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Previously owned Model S

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You're talking about an owner taking things they own off of the car, and then selling the car like that. That's legal - and off topic.

Tesla removes supercharging from cars purchased with it enabled. Stealing things post-purchase when the theft is committed by someone who is not the owner - even when the thief is a past owner - is illegal. And this is the definition of stealing.

Don't believe me? Go find the last car you sold, and take its wheels home with you without permission. When the police arrive, let me know what the criminal charges are.

Off topic discussions aside, there is no question whatoever that @GregVon paid for supercharging. He has it now, post sale. If a previous owner wanted it removed they lost the opportunity to remove it when they sold the car. Tesla has committed this crime in the recent past, post sale and that is the crime of theft that we all - you aren't the only one - wish they'd stop committing.
 
"Now it’s possible the car was owned for a couple of years, was traded in, Tesla owned it, then Tesla sold it to someone else that eventually sold it to Ford. In that case the car did pass through Tesla’s ownership and Tesla would have been within their rights to strip the feature while they owned it. If the Ford dealer then later represented the car as having free lifetime supercharging, then that was the Ford dealer’s error, not Tesla’s. We assume the car was a one owner car but I don’t think that was ever stated."

This is correct. I am in the middle of a situation with a "high-end" used car dealer in TX- who sold me the 2013 S P85 w free lifetime supercharging, but when i registered the car w Tesla- they said the supercharging was stripped by Tesla when they sold it at auction 2 months prior. I had the dealer, prior to purchase, send me a letter verifying the car had free supercharging. Now they are saying to me that the car should have free supercharging- they dont understand why it doesnt- . I am asking them for a "rebate" or to pay my supercharging fees monthly as they are incurred. If no remedy- I will be contacting a lawyer. To me, the mileage I drive, it would be worth $1,000- $1,500 year. Buyer beware regarding the Free Lifetime supercharging.... Love the car though...


In your case, the used car dealer didn’t understand Tesla’s policy. Their misunderstanding caused them to misrepresent the car. I doubt you’ll be able to recover much in court, there just isn’t that much value there. A lawyer isn’t going to touch it unless you pay him/her by the hour, then you’ll spend more than the value of what you seek to recover. There may be a small claims court option open to you. You could ask the dealer to take the car back, I’ve got no idea how that might go. The dealer isn’t going to want to incur unlimited ongoing expenses due to monthly supercharger expenses, they’ll want to get this settled and move on.

If it is truly a “high end” used car dealer, they should be interested in settling things to make things right. My experience with used car dealers and pre sales promises hasn’t been all that great. Your best bet might be to determine what 2 years worth of supercharging is worth, say $3000, then try to recover that in small claims court. Good luck. Please let us know how it goes.
 
In your case, the used car dealer didn’t understand Tesla’s policy. Their misunderstanding caused them to misrepresent the car. I doubt you’ll be able to recover much in court, there just isn’t that much value there. A lawyer isn’t going to touch it unless you pay him/her by the hour, then you’ll spend more than the value of what you seek to recover. There may be a small claims court option open to you. You could ask the dealer to take the car back, I’ve got no idea how that might go. The dealer isn’t going to want to incur unlimited ongoing expenses due to monthly supercharger expenses, they’ll want to get this settled and move on.

If it is truly a “high end” used car dealer, they should be interested in settling things to make things right. My experience with used car dealers and pre sales promises hasn’t been all that great. Your best bet might be to determine what 2 years worth of supercharging is worth, say $3000, then try to recover that in small claims court. Good luck. Please let us know how it goes.

You are spot on. I was able to reach a settlement with the dealer. They truly are not getting consistent policy from Tesla about how and when supercharging will be stripped by them. This is very unfortunate- and will continue to cloud the issue of those buying used Teslas anywhere, anytime.
 
They’ll strip the free lifetime supercharging any time the ownership returns to Tesla. In your case I believe Tesla owned the car and put it through the auction so even though it was brief, they owned the car.

The problem will be the dealer who buys the car at auction then puts it on his lot. They are not going to be eager to tell people it was an auctioned car. People will assume the car was traded in at the dealership. Without knowing the details of the ownership transfer, the purchaser will have no idea. Tesla should provide details to whoever takes possession of the car from them. The lack of lifetime free supercharging should have been disclosed at the auction. It would be nice if Tesla maintained a publicly accessible database of VIN numbers for the cars that had lost the lifetime free supercharging.

I’m glad you reached a satisfactory settlement with the dealer.