Trying to buy my first Tesla, need advice.

[Akikiki]

Fragger, that car the dealer is selling. They may have bought it from an auction where Tesla sent it. They may have already turned FUSC and Connectivity off. You can't be sure. And even then there's stories of losing it and having to put up an argument to get it back.

Don't count on stores/galleries letting you charge. Those are level two chargers anyway. They use them to keep demo cars charged. They do not like owners coming back routinely to charge.

In your #3 and #4 above, I see you questioning the answers you have been given already. You want to know about those things, read the forum. Don't make people explain it again.

Go ahead buy from a non-Tesla dealer. Then you will be here explaining your regrets and why that was not such a good idea.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Sounds like most here lean towards Tesla warranty > Supercharging and Free connectivity.

Yes. The warranty will provide you piece of mind and worth a lot more than FUSC and connectivity. Are you planning on doing lots of long road trips? Then FUSC might be compelling. If you're just going to use it as a local car and a trip every once in a while, FUSC is just not that important. Connectivity is $120/year -- shouldn't be a dealbreaker.

. I feel AP1 + the PD models is a great, balanced Tesla experience, where you're not out 70K on a car. Thoughts?

Yes, AP1 is pretty good for what it is. I use it constantly, and while it's no up to what AP2+ can do, it's still pretty darn good.

5. I see some love given here for the P85D+ here... Are they worth their age and issues?

Like I said, they provide, right now, the best bang/$. I love mine and have no plans to upgrade. It's still a kick-ass Model S with 0-60 in under 3 seconds (Ludicrous mode). It doesn't have sentry mode, but I have a two channel dashcam instead.

6. Is Ludicrous mode worth it on top of the P85D or P90D?

Depends on the additional cost. Even without Ludicrous mode, the P85D/P90Ds are still fun fast cars.

9. I had a 220 outlet installed in my new home.

Depends on what outlet you had installed. If you have a NEMA 14-50, your good to go. If you have something else, you may need a different adapter for the home charger. Either way, the UMC (home charger) is fine for charging at home -- you don't need the $500 HPWC unless you really want one or want to charge at more than 40amps.

 

[Uncle Paul]

If you had a 240V outlet installed you are golden. Just need to see what type of socket you have and purchase ($35) that adaptor from Tesla. Should then plug in the cable that will come with your car, and you will be able to fast charge overnight.

Since you are in Texas you face another issue. Tesla is not allowed to sell directly in Texas. They have work arounds, but you need to check out how it may effect your buying directly from Tesla.

Your best bet will still be to search out for a private owner that has the car you want, and negotiate a price acceptable to you both. Then buy the car and everything should fall right into place. Check with them to see if their Supercharging will transfer. Sometimes it only transfers once, from the original owner to the first buyer. That is one of the reasons most independent dealerships can't transfer Free Supercharging. It transfers to them, but since you become the 3rd owner, it will not transfer.

When you get your car, circle back to us and we will fine tune your ownership experience.t

 

[D.E.]

Lots of advice here. Let me add.
Free lifetime supercharging is probably overrated. I have it but only use it on trips. Using it 10,000 miles per year would save you about $600 per year. 10K driving on trips is a lot, more than most of us do.
If getting it from a dealer, check to see if it went through Tesla’s hands. If they owned it for even a minute, they’ll strip lifetime supercharging. The dealer might not disclose it was an auction car so you want to make sure you ask.
Early 90 KW batteries may have some issues. Read posts on this site.
You want a 240V outlet at home. Plugging in overnight is nice. Stopping at a supercharger every day will get old. A 240/30A outlet gets me 13 miles of charge for every hour plugged in, that’s enough for me.
If you haven’t considered a model 3, you might. You might be able to swing a new performance model, above your stated budget, but a new car with a new warranty. The S is large. The 3 is more nimble. 0-60 in 3 seconds is nice, but it’s something you’ll likely not use much. These cars all have a lot of torque off the line. People who have 3s love them.
I would not pay for FSD right now. I’ve got it. I don’t summon (well not much). I don’t like the excessive lane changes so I don’t use the navigate on autopilot. You’ll get the autosteering and the traffic aware cruise control with the old EAP package. Those are the jewels. FSD doesn’t add much now. it might later but not now.

If you don’t absolutely need the room in the S, I’d look at the performance 3. If you have a supercharger near your house, you might hang out there for a bit and ask the owners that stop to charge what they think of their cars. If you do consider a 3, you might look into the “stealth” option. I can’t tell you much, but do look into it.

 

[Akikiki]

If getting it from a dealer, check to see if it went through Tesla’s hands. If they owned it for even a minute, they’ll strip lifetime supercharging.

I agree. But how does one find out if getting it from a dealer, ...it went through Tesla's hands?

 

[D.E.]

I agree. But how does one find out if getting it from a dealer, ...it went through Tesla's hands?

Ask the dealer. They will know where they got the car.

 

[Akikiki]

And how do you get the dealer to tell anyone that? If the dealer buys it from auction, can you be sure they would know if Tesla had wholesaled it to the auction?

 

[Uncle Paul]

One of the issues with buying a 3rd party Tesla is that you will rarely be able to learn ALL the facts about it's history. Kind of the same thing with other brands as well.

 

[Fragger]

Hello everyone,

I cannot thank you guys enough for the knowledge y'all are imparting, really welcoming and I appreciate it.

1. So an update on the dealer car. It was a trade in for an Audi E-Tron. Carfax shows one and only owner and the dealership guys are scared to register themselves through Tesla cause they think it's like Carfax, where it will add another owner to the car. Which, I guess now that you guys are talking about it, may count as that one transfer of ownership.

They cannot locate the owner anymore, and Tesla gave them the run around all day not disclosing anything, like y'all would predict. So it's possible it doesn't have Supercharging and Connectivity. On the other hand, they did tell the dealer that the car does qualify to buy the extended warranty. Not sure how or which one since it's a 2016 and have 60K miles on it.

The dealer has dropped the price to 49XXXK before taxes. And again, this is a P90D, Red with 21 wheels and the works. I have to admit... The appearance is mesmerizing!

2. I have a 210v outlet not a 240. It was meant to be a deeper freezer outlet. Can I do anything with that?

3. I see y'all point about the overhyped nature of the Supercharging though. But, it still would've been a nice bonus for buying an S.

4. Speaking of Ss and other options the private seller options I listed... They both have minor accidents on Carfax. But at the same time, he has the cars in his Tesla account and have come down to $39999 out the door now. Both 2016 P85Ds, one has 85K miles, the other 70K, 21 wheels, the works.... Tesla 2 year/100K warranties.

5. I appreciate folks recommending a 3 to me often, but it's really not my cup of tea anesthetically... I guess you fancy, what you fancy...

Appreciate y'all thoughts on the latest info. But I know the DNA of this forum is in the Tesla camp, all the way... Probably for the right reasons .

 

[Uncle Paul]

210v outlet is same as 240v. The feed into your circuit box will determine the voltage you will get. Both will charge the same, no matter what the label.

Due to the amount of current your car will draw, you will want to have nothing else sharing that circuit. In other words, you will not want to have a deep freeze plugged in at the same time as you are charging. Will trip the breaker.

Your Tesla will absorb what ever your plug puts out, no problems.

 

[Fragger]

210v outlet is same as 240v. The feed into your circuit box will determine the voltage you will get. Both will charge the same, no matter what the label.

Due to the amount of current your car will draw, you will want to have nothing else sharing that circuit. In other words, you will not want to have a deep freeze plugged in at the same time as you are charging. Will trip the breaker.

Your Tesla will absorb what ever your plug puts out, no problems.

Thank you for that valuable info. So then all I need is an adapter from Tesla, not the $700 wall charger?

I never bought that deep freezer haha!

 

[Uncle Paul]

Correct. If you already have a plug in your wall, just buy the connector adaper that is compatible and plug right in. No need to buy the $500 wall mount. If the plug does not have a corresponding adaptor, then you can easily buy a 14-50 socket and go that way.

 

[D.E.]

And how do you get the dealer to tell anyone that? If the dealer buys it from auction, can you be sure they would know if Tesla had wholesaled it to the auction?

The auction company doesn’t own the cars, they sell the cars for others and collect a commission. Tesla will have been the owner when it’s auctioned.

You can ask them. They will know from whom they bought the car.

When you ask them, they can tell you or not. If not, walk away.

 

[boshk]

1. So an update on the dealer car. It was a trade in for an Audi E-Tron. Carfax shows one and only owner and the dealership guys are scared to register themselves through Tesla cause they think it's like Carfax, where it will add another owner to the car. Which, I guess now that you guys are talking about it, may count as that one transfer of ownership.

They cannot locate the owner anymore, and Tesla gave them the run around all day not disclosing anything, like y'all would predict. So it's possible it doesn't have Supercharging and Connectivity. On the other hand, they did tell the dealer that the car does qualify to buy the extended warranty. Not sure how or which one since it's a 2016 and have 60K miles on it.
...
Appreciate y'all thoughts on the latest info. But I know the DNA of this forum is in the Tesla camp, all the way... Probably for the right reasons .

Since the car is over 4 years and over 50,000 miles, it means you will get the 2 years warranty and 40,000ish miles....up to 100,000 miles.
Did they tell you how much it will cost?
Vehicle Warranty

 

[Livex]

Lots of advice here. Let me add.
Free lifetime supercharging is probably overrated. I have it but only use it on trips. Using it 10,000 miles per year would save you about $600 per year. 10K driving on trips is a lot, more than most of us do.
If getting it from a dealer, check to see if it went through Tesla’s hands. If they owned it for even a minute, they’ll strip lifetime supercharging. The dealer might not disclose it was an auction car so you want to make sure you ask.
Early 90 KW batteries may have some issues. Read posts on this site.
You want a 240V outlet at home. Plugging in overnight is nice. Stopping at a supercharger every day will get old. A 240/30A outlet gets me 13 miles of charge for every hour plugged in, that’s enough for me.
If you haven’t considered a model 3, you might. You might be able to swing a new performance model, above your stated budget, but a new car with a new warranty. The S is large. The 3 is more nimble. 0-60 in 3 seconds is nice, but it’s something you’ll likely not use much. These cars all have a lot of torque off the line. People who have 3s love them.
I would not pay for FSD right now. I’ve got it. I don’t summon (well not much). I don’t like the excessive lane changes so I don’t use the navigate on autopilot. You’ll get the autosteering and the traffic aware cruise control with the old EAP package. Those are the jewels. FSD doesn’t add much now. it might later but not now.

If you don’t absolutely need the room in the S, I’d look at the performance 3. If you have a supercharger near your house, you might hang out there for a bit and ask the owners that stop to charge what they think of their cars. If you do consider a 3, you might look into the “stealth” option. I can’t tell you much, but do look into it.

1+ for the Model 3. I found myself in your same shoes 3 months ago. I ended up with a 3 for other reasons. Warranty, newer technology, battery technology. Love everything about the MS. The look especially the performance models. P85D was on the radar. As many on the forum mention go as new as your budget allows. Either MS or M3. I would assume no more supercharging on any car not to get your hopes up. Most the time it is inconvenient when charging even at a supercharger aside from road trips. Think of the few times leaving work and it being a long day and having to stop to charge rather than at home. That’s the best luxury of a EV, home charging !

I got a 14-50 installed for winter here. I used the UMC. I don’t have to worry about long charging times. It seems that you have the partial set up that’ll help if you can utilize it. Waking up to a charge everyday.

As for purchasing I would also inquire about the battery degradation that’ll play into range. If your worried about it. The models that you’ve been looking at vary in mileage that may help with making a decision. Premium Connectivity and FUSC are nice add ones but as others mentioned shouldn’t be considered dealbreakers.

I would try to stick with purchasing from Tesla directly if possible but price point might sway you in a direction. P90D would be nice
Although the battery is more prone to have issues like severed degradation. They should be covered under warranty. Some that have been replaced have been replaced with a revised 85 pack something to consider too.

Good luck with the search. Hope you find the one your looking for.

 

[Fragger]

Correct. If you already have a plug in your wall, just buy the connector adaper that is compatible and plug right in. No need to buy the $500 wall mount. If the plug does not have a corresponding adaptor, then you can easily buy a 14-50 socket and go that way.

Yes, what I have is simply an outlet that would take a 220v plug inserted into it to power something ala a deep freezer. Sounds like I'd need the adapter from Tesla but another component I can't envision properly since I've never actually seen a Tesla charger upclose.

The auction company doesn’t own the cars, they sell the cars for others and collect a commission. Tesla will have been the owner when it’s auctioned.

You can ask them. They will know from whom they bought the car.

When you ask them, they can tell you or not. If not, walk away.

They told me, it was a regular customer, not an auction. A guy who got his wife an Audi E-Tron, but the dealer is unable to trace the customer.

Since the car is over 4 years and over 50,000 miles, it means you will get the 2 years warranty and 40,000ish miles....up to 100,000 miles.
Did they tell you how much it will cost?
Vehicle Warranty

I actually thought that all warranty options are out of question if the car is over 50K miles and the owner didn't buy warranty, so this is a pleasant surprise. My expectation is that it will likely be a 2/100K warranty that'll cost me like $4K... Any thoughts?

1+ for the Model 3. I found myself in your same shoes 3 months ago. I ended up with a 3 for other reasons. Warranty, newer technology, battery technology. Love everything about the MS. The look especially the performance models. P85D was on the radar. As many on the forum mention go as new as your budget allows. Either MS or M3. I would assume no more supercharging on any car not to get your hopes up. Most the time it is inconvenient when charging even at a supercharger aside from road trips. Think of the few times leaving work and it being a long day and having to stop to charge rather than at home. That’s the best luxury of a EV, home charging !

I got a 14-50 installed for winter here. I used the UMC. I don’t have to worry about long charging times. It seems that you have the partial set up that’ll help if you can utilize it. Waking up to a charge everyday.

As for purchasing I would also inquire about the battery degradation that’ll play into range. If your worried about it. The models that you’ve been looking at vary in mileage that may help with making a decision. Premium Connectivity and FUSC are nice add ones but as others mentioned shouldn’t be considered dealbreakers.

I would try to stick with purchasing from Tesla directly if possible but price point might sway you in a direction. P90D would be nice
Although the battery is more prone to have issues like severed degradation. They should be covered under warranty. Some that have been replaced have been replaced with a revised 85 pack something to consider too.

Good luck with the search. Hope you find the one your looking for.

Thank you for sharing your experience here. Great points about battery degradation. Do you know why the Performance models are more prone for degradation, than the normal ones?

Another interesting theme on these forums I'm learning. People seem to prefer the newer cars over the older beefed up Ps and Ds..

 

[HankLloydRight]

Since the car is over 4 years and over 50,000 miles, it means you will get the 2 years warranty and 40,000ish miles....up to 100,000 miles.
Did they tell you how much it will cost?
Vehicle Warranty

Please be careful here -- what you posted here ONLY applies to used cars sold directly from Tesla as the "Pre-owned Limited Warranty" (see: https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/northamerica-preowned-extended-warranty.pdf) This does NOT apply to any third-pary used car sales.

Any used, third-party, and not from a dealer, i.e. private sales MS/MX buyer can purchase the Extended Service Agreement up to 1,000 miles or 30 days past the expiration of the factory warranty. see: Extended Service Agreement

I actually thought that all warranty options are out of question if the car is over 50K miles and the owner didn't buy warranty, so this is a pleasant surprise. My expectation is that it will likely be a 2/100K warranty that'll cost me like $4K... Any thoughts?

You are correct. If the car has more than 51,000 miles you can not buy a warranty from Tesla, but you may from other providers (Excelerate, etc).

 

[HankLloydRight]

Yes, what I have is simply an outlet that would take a 220v plug inserted into it to power something ala a deep freezer. Sounds like I'd need the adapter from Tesla but another component I can't envision properly since I've never actually seen a Tesla charger upclose.

If you post a photo of the outlet you have now, we can tell you exactly what you need to charge at home.

 

[jjrandorin]

OP,

You mention your location is Texas. From what I have read, electricity is so cheap in texas, there is almost no " value" in free unlimited supercharging. your time is worth way more than you would "save" going to a supercharger every couple of days to charge for 30 minutes or something.

Now, the free unlimited premium connectivity is worth 9.99 every month you own the car, so $120 a year, without you having to go anywhere to get it or take any other actions, so that would be a nice to have.

And yeah "tesla stores" dont have superchargers most of the time, they have level 2 chargers (the same you would have at home) and they are mostly for them to charge demo cars. They will not let you come there to charge " regularly".. as in if you show up every 3-4 days, they will likely start turning you away. So, you are basically talking about that supercharger that is "30 minutes away" for electricity that is likely worth 10 cents a kW or something.

 

[geoffmanley]

One note on buying the Ludicrous upgrade. I briefly had a late 2016 P90D and the service center said they wouldn't do the ludicrous upgrade. Tesla obviously does some to its own used cars it sells. Why they wouldn't do a ludicrous upgrade for $10k when it probably involves a tech going in and flipping a few switches is beyond me. Also they won't do power lift gate conversions for those few cars they delivered with manual lift gates. Get the car you want with the options you want already installed. I will tell you, the difference in acceleration between my P85+ and any of the performance dual motors is stark. It's why the rear motor performance vehicles didn't last long, it's hard to get a solid consistent launch since wheel spin is such a big factor. But it's still a fun car to drive