Inexperienced 19 Year Old interested in repairing a salvage Model S!

[whitex]

@Dvb51
If you need a car, buy something you can afford. If your goal is to make this an educational experience, which it can absolutely be a great one, then make sure that you can afford it and it's worth it to you even if you never get a working car out of this, only experience - anything beyond experience will be a bonus. If so, make sure can afford the salvage car, have some budget for parts and tools, and of course have a place to park and work on that car for at least a year or two, then jump right in and enjoy. I did see you talk about "computer magic", set your expectations on having to learn some of that magic - gone are the days where you can get cars fully driveable with just mechanical skills with electronics being just the stereo - today tons of stuff is electronically controlled, especially on Teslas, so if that makes you feel uncomfortable, don't start this project. Think of it this way - hot-wiring a car used to be about shorting/connecting wires to provide power to the engine and briefly to the starter motor, to do the same to a Tesla requires hacking a computer.

 

[scaesare]

Spot on! Call me crazy but I'm pretty enthusiastic about it and think it will be a great learning experience and hopefully a success. As far as metalwork goes, I'm looking to avoid that almost entirely as I don't have the experience or tooling. I've bought from auctions before but never an auction for salvage cars.

Why you ask? If all goes well, I would have a working car at a significantly lower price that I would have not been able to have otherwise. Worst case scenario, I hope to be able to sell either the parts or the entire thing and recoup a significant chunk.

TL;DR: I want a Tesla...

Some of my greatest learning experiences were from failures in attempting something.

So, only you know your own level of commitment, and aptitude for learning by the seat of your pants. There are very few things I can't, or won't, fix if I'm interested in digging in to it... or if it's worth the time/$$$ investment.

So, my advice is to evaluate your own threshold for pain/failure, and adopt the Elon viewpoint for attempting something you've never done before: assume the most likely outcome is failure, but assess if the non-zero chance of success is worth the risk.

If the value proposition is worth it to you, go for it. Be smart and careful around HV stuff, read and watch everything like a fiend, and dig in. Provided you do that, the worst is that you'll have invested time and energy in a learning experience, and you'll take some fifnancial loss you can likely offset by selling some parts.

And most of all.. have fun!

 

[wk057]

The re-certification process is a complete joke. Don't bother. Most of the time Tesla doesn't even have a car marked unsupported in their system until you try to get them to do something with it. So leave it be and work with either myself or @Ingineer for getting things programmed and such. Don't take a salvage vehicle to Tesla.

That said, unless you have experience with vehicle repairs in general, experience with auctions (lots of scams on CoPart, specifically, especially with Tesla vehicles), etc... you're likely going to pay more and spend substantially more time dealing with trying to get a salvage vehicle back on the road than you would if you just bought a working used Tesla.

They're basically dirt cheap, IMO, these days for early Model S's that are already in decent condition. You can find them in the mid $30k range regularly. I've even considering buying some of these working cars for parts because they're so cheap.

Also keep in mind that mileage isn't really a huge factor with these cars, so don't let higher mileage scare you off.

My suggestion is to just buy a working vehicle. Either a CPO (best), a third party used non-salvage (next best), or a fully repaired salvage through one of the few reputable folks doing such work with Teslas.

Otherwise you're just in for a world of headaches and are pretty likely to burn through more cash than you would have if you'd just taken my advice (which, glancing through this thread, seems to be the same advice as most others are giving).

 

[David.85D]

I’ve fixed up a few old cars in my day. Tesla’s are a closed system where parts and manuals are strictly restricted.

If you want to learn, look for a BMW or MINI around $1500 that doesn’t run for mechanical issues (search your local craigslist for “mechanic special” and “mechanics special”). Take it apart. Fix it. Manuals are available. Parts are available. You’ll learn a lot. You’ll have a fun car to drive.

I avoid rusty cars or one with anything but minor scratches and dings.

Here are two just as examples of what you can find.

BMW 4 Door 2003 330xi (Mechanics Special)

Bmw z3 roadster

 

[Dvb51]

I’ve fixed up a few old cars in my day. Tesla’s are a closed system where parts and manuals are strictly restricted.

If you want to learn, look for a BMW or MINI around $1500 that doesn’t run for mechanical issues (search your local craigslist for “mechanic special” and “mechanics special”). Take it apart. Fix it. Manuals are available. Parts are available. You’ll learn a lot. You’ll have a fun car to drive.

I avoid rusty cars or one with anything but minor scratches and dings.

Here are two just as examples of what you can find.

BMW 4 Door 2003 330xi (Mechanics Special)

Bmw z3 roadster

Don’t be mistaken, I want to learn here but I also want a damn Tesla when all is said and done.

 

[Yinn]

Don’t be mistaken, I want to learn here but I also want a damn Tesla when all is said and done.

I get where you are and what you want to do. I've been there myself. I've brought many - just on the edge of salvage cars - back to life. It's countless hours of U Pull it Junk yards, ebay hunts, etc. It can be a ton of fun if you have the time, a great learning experience, and saves a bit of money. The problem is; you're not going to find a lot of Tesla's at U Pull its. There's not a lot of OEM alternatives at rockauto; and you're not going to be able to stroll up to a Tesla parts counter and get a ton of support. This all makes it more frustrating.

Even owning two myself, I toyed with an idea of making a Tesla track car; because...why not? I sat down and did all the prices and they just dont make sense. Listen to this guy @wk057. You can buy a used working MS for under $40k. If your heart desires; rip it apart from there and upgrade the motors, battery, fuses and make it a P100DL. Paying a shop to do it is about $30k; doing it yourself would be cheaper and you'd get a P100DL for half the price.

The re-certification process is a complete joke. Don't bother. Most of the time Tesla doesn't even have a car marked unsupported in their system until you try to get them to do something with it. So leave it be and work with either myself or @Ingineer for getting things programmed and such. Don't take a salvage vehicle to Tesla.

That said, unless you have experience with vehicle repairs in general, experience with auctions (lots of scams on CoPart, specifically, especially with Tesla vehicles), etc... you're likely going to pay more and spend substantially more time dealing with trying to get a salvage vehicle back on the road than you would if you just bought a working used Tesla.

They're basically dirt cheap, IMO, these days for early Model S's that are already in decent condition. You can find them in the mid $30k range regularly. I've even considering buying some of these working cars for parts because they're so cheap.

Also keep in mind that mileage isn't really a huge factor with these cars, so don't let higher mileage scare you off.

My suggestion is to just buy a working vehicle. Either a CPO (best), a third party used non-salvage (next best), or a fully repaired salvage through one of the few reputable folks doing such work with Teslas.

Otherwise you're just in for a world of headaches and are pretty likely to burn through more cash than you would have if you'd just taken my advice (which, glancing through this thread, seems to be the same advice as most others are giving).

 

[demundus]

Don’t be mistaken, I want to learn here but I also want a damn Tesla when all is said and done.

You got WK to respond with advice. I'd take it.

 

[Dvb51]

I get where you are and what you want to do. I've been there myself. I've brought many - just on the edge of salvage cars - back to life. It's countless hours of U Pull it Junk yards, ebay hunts, etc. It can be a ton of fun if you have the time, a great learning experience, and saves a bit of money. The problem is; you're not going to find a lot of Tesla's at U Pull its. There's not a lot of OEM alternatives at rockauto; and you're not going to be able to stroll up to a Tesla parts counter and get a ton of support. This all makes it more frustrating.

Even owning two myself, I toyed with an idea of making a Tesla track car; because...why not? I sat down and did all the prices and they just dont make sense. Listen to this guy @wk057. You can buy a used working MS for under $40k. If your heart desires; rip it apart from there and upgrade the motors, battery, fuses and make it a P100DL. Paying a shop to do it is about $30k; doing it yourself would be cheaper and you'd get a P100DL for half the price.

I understand what you are saying but I simply don’t have the funds to spend that much. Looking through eBay, finding parts seemed to be relatively easy but you are SOL if you have one of the premium paint colors for the salvage car. I believe with decent planning (as decent as planning for a car that you have only seen pictures of) finding the right parts shouldn’t be terrible!

 

[Yinn]

I understand what you are saying but I simply don’t have the funds to spend that much. Looking through eBay, finding parts seemed to be relatively easy but you are SOL if you have one of the premium paint colors for the salvage car. I believe with decent planning (as decent as planning for a car that you have only seen pictures of) finding the right parts shouldn’t be terrible!

A battery pack alone is worth $10,000-$20,000 on the parts market. Plus the $10,000 in damage (at least) in parts for the car you listed. I don’t see getting a Salvaged car for less than $30,000 that most insurance companies won’t insure. We’re not including time, inspection, towing, storage, tools, or any other unforeseen costs. I don’t see how you could afford $30,000 but not $39,975 (before negotiations) on a running example, with full service records, and eligible for financing if needed.

If you want something to work on, thats fine. But it sure as heck isn’t going to be more economical. Unless you bought enough to part out and eventually Frankenstein your own, then yes you can make enough off of a job of scrapping parts to finance a build.

 

[Benjanos]

I'd invest my time in earning the extra $15k to get a running car versus a 'project' car with countless unknowns.. Unless you intend to put it all on YouTube, then the calculation may be different.

 

[demundus]

I understand what you are saying but I simply don’t have the funds to spend that much. Looking through eBay, finding parts seemed to be relatively easy but you are SOL if you have one of the premium paint colors for the salvage car. I believe with decent planning (as decent as planning for a car that you have only seen pictures of) finding the right parts shouldn’t be terrible!

We're all assuming here, so lets ask:

What amount of "funds" do you have to spend? All in?

 

[Dvb51]

We're all assuming here, so lets ask:

What amount of "funds" do you have to spend? All in?

Ideally if and when I decide to begin, 30-35k completed for either a P85D or P90D

 

[demundus]

Ideally if and when I decide to begin, 30-35k completed for either a P85D or P90D

Thats just not enough man. I'm sorry. I'd love to be wrong on this but you're not going to get a donor car (60,85,75) for that much and you ESPECIALLY wont get a performance car for that much.

Here's a crash course in co-part auctions:

If you don't know a dealer/dismantler with a license, you'll need to partner with a company who buys them on your behalf, the fees alone are several thousands when its all said and done. You'll have to truck it (flat bed specifically) to your location and offload it, there will be very little help in this regard. You can't refuse delivery because you will have already paid, WYSIWYG. You'll have to front a ton of cash as a one time buyer to these companies. In some rare cases copart will allow you to bid as a regular citizen, these cars get prices out of the realm VERY quickly.

Most auctions have a bid reserve

You wont know what it is, and so you'll gear up to bid on this car and itll never make the reserve. Now the auction-helper-company has your deposit and you have to wait till the next Tesla you want in your area comes up for sale (unless you're REALLY gambling with out of state Teslas or un-driveable deliveries). Honestly you're going to be waiting months for the RIGHT tesla to come along. Even the seasoned buyers only get one or two every couple months.

I also picked the above picture to highlight two very real practices at Copart, which is parts picking AND body shop/dismantler returns. You'll see in the picture above someone tore off an interior panel to gain access to the HV wires that run to the inverter. This was either done as part of an estimate or a dismantling, or something was TAKEN from here by a copart employee, body shop or anyone inbetween.

Most folks highly recommend you do an inspection, which is also not always possible without a license, so you'll have to bribe a guy or know a guy who will TAKE you or allow you to go with him to look at the specific vehicle. Speaking of parts picking, people will steal parts at this stage as well, its not really well policed.

Long story short, you're going to tap yourself out before youve even taken delivery of the car. You'd need to find a tesla that goes for 28-30k because you're going to pay another 4-5k in fees and towing costs etc before its in your driveway.

save 40k and buy a working car then break it if you really feel the need to tinker.

 

[TM Parts]

Thats just not enough man. I'm sorry. I'd love to be wrong on this but you're not going to get a donor car (60,85,75) for that much and you ESPECIALLY wont get a performance car for that much.

Here's a crash course in co-part auctions:

If you don't know a dealer/dismantler with a license, you'll need to partner with a company who buys them on your behalf, the fees alone are several thousands when its all said and done. You'll have to truck it (flat bed specifically) to your location and offload it, there will be very little help in this regard. You can't refuse delivery because you will have already paid, WYSIWYG. You'll have to front a ton of cash as a one time buyer to these companies. In some rare cases copart will allow you to bid as a regular citizen, these cars get prices out of the realm VERY quickly.

Most auctions have a bid reserve

View attachment 326311

You wont know what it is, and so you'll gear up to bid on this car and itll never make the reserve. Now the auction-helper-company has your deposit and you have to wait till the next Tesla you want in your area comes up for sale (unless you're REALLY gambling with out of state Teslas or un-driveable deliveries). Honestly you're going to be waiting months for the RIGHT tesla to come along. Even the seasoned buyers only get one or two every couple months.

I also picked the above picture to highlight two very real practices at Copart, which is parts picking AND body shop/dismantler returns. You'll see in the picture above someone tore off an interior panel to gain access to the HV wires that run to the inverter. This was either done as part of an estimate or a dismantling, or something was TAKEN from here by a copart employee, body shop or anyone inbetween.

Most folks highly recommend you do an inspection, which is also not always possible without a license, so you'll have to bribe a guy or know a guy who will TAKE you or allow you to go with him to look at the specific vehicle. Speaking of parts picking, people will steal parts at this stage as well, its not really well policed.

Long story short, you're going to tap yourself out before youve even taken delivery of the car. You'd need to find a tesla that goes for 28-30k because you're going to pay another 4-5k in fees and towing costs etc before its in your driveway.

save 40k and buy a working car then break it if you really feel the need to tinker.

Who do you bid through that you pay thousands for the services? Also, got a 2014 P85D off the auction for 23k this week. With AP.

 

[Dvb51]

Who do you bid through that you pay thousands for the services? Also, got a 2014 P85D off the auction for 23k this week. With AP.

The highest I've seen for across the country shipping was about 2k.

 

[Dvb51]

Thats just not enough man. I'm sorry. I'd love to be wrong on this but you're not going to get a donor car (60,85,75) for that much and you ESPECIALLY wont get a performance car for that much.

Here's a crash course in co-part auctions:

If you don't know a dealer/dismantler with a license, you'll need to partner with a company who buys them on your behalf, the fees alone are several thousands when its all said and done. You'll have to truck it (flat bed specifically) to your location and offload it, there will be very little help in this regard. You can't refuse delivery because you will have already paid, WYSIWYG. You'll have to front a ton of cash as a one time buyer to these companies. In some rare cases copart will allow you to bid as a regular citizen, these cars get prices out of the realm VERY quickly.

Most auctions have a bid reserve

View attachment 326311

You wont know what it is, and so you'll gear up to bid on this car and itll never make the reserve. Now the auction-helper-company has your deposit and you have to wait till the next Tesla you want in your area comes up for sale (unless you're REALLY gambling with out of state Teslas or un-driveable deliveries). Honestly you're going to be waiting months for the RIGHT tesla to come along. Even the seasoned buyers only get one or two every couple months.

I also picked the above picture to highlight two very real practices at Copart, which is parts picking AND body shop/dismantler returns. You'll see in the picture above someone tore off an interior panel to gain access to the HV wires that run to the inverter. This was either done as part of an estimate or a dismantling, or something was TAKEN from here by a copart employee, body shop or anyone inbetween.

Most folks highly recommend you do an inspection, which is also not always possible without a license, so you'll have to bribe a guy or know a guy who will TAKE you or allow you to go with him to look at the specific vehicle. Speaking of parts picking, people will steal parts at this stage as well, its not really well policed.

Long story short, you're going to tap yourself out before youve even taken delivery of the car. You'd need to find a tesla that goes for 28-30k because you're going to pay another 4-5k in fees and towing costs etc before its in your driveway.

save 40k and buy a working car then break it if you really feel the need to tinker.

Thank you for the information, part picking/shady practices are definitely a risk here. I'm hoping that bidding on a car with the keys/working dash at the time the pictures were taken will lessen my risks significantly. An inspection just wouldn't be possible for me unless one popped up for sale in my backyard.

If I don't go with the salvage rebuild, I wouldn't consider buying the worst model S for 40k, it simply doesn't make sense for me. If anything I would either lease/loan with the money that would otherwise be going to the auction/repair

 

[TM Parts]

The highest I've seen for across the country shipping was about 2k.

He's talking about dealer service fees.

 

[TM Parts]

Thank you for the information, part picking/shady practices are definitely a risk here. I'm hoping that bidding on a car with the keys/working dash at the time the pictures were taken will lessen my risks significantly. An inspection just wouldn't be possible for me unless one popped up for sale in my backyard.

https://www.copart.com/lot/42698518

This one for instance, someone has removed the battery.

 

[demundus]

Who do you bid through that you pay thousands for the services? Also, got a 2014 P85D off the auction for 23k this week. With AP.

I've gone to auction with 30k cash in the south west united states... Van Nuys and several other Tesla heavy auctions and have yet to see even a garbage old 60 come across for less than 28k and it was a total disaster. I do envy a 23k AP1 car, although curious whats wrong with it lol

 

[demundus]

He's talking about dealer service fees.

I am, there are some flat fee guys, depending on state, some charge a % of the sale... so somewhere between 500-1500 depending on the broker