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So Tesla sold me a New Inventory car but didn't disclose that it had had a prior accident

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How does $3000 = "a lot of panels"?

So how did a "new car" have an accident? Was it a demo? How many miles? What made you ask about damage anyway?

Also, what makes you think Porsche dealer wouldn't do the same thing? Are they all perfect?

I doubt a $3000 repair is going to hit value that much. I understand that you are upset but the $5k price reduction on new cars a few months ago hurt a lot more.

VINs are sequential. If one of the last 6 numbers was wrong, it could easily still match a car. But it sounds like that wasn't a mistake anyway.
 
This is Florida law on new car damage prior to sale Your state may have similar laws

Florida statute 501.976 (19) requires dealers to disclose damage to a new motor vehicle if the damage exceeds 3 percent of the manufacturer's suggested retail price or $650, whichever is less; excluding the cost of replacement parts. Failure to disclose this is a violation of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
 
Actually, I was just about to have a similar experience today at Dallas Cedar Springs, but rejected the delivery. I purchased a new inventory Model S 5YJSA1E23LF403076 (the reason I am putting VIN here is to warn future buyers), which was ready to be delivered today. When I went to pickup the car, I noticed a paint chip at the skirts of the hatch. Looking closer, I found a lot of paint residues which did not look like a factory paint as in the pictures. Tesla denied any previous repairs and offered me to repaint the hatch and rear fenders... Wow, for a $80,000 brand new car, really? They did not offer any compensation to keep the car, so I rejected the delivery. Refund is told to take 30-60 days, and the 19" carbon slipstreams I had on the inventory car is not orderable anymore. Still thinking about my options. Anyone has sales contacts to escalate?
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  • Disagree
Reactions: doubleshot
I’m not sure if this has something to do with Tesla not having any dealerships but I’ve read several stories where cars that have been in accidents or had defects at the dealership being getting sold, had to be repaired and sold as used.

The most recent one I read was Genesis having paint defects on red G70s. They got them back, fixed the paint, and are selling them as CPO. That’s why some people were noticing so many used red G70s with under 100 miles.
 
This is just my opinion but if I am going to spend money on a new car regardless of the price, I want to know that the car is brand new. That Florida statute should be law in every state. I think it's wrong and I think they might change their policy if their reputation was at risk of some media outlet running with the story.

Thanks though for sharing the experience. It doesn't seem like it would be necessary to ask if a new car is actually new but I learn something new all the time on these forums.
 
I bought a new Lexus LS 460 (my last car before my model S). It looked fine but when it got hit in the rear the body shop said the bumper had been previously repaired. This was in NY. So Tesla isn't the only one.
 
Buyer beware. I wouldn't sweat it. Anyone interested in buying your car and also serious about will ask you. Or, better yet, just be up front about the previous damages and how you got the car. I don't personally care if body damage has been repaired successfully as the end result of cosmetic damage. And most buyers probably won't. If there were an accident that caused frame damage or other serious damage, I would care. I don't think just having "an accident" is going take much off the asking price. If it is repaired, it shouldn't. Stop sweating it and don't waste any more time or effort stressing out about this. Love and learn. And I bet you'll get your asking price for the vehicle when you sell.
 
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Reactions: doubleshot
Buyer beware. I wouldn't sweat it. Anyone interested in buying your car and also serious about will ask you. Or, better yet, just be up front about the previous damages and how you got the car. I don't personally care if body damage has been repaired successfully as the end result of cosmetic damage. And most buyers probably won't. If there were an accident that caused frame damage or other serious damage, I would care. I don't think just having "an accident" is going take much off the asking price. If it is repaired, it shouldn't. Stop sweating it and don't waste any more time or effort stressing out about this. Love and learn. And I bet you'll get your asking price for the vehicle when you sell.
That may be the case for you but it’s not for many people, an accident on the carfax can and in most cases does lower the selling price of a vehicle. That’s why there’s such a thing called diminished value, insurance companies pay out an approximate amount that the vehicle has now lost due to being in an accident.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: waiting4used
I think the title says it all. Tesla (who seems hell bent on screwing me over) sold me a new inventory Model S that had had an accident and repair (that is visible on CarFax). Obviously, since I was buying the car new, I had never thought of checking its CarFax. But now that I did (this happened last year...) I see that the front bumper had been damaged, and was repaired.

This was never disclosed to me at any point whatsoever. I looked up some laws and apparently if the damage is less than 5% of the car's MSRP, they don't have to disclose it to me unless asked. Which I DID and never got an answer.

(I asked this over email before I bought the car, and did not get an answer. Later, however, I asked the same question over the phone talking to them before I took delivery, and was told that the car had no problems and was clean. I believe I also asked a third time when I went to take delivery. Unfortunately, the latter two were verbal and I have no proof of it.)

It's just ridiculous that a 200 billion dollar company would resort to hiding damages to their cars before they sell them. Even though, I guess, they are "legally allowed" to do it (unless asked, which I did... I did!!!). This is the kind of *sugar* I would maybe expect from a shady used car dealership. At this point I don't even know what the extent of the damage was to my car, but I know for a fact that it will very badly affect resale.

Since Tesla makes it utterly impossible to reach them by any means, I was wondering if you guys had any idea of recourse. What can I do? I am so upset and utterly frustrated over this.

My husband purchased a Tesla S Plaid in December 2021. He was chatting with a dealer today about a possible trade and they ran a carfax. Imagine our surprise when it showed an “accident” with rear damage in Sept 2021 and repairs in Nov 2021. This is well before we purchased this brand NEW vehicle. And I agree, it’s absolutely impactful to value and this dealer was no longer interested in taking it. Nor would I as a direct buyer want this 130K+ car with an “accident”. We’ve tried to dispute to Carfax and are currently trying to reach Tesla. Did you ever get a resolution or are we essentially screwed here?
 
How upsetting to find that out in that way. Just curious, how many miles were on the car when you took possession? Unless your husband ordered a new car and had to wait some months to get it, he may have gotten a “new” one out of inventory. Personally, I would not buy a new car out of inventory because there had to be a reason or two why the car was not accepted or returned by the original buyer. I believe you can tell from the VIN when the car was manufactured; folks on this forum (not me) probably know how to do that.
 
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Reactions: pilotSteve
How upsetting to find that out in that way. Just curious, how many miles were on the car when you took possession? Unless your husband ordered a new car and had to wait some months to get it, he may have gotten a “new” one out of inventory. Personally, I would not buy a new car out of inventory because there had to be a reason or two why the car was not accepted or returned by the original buyer. I believe you can tell from the VIN when the car was manufactured; folks on this forum (not me) probably know how to do that.
It had 45 miles per the purchase agreement. We waited only a few weeks but that was the lead time for Tesla S Plaids in December. They did say it was local inventory and had to be transferred etc. And yes, he’s super salty about this right now. Can’t say I blame him given he’s had such a bad experience with his Tesla purchase in comparison to how smooth my Y purchase went.
 
I think the title says it all. Tesla (who seems hell bent on screwing me over) sold me a new inventory Model S that had had an accident and repair (that is visible on CarFax). Obviously, since I was buying the car new, I had never thought of checking its CarFax. But now that I did (this happened last year...) I see that the front bumper had been damaged, and was repaired.

This was never disclosed to me at any point whatsoever. I looked up some laws and apparently if the damage is less than 5% of the car's MSRP, they don't have to disclose it to me unless asked. Which I DID and never got an answer.

(I asked this over email before I bought the car, and did not get an answer. Later, however, I asked the same question over the phone talking to them before I took delivery, and was told that the car had no problems and was clean. I believe I also asked a third time when I went to take delivery. Unfortunately, the latter two were verbal and I have no proof of it.)

It's just ridiculous that a 200 billion dollar company would resort to hiding damages to their cars before they sell them. Even though, I guess, they are "legally allowed" to do it (unless asked, which I did... I did!!!). This is the kind of *sugar* I would maybe expect from a shady used car dealership. At this point I don't even know what the extent of the damage was to my car, but I know for a fact that it will very badly affect resale.

Since Tesla makes it utterly impossible to reach them by any means, I was wondering if you guys had any idea of recourse. What can I do? I am so upset and utterly frustrated over this.
I had a very similar experience. Purchased a new Model S Plaid in 12/21 and they explained that the rear trunk lid needed to be aligned due to a problem from the factory and they did adjust the price marginally. I thought to ask and get assurance there are no accidents, the car has a clean title and carfax etc... was repeatedly told yes, the car is brand new, just something from the factory caused an issue which they will fix (which they did) Four months later, I ran a carfax to find out that the car is listed as being in an accident before I even owned it. They are claiming I signed a damage disclosure at the time of purchase therefore they are clear. However they can not provide any proof of this signed doc nor do I recall ever signing one.

The fact that I specifically asked about any damage reports on carfax and they repeatedly said nothing, is completely unethical.

Now I'm stuck with an expensive car that had a major hit to it's value.
 
A Carfax report states when and where a vehicle was sold, and when the accident was reported. Is there any history of a previous sale? If not, I am trying to imagine how an accident was reported. If the car/s were always in the possession of Tesla prior to the sale to the OP and ymeee, Tesla wouldn’t report an accident - they’d just repair, right? So who would report an accident while the car was still at the manufacturer?
 
True, but in the cases above the purchasers were told they were getting brand new vehicles. So do we now have to prepare a letter/affidavit for a Tesla rep to sign prior to payment saying the car is brand new and has never been in an accident? Thankfully this issue is rare, but it sure is a bummer for those like the above two posters. I should also point out that Carfax reports aren’t always correct - and they admit that. There’s a process for getting a report corrected, but that may take Tesla to get involved…..Uggh.
 
I hope this helps a lot of Tesla owners.

They delivered damaged cars to me ..Two times in a row!

Delivery team in Aspen backed my brand new Model X 75d 2016 into a pole and tried to deliver it to me without disclosing it. 6 months of hassle later and having to toss more money into the next Model X they sold me a replacement that had accident damage and misaligned panels with really bad paint damage to the hood- so bad I had it repainted. They then trashed the drivers seat in service, backed it into bushes twice denting it and damaged it by leaving it covered in tree sap-under hot California sun for 6 weeks.

The car is a lemon, window won't close. So far as I am concerned any "Deal" means nothing until they have a car to give me. Now when they finally get a car they up the price yet again. First from $80K to 93K and Now 108K that's a lot faster than inflation.

I asked Tesla to fix the issues before the warranty had gone out after trying at multiple service centers multiple times.
They said "We don't fix cars but we can buy it back." I said how does that work?

They said "We will give you everything you find off on your loan back, and sell you a MX car for $80K"

Still not really what I wanted because I would lose Lifetime transferrable supercharging, MY 70Amp fat Home charger, My free data for traffic and music, and Enhanced auto pilot. I both MX to pull a Airstream, so now supercharging would be twice as much as for MX alone.

They offered $5000 of supercharging to "offset the loss of my supercharging (Which really is like $2500 in terms of mileage with a trailer)

So I said ok. If I can keep my car until it is delivered, they agreed. That was November 2020 , last cars to come up. I was sort of thinking it might be worth it because the new MX had 360 miles of range.

Then Tesla got the replacement car colors reversed,

Tesla sent a white exterior and dark seats instead of white interior and Midnight silver. I refused that (California sun is too hot for black seats) . They said "Absolutely no problem we will make you another one" And gave me no idea of then it would arrive. I waited almost a month so and had to leave. They called Mid December and said "It's here" and I said I'm out of state and have to transfer some cash when I get back, I'd need more than just 4 hours notice" .

They said 'no problem , we will just deliver you another one after the new year. I said "Great it would be nice to have it as a 2021 model year anyhow, sounds great to me."

Then Elon announced he was shutting down MS and MX production from Dec 18-Jan 11. I was like "oh No this could be Elon time which could take extra years" I called Tesla and they assured me my price would be grandfathered and it should only take another month., Then another two months, then June, then august, then December, then next January, Then March.... 17 months total.

I called concerned about a price increase and asked if I would be grandfathered in at the $80K price for a new MX. They said "Yes you will be grandfathered in at $80K don't worry" I asked for that in writing or email. They never sent me anything. Tesla has all the calls recorded. I may have to have the recordings suponaed .

Then later I get a call for a girl talking about the new price increase. I said "I'm grandfathered" She said no you are not, and we went back and forth and they eventually said "Yes you are grandfathered sorry about that" So much stress for nothing.

Then a few months later I had to go through the same thing again.

Also sometime in I think in November (when used prices were sky high) Tesla said they wanted to take back the car early, said I should have my new car soon (BS I would have been 7 months without a car). I said it would be ok if they gave me a loaner(s) until then. Tesla refused that. She said "We can't honor the full buy back price because it was so long. I said "How exactly is that my fault?!"

I said "get back to me - if its only 1000 bucks maybe I could deal with it, but get back to me". She said" OK" . She never called me back. Typical of this particular lady at Costa Mesa.



At the end of that, I paid $22,500 more in 17 car payments. Tesla said since I continued to drive it they would deduct for mileage and not give me the $94K they should have and only give me $82K (Completely negating the lemon law that is supposed to protect this type of abuse). Then they said the new car would be $108K (A difference of $28,000)

Now if Tesla had gotten the color right I wouldn't be out $28,000 + $22,500 in payments = $50,500!

They said "but its an upgrade"

Really?

Well let's see.....

1. I lose my Data

2. I lose my $2000 Enhanced autopilot and would have to pay $12,000 for something I don't particular like that is still in Beta for "Full Self Crashing" (I rode in a Model 3 with the Beta today, he had to take over constantly and it picked wacky routes through parking lots (I filmed it).

3. I lose my free super charging for life.

And they took away the $5000 of free charging they offered before. MY butt is bleeding from the raping, and they still won't stop.

So I met a Tesla guy in Aspen , He got them to agree to sell the new car At $93K (Still I'm out $13,000) and there was no expiration on that deal. Then when I came back to California Tesla seemed to know nothing of this. I even showed them the email, they ignored it .

More raping. Only this time everyone at Tesla is ganging up on me except one nice girl at lake Forest who can see how many times I have come in and how I constantly Get screwed.

I cancelled clients in Aspen to pick up my car in California (They sent it to the wrong State for the 3rd time in a row) In Utah I contacted them and they said "We gave away your car" . I said C'mon. Then they said they had one for me in Colorado (Which would work better since it was supposed to be I Oregon and you can't register a car delivered in California in Oregon but you can with Colorado. So I prepared to turn back knowing I cancelled $2000 of clients for nothing. They held the Colorado car for just 18 hours!!!

Now there is one in Portland for me (It ws supposed to be delivered to my house in Oregon but they said I have to drive 2.5 hours out of my way to Portland (this ain't no struggling under financed "Ev Start up" anymore Elon, get with being a real ADULT car company). But Tesla had Zero paper work done in advance. So I went to Califonia to turn in my car and have been waiting for nearly 3 weeks. And if you knew how much they made me run around , you would never buy a car from Tesla. But they know they have me by the short hairs because I need an EV that can tow and Rivians are years backlogged.

Frankly I cannot afford it easily at this point. If I told you how Tesla negatively affected my business, ruined my reputation because they kept pushing delivery dates which lost me credibility because I kept having to change client appointments... I ended up losing over $60K of business. So far as I am concerned any "Deal" means nothing until they have a car to give me. Now when they finally get a REAL car they up the price yet again. First from $80K to 93K and Now 108K that's a lot faster than inflation. I wouldn't be at all surprised of tomorrow they tell me the car is now $120K . you shouldn't be surprised either. I started taking videos of other customers getting screwed by service while I was waiting for hours.

So why, why do still want any Tesla Product? Because the Supercharging network works. It's amazing for cross country travel.

Seriously TESLA is the GOLD STANDARD for charging.

But it isn't much of a deal if you have to pay $0.40kW (Supercharger Fountain Valley CA daytime rate) so a 100K battery takes $40 to fill up and only goes an actual 170- 220 miles so to go 480 miles you are paying about the same as gas but taking 1hr 10 min to fill up each time. (Model 3 is faster though, and New MS and MX should be faster and have more range, hopefully its not ELON range but real range on the refresh, not holding my breath on that, likely Lucid and Rivian are telling the truth about their range .

So why MX? Because no other Tesla car can tow. Because Not many other Sporty EVs that can handle twisty mountain roads can tow. Because I want sport car handling and luxury ride comfort and a hatch that can tow with camp mode. There isn't a substitute. Also Because I custom fitted things to model X (A refrigerator, custom storage, and awaiting car stereo of 2000 watts of McIntosh Amps) .

But at $108K I'll go bankrupt absorbing this "upgrade lemon law deal".

That's my experience with Tesla and their Lemon Law.

The worlds best capitalized car company capitalizing off the backs of their early adopter customers. I feel violated.

My friends have watched me struggle trying to get Tesla to repair things, its nearly a part time job, If you had a regular job you would have no vacation time left for the past 5 years because its all spent driving to Tesla service in terms of days lost.

I tell my friends about my Tesla and how I like it when it works and they said thy wouldn't ever buy a Tesla after seeing my struggles. I say, why don't you buy an Audi E-tron, or Lucid? And they say, after seeing your problems I would never buy an EV. Tesla incompetent Service is Slowing the adoption of EVs. Its a pity because EVs are great if you have the time to wait for charging which I do.

Is it an upgrade??The Model X bends 1/2 shafts which leads to its axles breaking ... its a design flaw. After waiting 17 months I figured for sure they fixed that. I lose the center heating vents for 2nd row, brrr in Colorado. I lose the round steering wheel that allows me to turn into the direction of the skid on black Ice like I have had to do numerous times with Model X.... is this an upgrade??? Nope its cool for sunny California but it spells possible death/dismemberment/lawsuits on icy roads on the I-70 in Colorado.

Nope. no upgrade.

The new refresh MS plaid has the same 1/2 shaft angle issues so the MX on the similar skateboard chassis will have the same issues too.

I can't believe Sandy Munro missed this flaw , where you have to drive in low mode (A SUV Crossover with no clearance???) to avoid the high angle of the 1/2 shafts into the CV joints that bends the axles (and eventually breaks them leaving you stranded in need of a tow) . And if the you lower the car... you wear out your inner edges of your tires about 30% faster ...and Tires at Big O Tires are $2500 a set and last 20-22 K miles. Over Ten cents a mile in tires and possibly 15-18 cents a mile for tires if you drive in low. This drive shaft issue should have been fixed.

Tesla Tip:
(here is a quasi solution, better form MS than MX since you buy a MX in part for ground clearance and higher driver position )

EVFIXME in Costa Mesa and N2itive make a kit that adjusts camber so you don't get premature tire wear at low suspension settings and don't bend 1/2 shafts (plus the part is much stronger than the Tesla parts which break) ... but then you have a lowered Model X and have to watch out for bottoming out on speed bumps and low curbs etc.