Tesla tried to deliver a Gen 1 car today with the VIN below 8000

[cfttester]

Just got of the chat with my friend who ordered the car same day as me (and kind of of the same reason - the winter is coming, I mean federal tax rebate is going to be cut by 50%).
Basically, Tesla assigned him a car with low VIN number made in February. It had all Gen1 regalia, repainted bumper and bunch of miles on odometer. Buyers, be careful...

 

[compu85]

"bunch of miles"? What are we talking?

Was the repaint bad?

-J

 

[gavine]

My first Tesla (2014 Model S) had around 100 miles on it and my 2016 Model X had about 40 miles.

 

[cfttester]

"bunch of miles"? What are we talking?

Was the repaint bad?

-J

140 in MVPA.
Plot thickens though. According to my friend the MVPA states “New - Previous service/demo vehicle”. My friend claims the original MVPA had it as New.

On the paint job - have no clue. Likely quite bad since he noticed it.

 

[drawfour]

140 in MVPA.
Plot thickens though. According to my friend the MVPA states “New - Previous service/demo vehicle”. My friend claims the original MVPA had it as New.

On the paint job - have no clue. Likely quite bad since he noticed it.

Yeah, I wouldn't accept that. No way would I want Gen1 seats, and also knowing that thousands of people have been in and out of it, the interior could have some scrapes and smudges. I'd reject and just let them know up-front that I won't accept it.

 

[SoCalGuy]

Did he want or express interest in a discounted demo? Or did he place an order for a new vehicle? I can’t believe Tesla would try to pawn off a used car to someone who wanted/ordered a new vehicle.

So far Tesla customer service is a zero in my book (after they delivered my car and took my $$$)

 

[cfttester]

No. He ordered a new car. Even when the issue of the low VIN was raised the response was:
“So by the look of what you sent, it looks to me that the reference is from a 3rd party. They complete a thorough point inspection on the vehicles and release them based on availability. Once a car is built for a customer, if they are not in a position to accept, we will respectfully wait until they are but unassign the vehicle from their account and give to the next person in need of that particular build. That being said, I can't imagine a world where you have a gen1 car coming to you in 2018 especially receiving your car from the busiest center in our company.”

By Aaron Penney.

 

[cfttester]

By the way, found this on tesla forum - Pro-Forma MVPA "New - Previous service/demo vehicle" | Tesla

 

[neroden]

Your friend should reject delivery and ask for another car. This probably fell through the cracks... He should not be getting an ex demo vehicle.

 

[cfttester]

Your friend should reject delivery and ask for another car. This probably fell through the cracks... He should not be getting an ex demo vehicle.

Sure, but what about waist of time? What about interest on the car loan (for 3 days)?

 

[neroden]

Ugh, car loans. Tesla seems unable to deliver cars with enough precision to match with car loans. :-(

I suspect this happened. The demo car was assigned to "inventory" inTesla's database. When Tesla started building inventory cars and assigning them to orders, they never filtered out the dozen demo cars in the inventory DB. Sloppy DB management.

Like many others your friend has suffered for Tesla's incompetence. I don't think 3 days of interest is worth suing over and the delay is non-actionable, so other than complaining, I have no further suggestions.

 

[stillwaiting]

what is the expected odometer reading of new model 3 ?

 

[neroden]

Anywhere under 200 miles.

 

[tivoboy]

what is the expected odometer reading of new model 3 ?

Under 50 miles if legally sold as new. Most are with 5-10 but the title (in CA at least) will say 50 regardless.

 

[pdxev]

what is the expected odometer reading of new model 3 ?

Mine had 4.

 

[cfttester]

Ugh, car loans. Tesla seems unable to deliver cars with enough precision to match with car loans. :-(

Like many others your friend has suffered for Tesla's incompetence. I don't think 3 days of interest is worth suing over and the delay is non-actionable, so other than complaining, I have no further suggestions.

I agree, since completion is year(s) behind, the only option is to complain.

However, I have one more takeaway from this story. I was always supporting Tesla direct sales model. Their argument made some sense to me - legacy dealers are bad (in general), we could do better. As we can clearly see now, Tesla picked-up the worst of dealer business model – price gouging, sleazy salesmanship, lack of transparency etc.

Bottom line, I think Tesla should be prohibited of doing direct sales to the customers. Their model is not better or even may be worth the existing one.

 

[TT97]

Under 50 miles if legally sold as new. Most are with 5-10 but the title (in CA at least) will say 50 regardless.

Where did you get 50 miles?

Definition of new varies by state, in California it is Vehicle Code section 430

A “new vehicle” is a vehicle constructed entirely from new parts that has never been the subject of a retail sale, or registered with the department, or registered with the appropriate agency or authority of any other state, District of Columbia, territory or possession of the United States, or foreign state, province, or country.
​

There is no limit of mileage in California (other states could have mileage limits but doubt 50 miles would be the limit anywhere as a few test drives would get them above that limit).

 

[SoCalGuy]

Mine had 4.

I think most have 7 actual miles on the odometer from what I’ve gathered.

 

[Canikony]

Mine had 9.

 

[Az_Rael]

Sure, but what about waist of time? What about interest on the car loan (for 3 days)?

What about the tax credit? If the car can't be titled as new, he won't be able to get it. It MIGHT be OK as a demo car, but I would dang well be sure of that before buying it.