they go over the car and fix anything that’s wrong. Including dings, damage, paint, etc. Most larger dealerships have dedicated techs who do nothing but PDI. Fixed and repairs and such pre purchase never get noticed or mentioned - it’s just part of doing business, and when you pickup your car in front of the showroom, you have no idea what happened in the back.

That’s what Tesla doesn’t have. It goes from factory to delivery center, where they don’t have a dedicated PDI team. If you’re lucky, they have time to detail it first... but that’s about it. The car as you see it is pretty much how it came off the truck. Very different model ... this is one case where the more transparent model may not be to their advantage ....