Newbie question

[nateads]

Hi everyone,

I apologize in advance for such a newbie question, but I stumbled on a used vehicle seller that is selling a Long Range Dual Motor Model 3 (2019) at a price that seems to good to be true.

I got the CarFax and the car looks to be clean, I googled the VIN and noticed it was for sale at another dealer much closer to me back in May (4 months ago) 2x the current listed price. Though the cached page is showing the car with a white interior. The current seller is showing the car with a black interior. Everything else seems to match (exterior colour, specs).

The current seller told me they purchase cars from an auction. I'm curious how cheap it must have been at auction, but I was wondering if anyone on the forum has any info or insight as to what happens here. Are these bad ideas to purchase? The car is close to 50% what it would be brand new and seems to have a clean history.

Any feedback would be great.

 

[C141medic]

If the carfax is good then I don’t understand what your concern is? Cars go to auction all the time. It’s possible that the car wasn’t selling (for whatever reason) at the previous dealer and rather than continue to take a loss on it, they sent it to auction. And you still have a warranty. What’s the asking price?

 

[nateads]

What’s the asking price?

$36,000 with 5580kms, since your in Jersey the conversion is $27,014 USD with 3467 miles.

It just seems way to cheap since I am seeing used Model 3's above $50k. I haven't checked the VIN with Tesla for supercharging, updates.

 

[Resist]

If the carfax is good then I don’t understand what your concern is?

Because a clean CarFax doesn't mean the car was never in an accident, just means it wasn't reported to insurance.

 

[captain_sahaj]

$36,000 with 5580kms, since your in Jersey the conversion is $27,014 USD with 3467 miles.

It just seems way to cheap since I am seeing used Model 3's above $50k. I haven't checked the VIN with Tesla for supercharging, updates.

Very fishy

 

[C141medic]

$36,000 with 5580kms, since your in Jersey the conversion is $27,014 USD with 3467 miles.

It just seems way to cheap since I am seeing used Model 3's above $50k. I haven't checked the VIN with Tesla for supercharging, updates.

Definitely something not quite right with that price.

 

[RayK]

Are your sure that the $36K is in CAD?

Were it me, I'd contact Tesla and give them the VIN and ask if they have anything about its history; where it was first sold, any repairs, etc. Verify that it still has the remaining factory warranty. Verify it's not considered salvage. Verify that it's still able to be Supercharged. Get it all in writing. Agree with the others that this seems too good to be true....

edit: Also make sure that you can still get OTA updates.

 

[C141medic]

Because a clean CarFax doesn't mean the car was never in an accident, just means it wasn't reported to insurance.

True. I was alluding to salvage/flood/etc. regarding the carfax.

 

[nateads]

Contacted Tesla, they said they cannot release any information regarding a VIN unless you are the registered owner. So I think I might give up on this dream. Too good to be true usually means 'Too good to be true'. Thanks for all the quick responses though to everyone who replied.

 

[nateads]

Got curious so I contacted the seller again, they said the cars they sell are repossessed by banks or leasing companies from private or legal entities. They said the car is accident free and in excellent condition (the pictures online look quite good other than that oddness of it having a white interior 4 months ago from another seller), it comes with an 80 000 kms or 38 months Tesla warranty. This specific one also comes with OTA updates and supercharging (which I know to make sure comes in writing with proof).

If the car wasn't 2,669kms away I'd be tempted to go see it.

 

[nateads]

Sorry for bumping the post but hopefully the right eyes see this post if needed.

I did some research and found that the company selling the cars (Canada Cars Inc canadacars-inc.ca) is getting a bad track record. I don't know if it's a new company suffering growing pains. But they had a previous website called 'Jalynn Auto LTD'. In Google cache the websites are almost identical except for the logo. Same cars too since 2019. I have a hard time believing a Model 3 Long Range at that price would have stuck around that long.

They are constantly trying to add posting on Autotrader as a private seller but the ads keep getting reported and taken down in less than 12 hours. It seems the company is making money off holding onto peoples payments to release the paper work and delivering nothing.

They offer a 'Buy Now' button on the site, but my best advice to anyone interested in this company, make sure you can see, enter and even start the car before handing over any money at all.

 

[RayK]

I like how all of the Teslas are described as having a 1.0 L engine size.

 

[nateads]

In their defense (not sure why I care). They are using a cheap Wordpress theme that is built for a "car dealership" and most likely didn't get a qualified developer to build it out for them so it limits what you can do.

 

[C141medic]

If you click buy it now you get this: “Canada Cars does not maintain a car park, we act as a middleman between you and the Lessors holding the vehicles.” There’s a 2017 Model X for $34K. No way do I believe that unless it’s a salvage and/or totaled. Even then probably not. 2017 Tesla Model X 90D

 

[Oyster Bait]

Have you asked to see the car? Seems like a reasonable request. Since they are a middleman, the cars could be anywhere. If it is viewable and in NL, there may be a member who could give it a once-over.

 

[camalaio]

Sorry for bumping the post but hopefully the right eyes see this post if needed.

I did some research and found that the company selling the cars (Canada Cars Inc canadacars-inc.ca) is getting a bad track record. I don't know if it's a new company suffering growing pains. But they had a previous website called 'Jalynn Auto LTD'. In Google cache the websites are almost identical except for the logo. Same cars too since 2019. I have a hard time believing a Model 3 Long Range at that price would have stuck around that long.

They are constantly trying to add posting on Autotrader as a private seller but the ads keep getting reported and taken down in less than 12 hours. It seems the company is making money off holding onto peoples payments to release the paper work and delivering nothing.

They offer a 'Buy Now' button on the site, but my best advice to anyone interested in this company, make sure you can see, enter and even start the car before handing over any money at all.

Haven't dealt with this company specifically, but there's a ton of shady used car dealers like this in western Canada. Basically find cars they can glue, schmoo, and paint back together to look right and somehow evading the otherwise necessary paperwork to report these things. Have had family and friends burned by these.

Even if you get everything in writing and whatnot, it's way more hassle than it's worth if you end up having to pursue them to buy back the vehicle (assuming they didn't just disappear in the mean time).

It's way overused, but it is indeed "too good to be true".