Purchasing CPO (Used) Tesla and Financing through 3rd Lender Party Experience

[ElctrcBoogaloo]

So for those of you who have not yet read the threads on the scaling back of standards for Tesla's CPO program ("Buying a CPO Tesla feels like a SCAM" and "Does Tesla really want to have the worst CPO Program in the world?"), here's a quick summary of changes that appear to have been rolled out in phases since the start of 2018 (and mainly around April):

• Tesla's current CPO verbiage states: "This car has passed a 70‑point mechanical inspection. For photos and more information, contact us" (I have been unable to find anywhere what those 70 points are). This is down from the original 200+ point inspection that defined the program when it first launched.
• Tesla no longer includes exterior/interior inspection or refurbishment as part of its CPO process. Instead, the buyer is expected to carefully inspect the photos that they furnish only upon request. In my case, I requested photos on several vehicles, but only received photos for one after I put a non-refundable down payment of $1000 on it. The photos appeared to have been taken using an old school digital camera of not particularly high resolution. Several shots were blurry but did help me to spot some water stains on the headliner. They did not include photos of makeup(?) smears all over the fabric of the driver and passenger-side sun visors.
• This post at Eletrek speculates this change to the CPO program was done in anticipation of a large influx of cars completing leases.
  
• According to the Order Advisor (OA) that I spoke with over the phone, Tesla does NOT utilize CPO cars awaiting purchase as loaner vehicles. However, that does not preclude loaner cars from potentially entering the pool of CPO vehicles.
• You will not be allowed to test drive the vehicle until you have

(For comparison, Mercedes's CPO provides a video as well as a detailed table explaining the criteria for certification in their program. It covers all things mechanical and cosmetic. On the other end of the car market, even Kia's CPO program frankly blows Tesla's program (in its current form) out of the water.)​

All of the above is homework that I wish I had done before I entered into the process of purchasing CPO through Tesla. I'm still not through the purchase process yet, but at this point, I'm pretty disenchanted with how it's gone thus far and am at this point frankly concerned about what it says about the health of the company. (If you're interested, I posted about my CPO purchase experience here.) This pains me because I've been a longtime fan of Tesla. Ever since the roadster first came out have been dreaming of getting my hands on a Tesla vehicle. As my wife can tell you, this is saying a lot because outside of Tesla, I'm not really a car guy so much as I'm a wanna be early-adopter gadget guy type. If this were any other car company, I would have definitely pulled out of this purchase process because of the sketchy CPO conditions and disjointed (though well-intentioned) service I've received thus far.

This is getting long so I'll hit enter for now and continue in a follow-up post...

 

[ElctrcBoogaloo]

Corrected link: "Does Tesla really want to have the worst CPO Program in the world?"

Also, to finish the last bullet in previous post:

• You will not be allowed to test drive the vehicle until you have finalized the purchase. In other words, you are not allowed to drive the used vehicle even during the delivery inspection (until of course, you are driving it home).

 

[ElctrcBoogaloo]

READ THIS if you're planning to finance your CPO Tesla through a third-party lender:

If you're like us and are able to find a better financing deal through a third party lender (in our case, our local credit union was able to give us a full point better than what was been offered through Tesla's lender), here's how the process should work, based on what we've pieced together so far:

1. Get pre-approval letter from your lender for the amount you plan to finance.
2. Tell your Order Advisor (OA) how much you are planning to finance.
3. Your OA should provide you with a Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement (MVPA). BE PERSISTENT IN ASKING FOR THIS AS YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET YOUR FINANCING UNTIL YOU HAVE THIS. Validate that all the information is correct (e.g., carefully check spelling of name(s), pricing details, address, etc.), sign and return. Our name was misspelled so we are in the process of getting that corrected now.
   • NOTE: It is my understanding that signing the MVPA does not yet lock you in to purchasing the vehicle, but I'm not certain. There is a separate delivery confirmation document that you will sign after you've inspected the vehicle to finalize the transfer of ownership.
4. Tesla should countersign the MVPA and provide you a copy of the signed/countersigned version by email and/or a direct upload to your Tesla Account.
5. Send the MVPA to your Lender. Your Lender will then send you a check for the financed amount.
6. Give Tesla the check from your lender after you've inspected the car and decided you will accept the delivery.

Seems fairly straight forward, right? For us, unfortunately, it has not been. In reviewing the string of emails between us Tesla, at no point was the process laid out by Tesla in writing. Worse, despite me asking multiple times for a purchase order to provide to the lender so I could get a check, I received no response until I was actually on site at the delivery center being told by the finance manager that I could not take my car home because they needed a check from the lender.

Why did I go in without the check you may ask? In the absence of email responses or callbacks from Tesla, the lender had to fill the gap and speculated that the preapproval letter they had provided me with should be sufficient. They assured me that as soon as they had a purchase agreement, the check would be sent on to Tesla right away. So I guess shame on the lender and myself for being wrong, but further confusing this for me was that my online Tesla account showed the finance portion of the deal to be paid for, leading me to believe that the preapproval letter I'd provided had been sufficient and the lender was correct.

I get that this is not a brand new vehicle so Tesla's maybe not going to devote the same level of energy they would to their buyers of custom-ordered vehicles. Still, I'm dropping $65k on this thing and I think that's worth at least being able to expect replies to my emails/phone calls. Better yet, why have I had to chase them through this whole process??? I've test-driven/purchased less expensive vehicles from Toyota, Honda, Audi, VW and Mercedes. In all cases, I've been treated with far more care than what I've experienced in this process. Hopefully, others can learn from my mistakes and Tesla will tighten up/fix its processes because right now, this whole thing has felt like a total cluster. My faith in Tesla as a brand has been severely shaken.

 

[Lasttoy]

I researched for days , cpo vs private buy?
I came to the conclusion not to trust Tesla, or their sales reps. Not to get to drive, inspect, etc , a very expensive purchase is insane, bad Karma, just crazy business. They want you to pay first, drive later. They are just ate up with themselves.
It is not worth the extra 5 to 10k added to price
I made deal far away. I called Tesla about service records. At that time, they were giving out the history over phone of the Vin.
I flew there. Drove car, inspected it. Paid and left. Mind you , im a car geek, have 2 muscle cars, 800HP Malibu, 400HP pickup.
I got a very good deal because i paid them cash up front, after a good old fasion haggle about price.
You cant argue CPO price.
My take for it.

 

[ElctrcBoogaloo]

I researched for days , cpo vs private buy?
I came to the conclusion not to trust Tesla, or their sales reps. Not to get to drive, inspect, etc , a very expensive purchase is insane, bad Karma, just crazy business. They want you to pay first, drive later. They are just ate up with themselves.

Well said, Lasttoy. I wish I had been as smart, but allowed myself to be lulled into false sense of trust because I love the brand and a close friend had a much better experience prior to Tesla's April "overhaul" of their CPO program. I also wanted the piece of mind afforded by having the renewed warranty directly from Tesla. In retrospect, I feel like I would have been far better off going private buy or even through a local BMW dealer or something. Several colleagues at work are considering buying CPO, but I'm going to be sure to do what I can to wave them off.

The more I think about this, the more unhappy and upset I become. Not at all what I imagined it was going to be like to finally get my Tesla.

 

[Lasttoy]

Let me add. If you get a blank check from your financier, take it with you. Negotiate a price. Fill out check, they go to bank , validate it.
You can really deal, its cold cash to them. I got a fabulous deal.
Navy Federal was a great lender. They trusted me not to make bad deal. I made out like a bandit. Love my car, will keep it. I have 118k miles.

 

[glide]

Let me add. If you get a blank check from your financier, take it with you. Negotiate a price. Fill out check, they go to bank , validate it.
You can really deal, its cold cash to them. I got a fabulous deal.
Navy Federal was a great lender. They trusted me not to make bad deal. I made out like a bandit. Love my car, will keep it. I have 118k miles.

Could you share what % you were able to negotiate off the originally advertised price? I am picking up a CPO soon and I just found about the changes to the program. I thought the price I agreed to was for a refurbished vehicle so I don’t really know what to expect when I walk in the door.

 

[TomServo]

I can get a pre-approved bank draft from the Pentagon Federal Credit Union for a value of up to $50,000. I have used this method to buy 3 cars hundreds of miles from my house. So I'm now in a position to buy my "pre-owned" Model S, but like many I'm dismayed by Tesla's new policy. I would love to see:

1. The vehicles Service History
2. I would like to know if Supercharging has been "throttled" due SC abuse by the first owner
3. See the car first and test drive, but I live 300 miles from ANY Tesla Store with CPO's so SEEING or NO TEST DRIVE for me

So I have been in contact with Brent in Chicago and will ask him for his personal opinion/word on the condition of any CPO I'm interested in. That seems to be the best I can do on the second largest purchase in my LIFE.