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Non-Refurbished 2015 Model S Pick Up Story [Yes, BE CAREFUL]

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Hey all, thought I'd share my delivery experience under the new CPO conditions. Like many, I fell in love with these cars a few years ago. And now was finally my time to purchase. With so many 2015's hitting the site, there's some good deals to be had on great Model S' with better build quality and Autopilot. I think you can't really go wrong with most of them, and for me, I found one I couldn't resist. The one I've always wanted.

Model S 85 RWD
Black Solid Paint
Tech Package with Autopilot
Premium Sound
Piano Black Decor
Black Alcantara
Panoramic Roof

Cost: 59,400
47,000 Miles

It was perfect for me. Ordered right away. Car was located in Los Angeles, I live in New York. Order May 4th. Received first phone call May 7th. Received pictures of car on May 8th. Pictures were of interior only. Interior looked immaculate, and in quick excitement I said it looked great. I asked for exterior shots, but never received them. Although I did not press for them at all. I asked once, and that was that. I fully prepared myself for the car not being perfect per Tesla's new conditions, so I didn't think much of it. Just started the long, arduous process of what some people call; waiting. Didn't realize it was so difficult but somehow I managed.

The car FINALLY arrives in New York at my closest Tesla store June 4th. They schedule me for delivery June 6th. So it's cutting it close here, I'm about a 7 hour drive from this delivery center so they allocated me a rental and hotel. I would drive the 5th, stay one night and accept the car on the 6th. But on the 4th the store called me to inform me the Sunroof isn't working. Sigh. He tells me they might have to push back delivery if they cannot get it fixed in time. This is one day prior to me driving 7 hours there to get it, and waiting a month. Says they'll call first thing tomorrow and let me know. Now I'm sitting here freaking out as I've already got the 2 days off from work, and now I won't know if I'm doing a 7 hour drive there until the day of.

June 5th rolls around, and for some bizarre reason, I get emailed pictures of the exterior finally. The car looks awful. All 4 wheels are terribly curbed. The paint appears as though its so far gone that you can see the aluminum. The front lip underneath the nosecone has noticeable dents. And there's a nasty ding in the rear. Why was I not shown all of these when the car was in Los Angeles? This was a mere hour before I get tired of waiting and call them to figure out if I'm even still driving there. To which they tell me, yes come and get the car. But they could not get any service time on the sunroof so that's going to be due billed. Again, I'm actually okay with this. I don't mind having it fixed, because quite frankly I know it's going to be fixed. It's a bummer, but whatever. I ask about the shape of the car, which my specialist did want to bring up. Basically I asked "I know the policies have just changed and your hands are tied, but doesn't the shape of this seem rather excessive?". Of course there's just really nothing he can do, but he assured me they will be detailing the car and do everything they can to remove as much scratches as possible. Oddly enough the email with the pictures that was sent that day, even says "we can recommend some touch-up paint however Tesla is no longer supporting cosmetic refurbishment".

With that phone call over, I now know I can go and get the car. So we do the drive and spend the night there. The next morning we drop the rental off and decide to walk there. Before I'm even out of the Enterprise, my delivery specialist calls and tells me they're detailing the car again so it may be a bit longer. Hell, I'm okay with that. So anyway we walk over there and wait for a few minutes while the get some paperwork ready. I meet my specialist and before we start anything he asks if I want to see it. To which I exclaim "hell yes". Despite how terrible this may be sounding, this is a big purchase for me. This is my first time EVER in a Tesla store. This will be my first time ever sitting in one. I'm excited despite how shafted I've gotten. The door opens and the detail guy is still there doing some final touch ups. It looks incredible. Amazing what a good detailer can do. The pictures I was sent the day before legit looked like there was massive chips in the paint. But for a black car, this looked clean.

Now, the things they obviously couldn't do. The physical dings in the rear, still there. The dents in the front lip, there. The curbed wheels? Oh yeah. All 4 of them are there. Whoever owned this did not know how to park. I really hope they aren't beating up another Model S. Now from all the reading I've done here, I feel like a lot of you would have rejected delivery and I can totally see that. But again, despite all this, I'm happy. And that's all I could ask for really when it comes to buying something like this. Front lip dents aren't that bad at all. Rims can be replaced, which I was probably gonna do anyway. The worst is the rear bumper for sure. I'm guessing replacing that would be more than I care to worry about right now. Also, in yet another EXTREMELY unfortunate round of luck. When I left with the car, I immediately heard the dreaded "milling" noise in the drive unit. Took the car right back, had a service tech drive it, for him to confirm "Yep, that's not normal". So now I'll get a new drive unit along with the sunroof. Admittedly I'm not super bothered with this as I'll be getting a brand new drive unit with 0 miles.

To sum up the experience, I would say, wherever this car was sitting. Shame on that location. The lack of exterior pictures was misleading, as I'm seeing plenty of other posts here saying they got shots of everything. Not just the interior. Also, surely this drive unit noise must have been identified. What's that 70 point inspection for if you're not identifying a common problem in the main driving component of the car? How are you not checking operation of the sunroof if the car is so equipped? It was basically rotting or totally neglected until I came along and they assigned it to a truck to come here. My store only had the car for 48 hours before I came to pick it up. I can't completely blame them for getting shipped a flaming pile. Which leads me to the other part. Hurray for my service center. They were extremely accommodating and understanding. They detailed it twice and made it look fantastic. They gave me the proper due bill for my drive unit and sunroof. And they were all around very friendly. Helped take the pictures of me and the car, let me walk around their lot, look at a few customer Model 3's (not allowed to sit in them of course). It was all around a good day.

Drove the car home, used Autopilot 1 a lot and it worked amazingly well. So far I love the car and would do it again. But for those that look to a higher standard, absolutely be aware of what you've seen so far on here. The non-refurbished cars could be rough. And they might not even be checking your drive units, air suspension, or sunroofs until your service centers get them. Below are the pictures they sent on June 5th, and then June 6th when I came to pick it up.

View attachment 309535 View attachment 309536 View attachment 309538 View attachment 309539 View attachment 309541 View attachment 309542
 
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Dear Elon,

An Open Letter to you: this is just shameful treatment.

This buyer's many problems on his new-to-him Tesla should have been addressed well before delivery, especially given his incredible distance from the local Service Center. As a TSLA shareholder I really wish you would re-visit the decision to stop reconditioning cars prior to resale; it's embarrassing!

In this buyer's case, I strongly suspect he may have purchased a Service Loaner that's been abused daily for many years. Please stop selling those without making them look at least mildly decent; it's a blemish on an otherwise great company making great products.

Thank you.
 
would you buy a $18K Chevy Cruze in this manner? I think not. I hope Tesla re-thinks their policy or at least is more UP front about the physical condition and service history of their "used" vehicles they are selling.

Even the folk selling on a Ebay and Cars.com take fairly complete pictures.

Tesla is really tightening their belt after that last quarter. I would not be surprised if the staff must bring their own toilet paper to work.
 
June 5th rolls around, and for some bizarre reason, I get emailed pictures of the exterior finally. The car looks awful. All 4 wheels are terribly curbed. The paint appears as though its so far gone that you can see the aluminum. The front lip underneath the nosecone has noticeable dents. And there's a nasty ding in the rear. Why was I not shown all of these when the car was in Los Angeles? This was a mere hour before I get tired of waiting and call them to figure out if I'm even still driving there. To which they tell me, yes come and get the car. But they could not get any service time on the sunroof so that's going to be due billed. Again, I'm actually okay with this. I don't mind having it fixed, because quite frankly I know it's going to be fixed. It's a bummer, but whatever. I ask about the shape of the car, which my specialist did want to bring up. Basically I asked "I know the policies have just changed and your hands are tied, but doesn't the shape of this seem rather excessive?". Of course there's just really nothing he can do, but he assured me they will be detailing the car and do everything they can to remove as much scratches as possible. Oddly enough the email with the pictures that was sent that day, even says "we can recommend some touch-up paint however Tesla is no longer supporting cosmetic refurbishment".

With that phone call over, I now know I can go and get the car. So we do the drive and spend the night there. The next morning we drop the rental off and decide to walk there. Before I'm even out of the Enterprise, my delivery specialist calls and tells me they're detailing the car again so it may be a bit longer. Hell, I'm okay with that. So anyway we walk over there and wait for a few minutes while the get some paperwork ready. I meet my specialist and before we start anything he asks if I want to see it. To which I exclaim "hell yes". Despite how terrible this may be sounding, this is a big purchase for me. This is my first time EVER in a Tesla store. This will be my first time ever sitting in one. I'm excited despite how shafted I've gotten. The door opens and the detail guy is still there doing some final touch ups. It looks incredible. Amazing what a good detailer can do. The pictures I was sent the day before legit looked like there was massive chips in the paint. But for a black car, this looked clean.

Now, the things they obviously couldn't do. The physical dings in the rear, still there. The dents in the front lip, there. The curbed wheels? Oh yeah. All 4 of them are there. Whoever owned this did not know how to park. I really hope they aren't beating up another Model S. Now from all the reading I've done here, I feel like a lot of you would have rejected delivery and I can totally see that. But again, despite all this, I'm happy. And that's all I could ask for really when it comes to buying something like this. Front lip dents aren't that bad at all. Rims can be replaced, which I was probably gonna do anyway. The worst is the rear bumper for sure. I'm guessing replacing that would be more than I care to worry about right now. Also, in yet another EXTREMELY unfortunate round of luck. When I left with the car, I immediately heard the dreaded "milling" noise in the drive unit. Took the car right back, had a service tech drive it, for him to confirm "Yep, that's not normal". So now I'll get a new drive unit along with the sunroof. Admittedly I'm not super bothered with this as I'll be getting a brand new drive unit with 0 miles.

To sum up the experience, I would say, wherever this car was sitting. Shame on that location. The lack of exterior pictures was misleading, as I'm seeing plenty of other posts here saying they got shots of everything. Not just the interior. Also, surely this drive unit noise must have been identified. What's that 70 point inspection for if you're not identifying a common problem in the main driving component of the car? How are you not checking operation of the sunroof if the car is so equipped? It was basically rotting or totally neglected until I came along and they assigned it to a truck to come here. My store only had the car for 48 hours before I came to pick it up. I can't completely blame them for getting shipped a flaming pile. Which leads me to the other part. Hurray for my service center. They were extremely accommodating and understanding. They detailed it twice and made it look fantastic. They gave me the proper due bill for my drive unit and sunroof. And they were all around very friendly. Helped take the pictures of me and the car, let me walk around their lot, look at a few customer Model 3's (not allowed to sit in them of course). It was all around a good day.

Absolutely appalling that they sold you a car in such poor condition. We absolutely would have rejected that car and asked for our money back. You are an exceedingly nice person to admit that you feel "shafted" by the sale and still bought the car any way.

Given your drivetrain issue it looks like their "mechanical inspection" did not even include someone driving the car to make sure it drives okay. So basically they were like: The car has 4 wheels, wheels turn, good to go!

would you buy a $18K Chevy Cruze in this manner? I think not. I hope Tesla re-thinks their policy or at least is more UP front about the physical condition and service history of their "used" vehicles they are selling.

Selling cars in awful condition will stop when customers start rejecting deliveries. I would have been insulted if a car costing $60K was presented to me in such manner.

Just look at all the interior and exterior reconditioning they do when you buy a TOYOTA. (source: https://www.toyotacertified.com/160-point-inspection)

Exterior Condition & Appearance
  • Exterior is clean and free of road residue
  • No cracked, deeply hazed/yellowed or broken lenses of exterior lights
  • Outside rearview mirror operates/lens is good
  • Glass free of cracks, stars and large chips
  • Glass is free of improper repairs
  • Bumpers are free of cuts, gouges and scratches
  • Body is free of all dents
  • Body is reasonably free of dings
  • Paint is reasonably free of scratches and chips
  • Vehicle is free of improper paint repairs or mismatched color
  • Hood and trunk latches working
  • Free of water spots
  • Paint is free of swirl marks
  • Paint has even, high luster
  • Paint is free of buffable scratches
  • Free of wax residue
  • Wheelwells are clean
  • Acceptable aftermarket items checked
  • Removal of unacceptable aftermarket items
Interior Condition & Appearance
  • Day/night mirror operates and lens is good
  • Window tinting clear and free of bubbles
  • Cigarette lighter is intact and operates
  • Ashtrays function and are in good condition
  • Ashtrays and lighter are clean; no evidence of use
  • Headliner, sun visors, dash pad, upholstery, console, cup holders, trim panels, floor mats and carpets are in place and in good condition (if equipped)
  • Cup holder extends completely and sturdily
  • Driver floor mat (if equipped) is appropriate OEM floor mats for the vehicle, properly secured and not stacked on top of another floor mat
  • Doors open and close correctly
  • Door locks, including child safety locks, work properly
  • Seats, including all position adjusters, work properly
  • Headrests function properly
  • Rear defogger grid lines intact
  • Interior leather, vinyl, plastic, carpet and fabric surfaces are free of holes, rips, tears, excessive wear or fading
  • No evidence of previous improper repairs
  • Inspect seatbelt condition
  • Seatbelts have full range of extension and smooth operation
  • Seatbelts lock up per specification
  • Inside remote release operates normally
  • Interior is free of debris
  • Dash and vents are clean and properly dressed
  • All crevices are clean
  • Doorjambs are clean
  • Glove box and console compartments are clean
  • Seats, carpets, floor mats and headliner are free of stains (if equipped)
  • Free of odor, including heavy perfume
  • Glass is clean and free of streaks