MS Plaid demo cars with over 13000km (8000mi)

[Zuikkis]

Hi,

There's two quite cheap inventory Plaids for sale here in Finland. They both have over 13000km! How is that even possible? That must be like 200 test drives?

What's more, they are about one year old, which means they have already lost one year of warranty. Then again I drive so much that it's very likely I'll hit the 80000km warranty limit in under 3 years anyway. And they probably have USS!

The cars are 21000-24000€ under MSRP and also give you 15000 loyalty credits, so still quite tempting. They are cheaper than a new LR.

Cars are pearl white with 19" wheels and red with 21". I'd like to have red with 19". Do you think there's any success try to persuade them to swap the wheels between cars?

 

[HankLloydRight]

I bought my first P85+ as an inventory car in 2014 with more than 8000 miles. At delivery you could tell it wasn’t a brand new car. Also, for new “inventory” cars, the factory warranty starts when YOU buy the car, not when it was first driven. At least that’s how it works in the US.
If it’s a decent discount and you can inspect/reject the car at delivery, I think there’s no reason not to consider it.
You can ask about the wheel swap, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.

 

[Zuikkis]

I bought my first P85+ as an inventory car in 2014 with more than 8000 miles. At delivery you could tell it wasn’t a brand new car. Also, for new “inventory” cars, the factory warranty starts when YOU buy the car, not when it was first driven. At least that’s how it works in the US.
If it’s a decent discount and you can inspect/reject the car at delivery, I think there’s no reason not to consider it.

I believe the warranty thing has recently changed, even in US? I tried looking at inventory cars even in the US and they seem to be the same, warranty has started when car is first registered.

But as I said, I drive like 30000km per year so "4 years or 80000km" means ~2.5 years for me anyway. These cars have 67000km/3yr left, that's not a big difference for me.

Thanks for the hint anyway..

 

[EVRider-FL]

I believe the warranty thing has recently changed, even in US? I tried looking at inventory cars even in the US and they seem to be the same, warranty has started when car is first registered.

I think that’s correct. When I was looking at Model Y’s in inventory (US), the warranty for demo models had already started.

 

[DerbyDave]

Demo cars are also "Executive" cars, owned by Tesla for use or demonstration by employees, etc. They can be assigned for a year or more, and then a new one is provided. That is likely what the higher mileage cars were. I don't think they could advertise the car as a Demo if it was a used car owned by someone else, at least in the USA.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I believe the warranty thing has recently changed, even in US? I tried looking at inventory cars even in the US and they seem to be the same, warranty has started when car is first registered.

I'll research this tomorrow, but I don't think that's actually legal. Any "new" cars are still new, unregistered, and untitled. Since these cars are never registered or titled to the first real buyer, there's no point in time for the warranty clock to start ticking. I think Tesla by law (in the US anyway) has to honor the factory warranty from the point of sale.

edit: It looks like the clock starts on some inventory models with mileage, but the total miles on the warranty are all still 50k. Maybe Tesla found a loophole.

 

[Zuikkis]

Hmm, but demo cars are registered, at least here in Finland. They have regular license plates.

However they still count as "new" cars. The first owner is Tesla, and that doesn't count. First real owner is the customer.

A few years ago it was like you say, warranty started when car was given to customer. Like my current car was registered (given plates) in 10/2016 but warranty starts at 3/2017.

 

[Zuikkis]

I went to Tesla and drove new Model 3 LR Highland and MS Plaid.

Interestingly M3 had already over 20000km and it must only be a few months old. So actually now it feels that 13000km in a year is peanuts.

M3 was great, so much better than the old model. But then we tried the Plaid.. I think there's no turning back, it's just so much better!

Lack of stalks was not an issue for me. I found myself trying to find the indicator stalk in M3 but then hour later in MS it already was natural for me.

I think it was much bigger step going from 2013 MS to 2016 MX where indicator and cruise stalks swapped places, that was super annoying at first! Blinked when trying to adjust cruise and (dangerously) enabled cruise when trying to indicate a turn. It's much easier to learn when there simply isn't a stalk at all..