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Tesla online used car purchase MAJOR ISSUES

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It’s hard to tell from pics, but from what I see, most of that damage could be remedied by an ace detailer and tiny bit of airbrushing. Of course if you take it to a body shop, they’ll tell you that it needs a $20k paint job.
 
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Thanks for the reply. The car was granted an extended warranty by Tesla which I figured is sort of like a “certified” car.

I’ll keep following up, but so far they won’t even call me back and the rep says nothing can be done. This sort of experience and then response really is a weak pint for the brand. I would stay very far away from a potential used car purchase from Tesla until they handle these situations better and more fairly.
Dang man...I just bought a 2018 MS and am waiting for it to ship from AZ to UT. This story is my fear. I really hope you’re able to get a resolution.
 
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So my question to the OP is: was the ticking of all your boxes in essence a way better deal then the other similar models? If so, should you really be surprised that it doesn't end up being as nice as the similarly spec'd cars that were more expensive? If it seems too good to be true.....?
 
That's the thing, Tesla wants all the benefits of being a dealer but with none of the investment. Forget CPO, even the shady used car lots often have websites with pictures you can see, and a lot they pay for to let you browse the cars. It's okay that Tesla doesn't want to invest in lots, pictures, and more staff to keep these things up and get people the info they need to make a decision. It's their choice. But they want to enjoy the fat markups they get from paying trade-in prices for inventory and selling them at retail. Not even having the essentials covered will only lead to unhappy customers.

At this point they are REALLY banking on people valuing that one year warranty very highly. And if you really believe you're buying a durable good, is a 1 year warranty really that valuable?

I completely agree with you. I don’t think the one year warranty on top of the original 50k warranty is worth it imo. It would be in their best interest to either actually hire people that know used cars and treat those like they do with new car sales. Or hire a company to 100% handle their used car sales and then they get a cut. I know for a fact Mannheim who they already use handles sales such as this all the time. And when they take in a vehicle they take at least 25 pictures of each vehicle. Would be nice for Tesla to use those pics against them in cases like this!
 
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the reason that pics aren’t taken anymore is because of all the complaints people had about the quality of the pictures.

At one point this was definitely true with the infamous dropbox photos that look like they were taken in a cave. More recently though the photos were pretty good. Nowhere near where they should have been, but good enough to get a reasonable sense of the quality of the car. Not having photos is pretty cr*ppy because you're expected to buy a car 100% sight unseen with no possibility of a pre-purchase inspection.
 
At one point this was definitely true with the infamous dropbox photos that look like they were taken in a cave. More recently though the photos were pretty good. Nowhere near where they should have been, but good enough to get a reasonable sense of the quality of the car. Not having photos is pretty cr*ppy because you're expected to buy a car 100% sight unseen with no possibility of a pre-purchase inspection.
I wouldn’t do it unless I was guaranteed a refund or at least put it towards another car if it’s crap. I bought used and had a great experienced. But I also had pictures. And then even more pictures (I know some people at Mannheim) my car was flawless. I don’t think I’d do it again today as things stand now.
 
Just tell them that you agreed to normal wear and tear, but what you encountered was not wear and tear, it was undisclosed damage. You can press your position and probably win. (e.g. with the credit card you made the deposit with)

Maybe they will take $750 or $1k off the purchase price? You should be able to get a body shop to buff out a lot of what you showed in the pictures, for free (if you have a relationship with a detailer / body shop), or up to a few hundred bucks in labor. It won't be perfect, but it'll be much less noticeable than what you showed.
 
I wouldn’t do it unless I was guaranteed a refund or at least put it towards another car if it’s crap. I bought used and had a great experienced. But I also had pictures. And then even more pictures (I know some people at Mannheim) my car was flawless. I don’t think I’d do it again today as things stand now.

Same - when I bought my 85D used (this was after they abandoned their "CPO" process), it had a lot of pictures and the car itself in person looked like it just came off the showroom floor.

I am not certain I would buy a used one again today without being able to see it first unless it was a really good deal.
 
The rep let me know a full refund was approved. It took some time, but it seems they realized this particular car was more damaged than it should be- per their policy.

So basically they were seeing if you would roll over, accept the charges, and go home. The problem with this is that a happy customer tells one person about their experience and an unhappy one tells 100 people and possibly thousands more through social media. This is not a good look for Tesla and, as beatle has pointed out, could be easily solved by proper disclosures and photos as thousands of used car dealers use to sell cars over the internet.
 
now I am even more nervous than before... I paid my 500 deposit - was hoping to trade in my model X - but the trade in value was 13k less than driveway or KBB - a stupid low offer, as of course they do not want inventory. BUT - you do not know what they will give you until AFTER you pay deposit. I had got some fair offers with 3 other companies, was hoping Tesla would be INLINE with those offers. No. Knowing trade in was not going to be an option - I do not want to SELL prior to seeing the car - as I just have this feeling they are gong to screw me. Requested pics, requested seeing the car - as I am in Dallas and the car is in Dallas. I am not paying 90k + for a car with road rash or scratches. Contemplating exiting and saying bye bye to my money - it feels that this is a revenue generating business model for them now, and it does not feel good. They definitely did not design their used car purchases around delighting the buyer - it sucks and is starting to turn me from the overall brand.
 
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No personal expense with buying used with Tesla. But 2nd and 3rd hand from lots of people. There are people that get used ones that are okay. But most of the time I hear nothing but issues. No pictures. Small pictures. Not enough pictures. No picture of issues that are there. Dirty cars. Gouges. Rash. Etc.

The only reason to buy a used one is to get the warranty.

Just expect it’s going to be rough and be open to accepting it and do the fixes if you don’t like them.

Honestly the whole Tesla used program I think is just a mess and for even more than I mentioned above.

The CPO problem was much better and I wouldn’t have considered one of those. But that’s LONG gone.

The used cars are used. They don’t really do much to clean them up, or even really presentable.
 
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This is a silly thread. A 2017 is 4 years old. Those marks are consistent with a 4 year old used car.

Your problem is youre an elon fan, not a tesla fan. Youre buying a used car, not a person. Not stocks.

If the car "checked all the right boxes" then accept it with the minor flaws and enjoy it. If you want a new car, go buy a new car. If you want the flaws fixed, pay a body shop to fix them.

The sense of entitlement on these forums is unbelievable. No, youre not going to win a small claims case against tesla, lol. They have very expensive lawyers that will run you into the ground. Read the terms of the agreement before you buy something.
 
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This is a silly thread. A 2017 is 4 years old. Those marks are consistent with a 4 year old used car.

Your problem is youre an elon fan, not a tesla fan. Youre buying a used car, not a person. Not stocks.

If the car "checked all the right boxes" then accept it with the minor flaws and enjoy it. If you want a new car, go buy a new car. If you want the flaws fixed, pay a body shop to fix them.

The sense of entitlement on these forums is unbelievable. No, youre not going to win a small claims case against tesla, lol. They have very expensive lawyers that will run you into the ground. Read the terms of the agreement before you buy something.
Please name any other brand that forces a buyer to commit to buying a USED car, spending thousands in transportation and deposits before they see the car, all based on ZERO photographs . . . .

AFAIK there's only ONE, and it's Tesla.

Tesla's used car operation is a double insult to both people trading-in their Teslas, and to the buyers.

We should know having purchased some 12+ Model S's since 2013 (personally doing all we can to advance the mission).

Our latest example: trading-in our pristine 2020 MS Perf, MC Red/White, with 21" Arachnids and only 7,400 miles (and ~80% covered in clear PPF). Tesla's offer is an stunning insult, but the only way to secure the sales tax credit in our state. So we'll avoid getting "Double Taxed" by trading-in, but here's the rub: Tesla is selling nearly the exact same car on their website as I type this, but with TWICE THE MILES (and with no pictures, of course), for more than $30k MORE than they're giving us.

I think the phrase is, "getting bent over."

This creates remarkable bad will--how would you feel?

Love the products, but we are learning to hate the company with frequent "burn your customer" stunts like this, and what the OP posted at the start of this thread.
 
I haven't read all 3 pages of comments, but in my experience any complaint will be met with the standard response, there is someone on the complaints process who isn't paid very much and has very clear guidelines they should follow in case of dispute. But most times there are reasonable people behind the ones with the scripts with some flexibiility. If you escalate this through Sales or even asking for a supervisor politely and calmly when calling you'll probably find they can see the issue has merit and be reasonable with you over the fees.

Polite, calm and reasonable generally win IMHO