Tesla Sold Me A Wrecked M3 As New

[glide]

That is total crap and frankly fraudulent. I would consider a good lawyer, you might end up with a new Model Y and a new PLAID. Consumer laws are on your side, especially when it comes to disclosures….please keep us updated on this.

LOLZ @ consumer laws on your side.

OP lives in Texas.

Sounds like he also did not opt out of the binding arbitration clause. Tesla isn’t going to do anything to help and, legally speaking, there may not be any ground to stand on. Consult a lawyer, but realize they may be of little use.

 

[MP3Mike]

A car with 1700 miles isn’t new.

I get that it’s a demo vehicle and hasn’t been titled, but still…it’s a used car.

Not legally. Almost every state says that a vehicle is new until the first time it is titled regardless of age, mileage, or repairs. I think in Colorado they put a 2k mile limit on it.

 

[cbdream99]

If it is a dealer in Texas, then you can file a compliant in the DMV, but this can be tricky as Tesla is not licensed to sell vehicle in Texas … Finding a lawyer familiar with both Texas and California laws probably a better bet.

 

[GenesisGV60]

I think dealerships are allowed to make repairs due to damage done in transportation without tell the new owner. But I think those repairs would not have been reported to Carfax. I am thinking they sold OP a demo car. Some one test drove it into a building and they claimed insurance and fixed it and sold it to OP as new. I think they are allowed to sell it as new if no one bought it before.

I think superficial repairs, but I would think that air bag deployment definitely crosses a line.

 

[GenesisGV60]

I think dealerships are allowed to make repairs due to damage done in transportation without tell the new owner. But I think those repairs would not have been reported to Carfax. I am thinking they sold OP a demo car. Some one test drove it into a building and they claimed insurance and fixed it and sold it to OP as new. I think they are allowed to sell it as new if no one bought it before.

100% agree. This in a nutshell.

 

[joe.smith]

Bro, that’s a used car.

Even so, super shady of them to sell something that had been repaired without disclosing. I would be furious.

I'd be careful there. Here in the great state of Florida (sarcasm intended), as long as a car has less than 6,000 (that's six thousand, not hundred) miles on it and has NEVER been titled, it can be sold as new. Granted, I found out about this law/rule about 20 years ago while purchasing a vehicle, so things may have changed since then. However, I don't believe this applies to a vehicle that's been in an accident, regardless of the mileage.

 

[SageBrush]

Tesla is not evil, but they sure can be clueless. I would bring this matter to Tesla's attention and expect them to make things right by taking back the car, or replacing it with the same or better without an accident record.

The tricky part is going to be convincing Tesla how much to charge for the Model 3 -> Model Y upgrade. I would argue that Tesla should apply the current market value of an un-wrecked car with your miles as credit towards the Model Y current pricing. In other words, you should have the ~ $49k of credit that a person with your car sans wreck could sell the car to Carvana.

Good Luck, OP.
Tesla erred, give them a chance to set things right.

 

[cbdream99]

The first thing is bring the issue up to Tesla corporate before taking any legal action, lawyers usually agree to that. I found individual within Tesla often made arbitrary decision (‘wing’ it) and easily drop the ball, plus there may not be any proper procedures or polices to follow, the person may not even with Tesla few months later. Carfax do make mistake though, so there is a benefit of doubts, unless there is way to verify the serial numbers of the airbags or other body parts.

 

[glide]

I'd be careful there. Here in the great state of Florida (sarcasm intended), as long as a car has less than 6,000 (that's six thousand, not hundred) miles on it and has NEVER been titled, it can be sold as new. Granted, I found out about this law/rule about 20 years ago while purchasing a vehicle, so things may have changed since then. However, I don't believe this applies to a vehicle that's been in an accident, regardless of the mileage.

Legal loopholes aside, a vehicle with 1700 miles on it is not “new”.

 

[CapeOne]

I have been looking into upgrading my 2021 Model 3 SR+ to a Model Y. So I have been shopping my car around on the Carvana's, Vroom's of the world. My brother has the same car I do and was getting offers of 46-49k for his. So when I got mine back at 23k I was surprised. One of them contacted me stating they were not interested in buying my car because it had been in an accident where multiple airbags had been deployed. They also sent me the Carfax for it. Sure enough it showed an accident with multiple airbag deployed and that hit had hit a building on 2/27/21 and repairs were made 5/27/21. Only problem is...I took delivery from Tesla on June 10, 2021, 3.5 months after this accident.

When I bought the car they told me it had very minimal miles (Less than 500), but stayed that they were going to sell it to me as a new car but provide me a $1,700 discount for the miles driven. On my loan paperwork, the vehicle is marked as new. So I said ok and made sure to look very closely at delivery (In Houston, TX) and it was beautiful. So it appears they have sold me a car that had wrecked into a wall and had airbags blow, which has given me a 20k hit on the value. Before I connected the dots I put in a request with Carfax to have it removed because I thought it was obviously an error. I am still waiting to hear back from Carfax, but I have also sent an email to the Tesla Disputes email address detailing everything.

As others have suggested, contact a lawyer. States typically require dealers to disclosure damage on new cars if it is above a certain amount (e.g., $500 or a certain percentage of MSRP). An accident with multiple airbags deployed, especially in a car as expensive to repair as Tesla, would likely exceed a typical threshold but this law varies by state.

 

[CapeOne]

I'd be careful there. Here in the great state of Florida (sarcasm intended), as long as a car has less than 6,000 (that's six thousand, not hundred) miles on it and has NEVER been titled, it can be sold as new. Granted, I found out about this law/rule about 20 years ago while purchasing a vehicle, so things may have changed since then. However, I don't believe this applies to a vehicle that's been in an accident, regardless of the mileage.

Florida is similar to other states regarding untitled vehicles The variables can be on miles and/or age as far as still being classified as "new." Depending on the state, a car with thousands of miles can still be sold as new, qualify for new car rebates, federal and/or state new EV incentives, etc.

 

[henderrj]

Tesla is not evil, but they sure can be clueless. I would bring this matter to Tesla's attention and expect them to make things right by taking back the car, or replacing it with the same or better without an accident record.

The tricky part is going to be convincing Tesla how much to charge for the Model 3 -> Model Y upgrade. I would argue that Tesla should apply the current market value of an un-wrecked car with your miles as credit towards the Model Y current pricing. In other words, you should have the ~ $49k of credit that a person with your car sans wreck could sell the car to Carvana.

Good Luck, OP.
Tesla erred, give them a chance to set things right.

It's been a long time since the corporate culture at Tesla was customer first. I bought a car from a third party, it was wrecked and repaired they told me, so I contacted tesla. "Oh yes, it's fine, you have a 50,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, and an 8-year unlimited miles battery/drive unit warranty." So I bought it.

And Tesla honored the warranty, I had supercharging, everything for 200,000 miles and 5 years. Then all the sudden, after I retired and kept his car so that I could drive it with the free supercharging, they cut off supercharging. (And repairs, and warranty.) Contacted them and they said oh it's a salvage title. Turns out it technically was, rich guy no insurance wrote it off rather than get it repaired.

We lived in a titled hold state so I never actually saw the title. And Tesla did do warranty repair etc the whole time. A Tesla business resolutions rep even sent me a note saying "yes you're right it was under warranty when you bought it" and, effectively, "we made a mistake telling you it wasn't salvaged, it's your problem now".

I don't think anybody there at corporate really cares. The local people all tried. but I've contacted a bunch of people in corporate, had long email exchanges over a period of many months. Everybody ends up at the same thing "too bad it's not our concern". I even sent a registered letter to their lawyer in charge of litigation. That just brought me more months of delay.

I really want to hear back if you do get a resolution from Tesla, and would love the name of the person who actually put it together for you! Otherwise, sadly, I'm going to have to go the lawyer route. I've been trying everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen, but I don't think it's possible.

 

[cubeman]

The major point of New vs Used is the bill of sale. If that document says New, OP has a case. Most states have a disclosure for any damage over X dollars when New cars are damaged.

 

[bro1999]

Inventory cars being damaged, repaired, and sold by new is quite common (and has little to no impact on value), but something with airbag deployment and then reported to Carfax (which craters the value) does not typically happen. The record should be clean. I would probably clarify with both Tesla and Carfax to make sure if there isn't a mistake. If this goes nowhere, a lawyer may need to be involved as others mentioned.

I believe Tesla (and any other manufacturer) MUST disclose any repair work done on a "new" car that exceeds a certain $$$ amount. There is a discord server that tracks inventory Teslas and a Y popped up a little while ago but no one had snagged it for several days (when most inventory Y's were gone in seconds). Turned out that particular Y had a damage disclosure (to the tune of $19k). Despite that, someone eventually scooped up that Y and only got like a $2k discount. LOL

 

[AdamVIP]

Everyone reread OPs post. The car did not have 1700 miles on it. It had under 500 which is typical for a demo car. He received 1700 off for the miles which again is typical for Tesla selling dealer demos. The car was presented as new and while yes dealers sometimes have to fix a ding and a dent, crashing into a wall and having a bunch of airbags deploy is not indicative of a new car. I would agree with others here that this is certainly borderline fraud at best and most likely actual fraud to sell this car as they did. 3rd party arbitration sounds bad but they will probably side with the OP on this one. Just watch out because once they buy the car back you have to find something else. My 3 was totaled and Tesla has me down as a Feb 2023 delivery as of now for a new one.

 

[cubeman]

Everyone reread OPs post. The car did not have 1700 miles on it. It had under 500 which is typical for a demo car. He received 1700 off for the miles which again is typical for Tesla selling dealer demos. The car was presented as new and while yes dealers sometimes have to fix a ding and a dent, crashing into a wall and having a bunch of airbags deploy is not indicative of a new car. I would agree with others here that this is certainly borderline fraud at best and most likely actual fraud to sell this car as they did. 3rd party arbitration sounds bad but they will probably side with the OP on this one. Just watch out because once they buy the car back you have to find something else. My 3 was totaled and Tesla has me down as a Feb 2023 delivery as of now for a new one.

OP would be looking for punitive damages as well due to the fraud basis which at minimum would buy him another cheaper car while he waits for another Tesla. Cheapest option would be Tesla letting him keep this car while waiting for a new one to arrive and swap, but I don't think they'll be smart enough to go this route.

 

[T3SLAROD]

Get a Lawyer, don’t waste your time trying to talk to Tesla, you’ll get the run around or the “Let me push this up” and never get a call back. Your 3 is most likely a salvaged vehicle if airbags deployed

A Lawyer isn’t going to be on hold waiting on a Customer Rep. It’s straight to the top.

 

[alangold]

have you considered to contact a lawyer to handle this issue?

I would deal w tesla first - a Lawer may want a big percent of any winnings - or money upfront - I would post on the tesla sights recommended to get their attention - keep it brief and state your giving tesla a chance to make good on their error -

 

[T3SLAROD]

I would deal w tesla first - a Lawer may want a big percent of any winnings - or money upfront - I would post on the tesla sights recommended to get their attention - keep it brief and state your giving tesla a chance to make good on their error -

What winnings? The OP just wants a new Tesla like he paid for. In this case, give the Model Y to the OP after applying the devalued amount

 

[alangold]

What winnings? The OP just wants a new Tesla like he paid for. In this case, give the Model Y to the OP after applying the devalued amount

We agree no Lawer