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Successful Full Refund (Buy-Back / Vehicle Return) After Three Months & 636 Miles

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Not sure I posted my long drawn out story on here but to sum it up... Oct 24th delivery, asked to return oct 27th with no reply, next day they said bring back Nov 5th, promised to have replacement car by Dec 31... did not happen. Filed arbitration due to them having the car for way in excess of the 20 business day in NC for lemon law (multiple issues including water in the tail lights), arbitration found in Tesla's favor stating paint issues did not affect the value of the vehicle.... totally ignored the tail lights which were a warranty claim.... regardless I had enough at this point (Feb 14th at this point) and agreed to the original buy back terms just to be done rather than filing limon law lawsuit. Took a little time to get updated paperwork but after sending in the signed paperwork I had my refund check in 6 days. Never should have made it to this point (replacement car should have been ready in time) but with the new prices and everything not too upset... I may order another Tesla... or may buy a used BMW i3 rex... still undecided.
 
This is why the first visit for a problem needs to be documented properly. You never know if it’ll become an ongoing issue. When they determine mileage offset, they look at the first service invoice that details the said issue. If mileage is low like @ChicagoP3D, you get all your $ back.

I think it's hit or miss... several of my paint issues were documented at delivery.... others on day 3.

They did offer me a full refund if I dropped arbitration which I declined only because they held my registration and the car would be resold as a new demo car... which is fraud in my opinion! Technology per NC law my car was a lemon.... They knew it. I could have took them to court and undoubtedly won but that would have took months and I was tired of the whole ordeal. I caved and jist took the original buyback offer and took a $423 hit (the intrest on the loan bumped it up to over $800). I did get to drive a P85 for a little over 2 months and 6k miles so I call it a wash...
 
Are the cars repurchased via arbitration consider lemons or they can keep the title clean?
If arbitration orders them to buy back it is branded as a "manufacturer buyback" if purchase outside of arbitration it does not. In my case since they held registration for 4 months, which is illegal in itself, they can sell it to some unsuspecting customer and claim it was a demo unit... aka new.
 
Does Tesla even sell lemon branded cars back to the public? Or I would assume they might use them for engineering studies / crash testing / etc? I would assume a branded title is the last thing they want.

My car has 4k miles on it now. Still waiting on service to finish repairing damage that started in September when they attempted to fix August delivery defects and goofed it up. If I didn't have to pay mileage back, it would save me a little money to have it bought back and reorder a new build without as many problems.
 
@super20g Check the mileage when you first brought the car in, thats where they would deduct mileage from, not the current odometer. At least thats how i understand the arbitration to work.

250 miles on first RO's 'odometer in' reading because I drove home, inspected the car, emailed findings to the DA, scheduled appointment with SA, drove it back up there. Downhill from there. Lesson learned, don't drive off unless you are happy with the car. Even if they say they will fix the issues... Could go fine, could go really sideways.

It's weird. I have mixed feelings about asking for them to buy it back. I have a lot of Tesla stock. I am rooting for the company. I feel like I would be hurting my friend. We have a complicated relationship. I may have Stockholm Syndrome.
 
How much is subtracted for mileage on the car?
I think it depends on your state's lemon law. In california it's (1st Repair Attempt Mileage / 120,000 (miles)) x (vehicle $).
So say your car broke down first time at 1000 miles and it cost $50000 then it'll be (1000 (miles) / 120,000 (miles)) x ($50,000) = $417 for 1000 miles and it'll be ($50,000/120,000 miles) = $0.41 per mile.
 
I sure did.

I suppose it's well within your rights, it seems a little ingenious to receive a windfall of $12,500. I guess that is the feedback mechanism to motivate Tesla to improve QC. Meanwhile, I still haven't bothered to have my one door properly aligned, and didn't fuss about a few paint scratches. I guess someone needs to be the sucker to keep the lights on.
 
I suppose it's well within your rights, it seems a little ingenious to receive a windfall of $12,500. I guess that is the feedback mechanism to motivate Tesla to improve QC. Meanwhile, I still haven't bothered to have my one door properly aligned, and didn't fuss about a few paint scratches. I guess someone needs to be the sucker to keep the lights on.

Personally, I'm considering it the "Pain & Suffering" component of a narrowly averted lawsuit. Plus -- even with the $12,500, I'm still not entirely sure I've actually come out ahead considering the number of work hours lost in this project over the multi-month drama.
 
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