My car was "keyed" :(

[mikeash]

I got an extensive post-purchase survey from an independent company, which may have been working on behalf of Tesla. They don't have to ask every buyer, just a representative sampling.

Coming from much cheaper cars is pretty common. My previous most expensive car was $25k. Many other owners report similar things. Many do not, of course, and I have no numbers of my own, but I could definitely believe 50%.

Tesla appeals to many people who typically don't care much about cars but have money. Lots of programmers, for example, aim for reasonably cheap and practical in their car-buying, even though they could afford something much fancier. Show them a traditional luxury car and the response is often along the lines of, that's real nice, but I just want something to get me from A to B. Show them a Tesla and suddenly they start figuring out how they can buy one.

 

[Canuck]

I got an extensive post-purchase survey from an independent company, which may have been working on behalf of Tesla. They don't have to ask every buyer, just a representative sampling.

Getting a survey is one thing, getting one that asks "Did you previously own a car worth more than $30k" is another. Did it ask that specific question? Did anyone get a survey that asked that question? I know a representative sample is all that's needed but it needs to be of sufficient size to have a low margin of error and if no one here was asked that question then I doubt it was ever asked.

Tesla appeals to many people who typically don't care much about cars but have money.

That applies to me but $30k? My Tahoe Hybrid was double that. Seriously, we're to believe that more than 50% of the people who are driving a Tesla never owned a vehicle worth more than $30k before? Again, that makes no sense to me.

I have no numbers of my own, but I could definitely believe 50%.

It was "more than 50%." I have no numbers of my own either but according to the LA Times, 21% of Tesla owners are coming from Mercedes or BMW alone, and:

Considering that the Tesla’s price starts at $71,070 before any federal or state incentives for purchasing an electric car, it’s not surprising that owners of other luxury cars are big buyers.

So the "big buyers" are owners of BMW's, Mercedes and other luxury cars. There's no doubt in my mind those are the majority of people buying Teslas.

 

[mikeash]

I don't know if it specifically asked for the price of my previous car, but it asked many questions about my car ownership history and price could easily be derived.

The typical programmer car in my experience is something in the range of a Prius or Civic. Practical, cheap, not a piece of crap. Some cheaper sports cars like the Miata. Gigantic SUVs like your Tahoe are rarely on the menu.

If you look around the forums here you'll find a ton of people who came to Tesla from a Prius or similar. I have no hard numbers, but I don't really see why 50% is hard to believe. I totally understand being skeptical without proper evidence, but "makes no sense to me" makes no sense to me.

 

[Xenius]

I don't know if it specifically asked for the price of my previous car, but it asked many questions about my car ownership history and price could easily be derived.

The typical programmer car in my experience is something in the range of a Prius or Civic. Practical, cheap, not a piece of crap. Some cheaper sports cars like the Miata. Gigantic SUVs like your Tahoe are rarely on the menu.

If you look around the forums here you'll find a ton of people who came to Tesla from a Prius or similar. I have no hard numbers, but I don't really see why 50% is hard to believe. I totally understand being skeptical without proper evidence, but "makes no sense to me" makes no sense to me.

Just to throw in my 2 cents. That's me to a "T". My day job is as a software engineer at a smallish financial software company, I love it. Most expensive car before this was a 2013 Civic Si, which I loved. I liked driving manual, I liked the looks, and sportiness. I had ZERO interest in luxury cars. Just a waste of money. It was a way to go from point A to point B. Despite loving the car, I really avoided driving if I could.

Then came Tesla.... and soon I'll have a car payment that is more than the principal payment of our mortgage. I don't regret it and I don't even have the car yet. It's more a life view than a car. I want to support this company, with stock, with product purchases, and with spreading knowledge to the ignorant. If anyone keys it and I find them I'll consider very bad things

 

[mhan00]

I lost an old college friend over the Prius hate. I bought one about three years ago, and posted a little note to Facebook about how cool it was to be getting 50MPH and the wonders of modern technology. He replied with a rant full of bogus claims, like that I'd have to spend $10,000 every five years replacing the battery. When I replied with a completely calm explanation of what he got wrong, he called me "smug" and that was the end of that. Sad.

I wonder what he'd say about my owning a Tesla now. Probably more of the same. Would be fun to just challenge him to a drag race as a response....

You're better off without him. Just goes to show that a college education isn't actually a sign of intelligence. Three years ago and he still believed that bunk? That was disproved over ten years ago when the first Prius vehicles had their batteries perform spectacularly.

 

[mikeash]

Yeah, I was pretty surprised. Such beliefs were common when the Prius was new, but by the time we had this "discussion" they were long past debunked.

In my opinion, what it really shows is that intelligence isn't enough to overcome strong political biases. That's something we all have to be careful of.

 

[Parnoren]

This Anti Theft System is what we need:

 

[Macbest]

How much does a repair cost if they key front fender to rear fender?

At least $2,000 in California.

The bigger issue here is that this gets reported as an accident to some of the online services. Now just try and sell your car to Carmax or another dealer and see what happens. I had my previous car keyed and it cost like $1500. It was reported. I fought it with the reporting company. It prevented from me selling it on Beepi, and to CarMax. The latter would take it but at a crazy low price vs other dealers that didn't use certain services.

I know this is wrong. the company said it wasn't in "bold print" which could have meant it was not an accident but keyed. "Bold print"? No one looks at that! I'm considering a class action lawsuit as this really damaged the resell value.

So it wasn't enough pain when I had the car keyed. It kept on coming with the resell. The car maker maths later.

Not want anyone wanted to hear but what is going on.

 

[Drivin]

Getting a survey is one thing, getting one that asks "Did you previously own a car worth more than $30k" is another. Did it ask that specific question? Did anyone get a survey that asked that question? I know a representative sample is all that's needed but it needs to be of sufficient size to have a low margin of error and if no one here was asked that question then I doubt it was ever asked.



That applies to me but $30k? My Tahoe Hybrid was double that. Seriously, we're to believe that more than 50% of the people who are driving a Tesla never owned a vehicle worth more than $30k before? Again, that makes no sense to me....

So the "big buyers" are owners of BMW's, Mercedes and other luxury cars. There's no doubt in my mind those are the majority of people buying Teslas.

A new bmw starts at 33k and a new Mercedes starts at 35k.

If those people who switched came from owning used luxury cars they easily can fit into profile of their precious car was worth 30k. For instance a 2013 5 series is easily below 30k.

 

[Austin Powers]

A new bmw starts at 33k and a new Mercedes starts at 35k.

If those people who switched came from owning used luxury cars they easily can fit into profile of their precious car was worth 30k. For instance a 2013 5 series is easily below 30k.

True that. I have an 09 Prius that I paid 23k for and a used 07 Murano that I snagged for $14k! Funny, I'm in tech too. I don't know what it is but it doesn't really feel like I'm overspending on this. If someone were to ask me if I would spend $75k on another luxury car (think Porsche, BMW, Range Rover), I would have laughed at them. But somehow the Model S makes sense

 

[Canuck]

A new bmw starts at 33k and a new Mercedes starts at 35k.

"starts at" -- need I say more?

 

[787steve]

I know one rationale for keying that I will avoid in the future. You may want to heed this advice.

Depending on where you live, do not put college stickers or vanity plates on your car. I lived in a state where a ridiculous amount of emphasis was placed on college sports. There were two main power schools in the state, and both of my children went to one of them. Mom wanted to put a school vanity plate on the front of our pickup truck. A couple weeks later, I found a massive long deep groove down the drivers side. I couldn't figure why someone would do that. As I continued around the truck to look for damage, I saw that someone had also urinated on the front plate. Class act.

BTW, my kids went to a university which is very highly respected for it's engineering programs. The other school was...........not. But they had a really good football team.

 

[Kenriko]

my model s (90D blue, just got it 2 months ago) was keyed this morning too. residential area of san mateo. i'm really sorry it happened to your tesla too. i just don't understand what motivates people to do such things...

I'm also in San Mateo (Poplar) If you find them let me know and I'll come help give the beatdown.

 

[yokosophia]

I'm so sorry to hear that!
Blue is such a beautiful color on the Model S, hurts to see a car that nice needlessly ruined.
Mine is being repaired this weekend.
In the end, I'm sure it will be good as new.

thanks. it just pains me to think of all the work (esp the hand labor) that went into the tesla is just ruined by a single dark thought. luckily the body shop i took it to was generous and fixed it up for free! they only needed a light sanding and compound polish to get it out, since the scratch was superficial enough.

 

[yokosophia]

I'm also in San Mateo (Poplar) If you find them let me know and I'll come help give the beatdown.

haha thanks i actually think i know who did it. there were a bunch of guys working on an old car right in front of the parking lot and i could tell they were snickering when they saw my car. when i came back out to the same guys were still there. if they didn't see it, they definitely saw who did it, so they are just as guilty. i didn't notice the scratch until i got home though.. if i did i would have put my mace to good use

 

[dhrivnak]

Sorry to hear that and the same happened to me at a car show with my Roadster. In broad daylight! But it is just paint and any good body shop can repaint a door or fender. Nothing special there.

 

[Vern Padgett]

My D.S gave me a stat where he mentioned that over 50% of Tesla owners have never had a car worth more than $30k before. For many of us, this car symbolizes values and not status.

That's us.
I drove my 1987 Acura Integra for 29 years and then bought 2 Model S90Ds. The Acura was $14,000. I could have bought other cars between the years 1987 and 2016, but I never saw anything that looked or performed better than the Integra, except for Tesla. And I waited for the Blue Star (Model 3). But then on 31 March 2016, standing in line with 300 others at the Buena Park Tesla Showroom, I saw a semi pull in with 6 or 7 new Model Ss. And I said to myself, "I could buy one of those right now ... "

 

[Vern Padgett]

I don't believe that this is correct. It doesn't make sense. And this is aside from the fact that there's no way for them get this information without having people answer this question when buying, and no one asked me.

I agree with you that there is no way for Tesla to obtain this information, but I disagree that it does not make sense. Why do you think that it does not make sense?

 

[Vern Padgett]

That applies to me but $30k? ... Seriously, we're to believe that more than 50% of the people who are driving a Tesla never owned a vehicle worth more than $30k before? Again, that makes no sense to me.

Canuck I wish we could discuss this over a Guinness or Jim Beam Black Label.
Make perfect sense to me.
But then wise people differ.
So my story: Why would I want to drive an expensive car, when a cheaper car does the job as well?
Why would I want to wear expensive clothes, when I can buy the same at GoodWill for $4?
Whey would I want to eat restaurant food, when I can make the same or better at home-- for a small fraction of the cost?
That's pretty much how I saved up enough to buy 2 Model S90Ds with cash last year.
Work 2 or 3 jobs, never go on vacation; never eat at restaurants; do that for 50 years, and then you can buy Teslas for cash.
Maybe not your story.
But makes perfect sense to me.
Once the right car comes along.
Vern

 

[Vern Padgett]

My wife's car was gouged across 4 panels a week ago today. I would say "keying" but it was more like the result of a screwdriver or a chisel.

She was parked, perfectly, in a space behind the tea place, Paris in a Cup, where she meets her old friends each year, for Christmas tea.

It was in a public lot, City of Orange, just south of the traffic circle. She called that business, but they said they had no cameras. She called City of Orange to ask if they had cameras; no response so far.

She said she saw a "creepy looking kid" riding his bike around when she parked.

What really disturbs me are my thoughts about what I would have done had I walked up on the kid when he was doing the damage. Beat him to death, pretty much.