Tesla backed my inventory P85D into a pole 5 minutes before delivery.. :(

[scott jones]

I think you owe the OP an apology.

Obviously he was on his way to pick up the car and thus had already wired the money to Tesla prior to the accident happening.

He is out of that money until this resolves at the very least. And if he decides to keep the car, that is the cost - that has already happened.

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Semantics. The guy had made the commitment to buy this car, Tesla had made the commitment to sell the car, and the $130,000 had been wired to Tesla, he was minutes from picking it up. In all likelihood the guy can back out from the deal (we don't have confirmation of that, but I expect that Tesla will honor such a choice) but it was his car he was on his way to pick up, paid and bought. I agree title and custody of the car has not been transferred and that the deal may still be called off, but these attacks on the OP on mere semantics are totally unnecessary. It was his car that was in the hands of Tesla and wrecked on delivery. Surely he can be 'completely pissed' if he wants to. Nobody is claiming Tesla wrecked it on purpose, although negligence can't be ruled out.



Unless your Roadster was banged into a pole 10 minutes prior to pick-up, that is quite irrelevant. Also, personal finances dictate a subjective meaning on price. And objectively, I think we can all agree both a discounted P85D and a Tesla Roadster are expensive cars.

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As for the $1,200 service compensation from Tesla (which of course isn't worth $1,200 to them in literal terms which is probably why they offered it, real cost probably $600), I have no problem with that. I think it is not good nor bad as a compensation offer, it is OK. OP then must decide what that is worth to them and will it compensate for the potential loss of value on the vehicle.

One more thing I think plays into this: How long is the owner planning to keep the car? If merely for some months, year or two max, and his car history is of perfect specimens and no accidents, car polished regularly in a warm garage it remains much of the time, then such a loss of value might be greater (at the eyes of an equally discerning buyer anyway).

If on the other hand, he intends to drive the P85D for 5+ years, maybe on dirt roads and under a winter sky, the likelihood of such an old incident mattering significantly in the value goes down in my opinion. During a long ownership, cars usually receive some bangs and fixes, wear and tear anyway and it comes with the territory of buying higher-mileage used cars.

As many have said, only OP can make the call of course, on their personal merits.

If what the OP says is correct, I would agree with Anxiety Ranger, and think some need to apologize for the quick, unfounded comments. There's a tendency to defend Tesla on this forum without knowing the facts. I like Tesla, I just notice that trend a lot on this board, and this is an example of attacks without knowledge. And I'm sure I'll be attacked for saying it, and the OP WON'T get the apologies that Anxiety Ranger suggested.

 

[RAW84]

I think you owe the OP an apology.

Obviously he was on his way to pick up the car and thus had already wired the money to Tesla prior to the accident happening.

He is out of that money until this resolves at the very least. And if he decides to keep the car, that is the cost - that has already happened.

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Semantics. The guy had made the commitment to buy this car, Tesla had made the commitment to sell the car, and the $130,000 had been wired to Tesla, he was minutes from picking it up. In all likelihood the guy can back out from the deal (we don't have confirmation of that, but I expect that Tesla will honor such a choice) but it was his car he was on his way to pick up, paid and bought. I agree title and custody of the car has not been transferred and that the deal may still be called off, but these attacks on the OP on mere semantics are totally unnecessary. It was his car that was in the hands of Tesla and wrecked on delivery. Surely he can be 'completely pissed' if he wants to. Nobody is claiming Tesla wrecked it on purpose, although negligence can't be ruled out.



Unless your Roadster was banged into a pole 10 minutes prior to pick-up, that is quite irrelevant. Also, personal finances dictate a subjective meaning on price. And objectively, I think we can all agree both a discounted P85D and a Tesla Roadster are expensive cars.

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As for the $1,200 service compensation from Tesla (which of course isn't worth $1,200 to them in literal terms which is probably why they offered it, real cost probably $600), I have no problem with that. I think it is not good nor bad as a compensation offer, it is OK. OP then must decide what that is worth to them and will it compensate for the potential loss of value on the vehicle.

One more thing I think plays into this: How long is the owner planning to keep the car? If merely for some months, year or two max, and his car history is of perfect specimens and no accidents, car polished regularly in a warm garage it remains much of the time, then such a loss of value might be greater (at the eyes of an equally discerning buyer anyway).

If on the other hand, he intends to drive the P85D for 5+ years, maybe on dirt roads and under a winter sky, the likelihood of such an old incident mattering significantly in the value goes down in my opinion. During a long ownership, cars usually receive some bangs and fixes, wear and tear anyway and it comes with the territory of buying higher-mileage used cars.

As many have said, only OP can make the call of course, on their personal merits.

Agreed.

I'm curious to see what the OP decides.

Given that the damage is cosmetic, I think I would take the delivery (provided the repairs were impeccable). Between the discount and the gesture from Tesla, I think it's worth it. A year from now it will be little more than a story you'd tell at a dinner party.

 

[dsm363]

If what the OP says is correct, I would agree with Anxiety Ranger, and think some need to apologize for the quick, unfounded comments. There's a tendency to defend Tesla on this forum without knowing the facts. I like Tesla, I just notice that trend a lot on this board, and this is an example of attacks without knowledge. And I'm sure I'll be attacked for saying it, and the OP WON'T get the apologies that Anxiety Ranger suggested.

Part of the problem was the facts were given out over the course of a day and many posts. It wasn't clear that the car was an inventory car (not factory new) and first. It wasn't clear that the car was paid in full until a few posts ago. There were no attacks here. If there were please report them.

 

[MsElectric]

Inventory cars can be worse than CPOs. They are demos. Mile per mile, do you think a P85D inventory car, with 1,000 miles, is apt to have more or fewer launches than a 1,000 mile CPO? If you want to reach for a 15 mile factory-only definition, than fine, but once someone has tested or owned it, I'd call it "Used".

We agree on that last part.

I just pointed out the blanket statement that all inventory cars are "used" is a fallacy because that is not the case. When basically brand new cars that have never been driven are sold as inventory cars you can't just make a statement that all inventory cars are used. You can walk into a Tesla Gallery and often times buy an "inventory" car that is just leaving the factory (possibly due to someone backing out, changing their order or some other issue).

And I really could not care less about the definition of a "new," "brand new," or "used" car. All those definitions are irrelevant to the OP and I am sure the OP did not create this thread for pages of discourse on what constitutes a new or band new car. All I care about in this case is that Tesla does what they can to make the OP happy and salvage whatever satisfaction they can deliver to the OP as his Tesla buying experience has been ruined. If an additional discount and no CarFax entry is what the OP is seeking, I think that is a fair request.

I hope more people can care a bit more about what would be reasonable for the OP rather than adopt the mentality that it is no big deal. It is a big deal for the OP and I am willing to bet it would be a big deal for most people on this forum if it was their own car and money that was on the line.

 

[dsm363]

If he refuses delivery and Tesla keeps his money then yes, this is a very big deal. If be shocked if Tesla did this. Sure it's very disappointing to be minutes away from getting the car you've waited a few weeks for but there are far worse things that could happen. I don't think anyone is downplaying that someone has every right to be upset this happened. But only so much that can be done. Accept Tesla's offer or move on to a different Inventory car or new build.

Basically brand new isn't always brand new. Very few people would consider 1,000 miles brand new. You are right there are some inventory cars with 100 miles or less too.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

I hope more people can care a bit more about what would be reasonable for the OP rather than adopt the mentality that it is no big deal. It is a big deal for the OP and I am willing to bet it would be a big deal for most people on this forum if it was their own car and money that was on the line.

Exactly. More peer-support to fellow TMC members would be nice, in my opinion. Too often for my taste TMC feels like a peer-support forum for Tesla the company.

We're not Tesla's peers, we're OPs peers. Even on investor forum we're not Tesla's peers, we're peers of other investors.

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If he refuses delivery and Tesla keeps his money then yes, this is a very big deal. If be shocked if Tesla did this. Sure it's very disappointing to be minutes away from getting the car you've waited a few weeks for but there are far worse things that could happen. I don't think anyone is downplaying that someone has every right to be upset this happened. But only so much that can be done. Accept Tesla's offer or move on to a different Inventory car or new build.

I'm sure Tesla will refund him if he asks, nobody is questioning that AFAICT.

 

[MsElectric]

The problem here is that he might have taken out a loan or financing for the car so the car is costing him every single day. Also that P85D is likely depreciating about $1700-$2000 each month. Given that a 3 week repair can easily turn into 4 weeks, I think Tesla's offer of $1,200 is pitiful as it will not even pay for a single month of depreciation that the OP is without the car he bought.

I think for ruining the OP's car buying experience and all the anguish and hassle Tesla should take off at least $5,000 from the price of the car. In the grand scheme of things that is not such a big deal as that works out to about an additional 4-5% discount. The key thing here is I think Tesla should hear out the OP, find out from him what he considers to be a reasonable arrangement and consider what he has to say seriously. That $1,200 in service visits that likely cost them perhaps $500 is a bit insulting and i can understand why the OP would be pissed, as he put it, at that offer.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I was making the distinction that Inventory=new so that there wasn't confusion regarding the eligibility for tax credits and to point out the sales situation in states like Arizona, where an inventory car will be subject to sales tax but a CPO car would not be. That's all.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I'm sure Tesla will refund him if he asks, nobody is questioning that AFAICT.

It's incorrect actually. The OP was questioning whether he can get a refund, although people responded that there is no reason for Tesla not to if he asked.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I was making the distinction that Inventory=new so that there wasn't confusion regarding the eligibility for tax credits and to point out the sales situation in states like Arizona, where an inventory car will be subject to sales tax but a CPO car would not be. That's all.

I don't think anyone was disputing it was "new" in tax terms, only in general terms. If Tesla took a new customer car and allowed other potential customers to test drive, demo, and/or loan it (as is typically done with inventory cars) and continued to sell it to the customer as "new," I'm sure many would be pissed off and would not agree that matches the general definition of "new".

 

[Kingside]

To clarify, I spoke to Tesla today and they indeed agreed that I'm able to not take delivery of the car and have the funds reimbursed. They are sticking to the $1200 credit for future yearly service (2 yrs) and a rental car and reimbursement of the $1650 transportation cost I paid as their compensation, which I declined.

 

[dsm363]

To clarify, I spoke to Tesla today and they indeed agreed that a reasonable option would be to not take delivery of the car and have the funds reimbursed. They are sticking to the $1200 credit for future yearly service (2 yrs).

Glad things worked out. Are you going to find a different one or order new?

 

[Kingside]

Glad things worked out. Are you going to find a different one or order new?

I'm considering ordering a new one.

 

[mikes_fsd]

To clarify, I spoke to Tesla today and they indeed agreed that I'm able to not take delivery of the car and have the funds reimbursed. They are sticking to the $1200 credit for future yearly service (2 yrs) and a rental car as their compensation, which I declined.

I think you made the right decision.
A car of this caliber should be accompanied with a great buying experience... the experience you had with this particular car seemed to be less then great from everything I've read here.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

It's incorrect actually. The OP was questioning whether he can get a refund, although people responded that there is no reason for Tesla not to if he asked.

It is true the owner showed some concern in one post over this, but I don't think anyone debated the topic with a refund being in doubt. The discussion was about other things. On the refund front I think there was agreement overall that it was a (good) option.

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To clarify, I spoke to Tesla today and they indeed agreed that I'm able to not take delivery of the car and have the funds reimbursed. They are sticking to the $1200 credit for future yearly service (2 yrs) and a rental car and reimbursement of the $1650 transportation cost I paid as their compensation, which I declined.

Glad to hear it. You obviously made a good choice for you.

I think Tesla's compensation offer was OK. No complaints. Of course going an extra mile to make it good enough to work would have been great but that wasn't to be and that's that.

 

[AndY1]

I'm considering ordering a new one.

You've made two great choices. Refused the damaged car and decided to get a new one. You'd always have that nagging feeling about the bad experience with this car.

 

[MsElectric]

I'm considering ordering a new one.

I'm sorry they were not more reasonable. What they offered you as a concession is barely 2-3 weeks of depreciation for the car and I would not have accepted what they offered you either. You did the right thing by refusing delivery.

Unless you are in a super hurry for a car, you actually might come ahead on this one. The other day I was looking up available inventory cars at our local gallery and there are a TON of P85Ds available. Most of those are under the old pricing scheme where you had to pay for the Tech Package so the pricing for a bunch of them made no sense. I have a feeling within the next two months, and especially in time for the Model X coming out you will likely see much better discounts for an inventory P85D. i did not see any current cars that particularly made a while lot of sense, especially in cases where some of them were loaded up with options that i had no interest in such as the Executive Seats.

Otherwise just order a new one. A fully loaded P85D with just about every option other than the 21" wheels and rear seats comes to about $119 brand new under the new pricing. In any case good luck to you and sorry your car buying experience wasn't a more pleasant one. I am sure it will be more than made up by the incredible driving experience of your P85D. It's likely the best sedan available to buy at any price point.

Out of curiosity what would you have considered a fair offer by Tesla? They had sort of offered you $1,200 and i thought $5,000 was more fair. What is far for you?

 

[Kingside]

I'm sorry they were not more reasonable. What they offered you as a concession is barely 2-3 weeks of depreciation for the car and I would not have accepted what they offered you either. You did the right thing by refusing delivery.

Unless you are in a super hurry for a car, you actually might come ahead on this one. The other day I was looking up available inventory cars at our local gallery and there are a TON of P85Ds available. Most of those are under the old pricing scheme where you had to pay for the Tech Package so the pricing for a bunch of them made no sense. I have a feeling within the next two months, and especially in time for the Model X coming out you will likely see much better discounts for an inventory P85D. i did not see any current cars that particularly made a while lot of sense, especially in cases where some of them were loaded up with options that i had no interest in such as the Executive Seats.

Otherwise just order a new one. A fully loaded P85D with just about every option other than the 21" wheels and rear seats comes to about $119 brand new under the new pricing. In any case good luck to you and sorry your car buying experience wasn't a more pleasant one. I am sure it will be more than made up by the incredible driving experience of your P85D. It's likely the best sedan available to buy at any price point.

Out of curiosity what would you have considered a fair offer by Tesla? They had sort of offered you $1,200 and i thought $5,000 was more fair. What is far for you?

I believe the depreciation due to this accident was approx. $5,000 - $10,000 in lost resell value, based on the fact that I would have to disclose this information to a future buyer. IF they would have offered that compensation I most likely would have take delivery.

 

[MsElectric]

I believe the depreciation due to this accident was approx. $5,000 - $10,000 in lost resell value, based on the fact that I would have to disclose this information to a future buyer. IF they would have offered that compensation I most likely would have take delivery.

I felt $5,000 was a reasonable offer so that would have been in you range... As others have said I think you did the right thing in refusing delivery. If you can wait a couple of months I think you may even come up ahead on this... They have a huge number of inventory P85Ds all with similar (not so great) pricing and they will have to start moving those sooner or later.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Expect a ton of trade-ins after the Model X launch, and for resale prices to fall.