UK: buying from Tesla used inventory.

[Lee Davis]

Given a collection date for my Model X today. Collection this Thursday, which will be exactly three weeks to the day from ordering and well within the eight weeks they told me to expect. Moreover, I was invited to go and check it out, so I went to see it yesterday at the Nottingham Centre and I was delighted with the condition of it. I'm looking forward to Thursday. Just hoping the wheels don't fall off on the way home.

 

[Phil-D]

Happy to say I got some text today

Welcome, buckle in for the ride! I'm hoping the experience is much better for you.

I'm almost a week into ownership, there's a few odd things creeping up such as all the tyres with no caps, a dirty back portion of the car (scuffs and scrapes on the ceiling/side interior) and now I'm getting squeaking when steering at slow speeds. Looking around it's quite a common issue and believe it should be fixed under warranty.

Aside from that, enjoying driving the car. I'm getting a bit of range anxiety and it'll take a while to understand what level of driving drains what from the battery. But it's pleasant to drive.

Happy to say I got a message today and I'm all booked in to collect. Shame the site needs 7 days notice so I can't pick up till Tuesday next week and you can't pick up on a weekend as its only open 10 till 4 Monday to Friday but looks like I need to book a train.

Fingers crossed its a decent car

 

[Lee Davis]

Sometimes they get it right. As promised, I got the 2020 Model X today, 3 weeks to the day from when I ordered. The condition was impeccable. The valet had cleaned every crevice and the carpets really well. No scratches or knocks in the paintwork. The only issue was the car came with a towing package, and even though the towbar looks unused, the key for it was missing. I am having a mobile technician do the CCS upgrade next Tuesday, so they agreed to provide a replacement then.

Happy camper after day 1.

 

[jstanthrevdrvr]

Sometimes they get it right. As promised, I got the 2020 Model X today, 3 weeks to the day from when I ordered. The condition was impeccable. The valet had cleaned every crevice and the carpets really well. No scratches or knocks in the paintwork. The only issue was the car came with a towing package, and even though the towbar looks unused, the key for it was missing. I am having a mobile technician do the CCS upgrade next Tuesday, so they agreed to provide a replacement then.

Happy camper after day 1.

Issues is mostly with reconditioned model 3’s processed through Corby hub. Model S and X are mostly handled via their collection centres.

 

[Phil-D]

Bit of an update, overall a great experience with the Corby center. I added it to Google maps along with a couple of pictures u managed to take. The staff on site were really nice but the place could do with some shelter, it was 30° when my elderly dad and I picked up the car after getting the train to Peterborough then a bus to Corby and finally a taxi from the town to Rockingham. Being red hot and totally exposed for 10 mins whilst they went and got the car was in thing but had it been raining it would have been much worse.

Anyway the car was lovely, no noticeable issues at all, had been cleaned and prepared to a very high standard and I'm very happy with the car. There was only 53% charge and since my ride home was 170 miles I got to enjoy a supercharge at Ferrybridge. Since getting home the back camera has developed an intermittent fault which seems to be a wiring issue but a mobile tech is coming to fix this on the 29th so fingers crossed all good.

 

[thatbloke]

Well Hi all. I've just joined the Corby merry go round so lets see what happens! A bit of background - As I'm being given an allowance at work for a car I decided to purchase a used M3LRP. Having had a discussion with my local centre and a test drive I decided to take the plunge. I was advised that the vehicle was available and should be around 6 working DAYS to collection. Having paid a hefty deposit I waited 3 days 'for them to reach out' obviously nobody did. I tried to call the contact number for Tesla and was automatically hung up on every time the waiting finished and an agent became available. I used the live chat function which surprisingly was responded to quickly. When asked why no one had 'reached out' I was told expect to wait 6 WEEKS. Obviously not what I expected to hear. Expressing my dissatisfaction about how their agent clearly lied to me provoked a fairly quick text message response to say the vehicle will be going for checks on 11th July. I wait with baited breath. I did explain that I must have the vehicle inside 3 weeks or I will cancel the order.

 

[Rob Smith]

Oooh, is buying a used Tesla still a thing? I assumed it had gone quiet here cos everyone else had given up too lol

Based off my worthless experience of not quite getting 1 car from Corby - 3 weeks not gonna happen. 6 weeks probably not gonna happen. 11th July a fantasy date, possibly a birthday of someone the person who texted you knows, but might well be the start of their random 6 weeks clock (which doesn’t exist, they are trolling you like they trolled a number of others on this thread)

Please do update to let us know if they are getting better tho, this thread needs some closure

 

[thatbloke]

Oooh, is buying a used Tesla still a thing? I assumed it had gone quiet here cos everyone else had given up too lol

Based off my worthless experience of not quite getting 1 car from Corby - 3 weeks not gonna happen. 6 weeks probably not gonna happen. 11th July a fantasy date, possibly a birthday of someone the person who texted you knows, but might well be the start of their random 6 weeks clock (which doesn’t exist, they are trolling you like they trolled a number of others on this thread)

Please do update to let us know if they are getting better tho, this thread needs some closure

Epic response I'll be sure to satisfy your lust for the impossible dream.

 

[thatbloke]

And so it begins!

 

[WannabeOwner]

11th July a fantasy date

Might be that, being start of quarter, that there is more resource available for Inventory - but pure guess on my part and the previous 36 pages are filled with "didn't happen"s

 

[Rob Smith]

Statistically more likely this person is a big Robert the Bruce fan and wanted to celebrate his upcoming birthday by trolling the Englishman trying to buy a car

Not sure quarters mean much in used inventory, I mean they’ve probably had them all piled up since 2021 at the rate they are getting them out the door

 

[WannabeOwner]

Statistically more likely this person is a big Robert the Bruce fan

Ah, so the next text will be the standard "Your Corby car is available for collection,. in Aberdeen"

 

[MrPickle]

Is there anyone with a more recent experience? Paid the deposit for our used model 3 on Friday 22nd Sept and was "promised" a delivery by the 30th of Sept, then went onto this thread and bracing myself for 3 months wait now! We're told it's in Corby being prepared. Is it still this bad or someone had a better recent experience?

 

[Pink Duck]

A whole 3.5 days to go, I suspect you will collect soon per their traditional end of quarter rush.

 

[Rooster6655]

Is there anyone with a more recent experience? Paid the deposit for our used model 3 on Friday 22nd Sept and was "promised" a delivery by the 30th of Sept, then went onto this thread and bracing myself for 3 months wait now! We're told it's in Corby being prepared. Is it still this bad or someone had a better recent experience?

I would expect a rush for the end of the month but they seem to be cutting it fine this time!

 

[WannabeOwner]

hen went onto this thread and bracing myself for 3 months wait now!

I think (well ... "hope") that the earlier debacle was Tesla deciding to buy up all 2nd cars that it could lay its hands on. There were plenty of stories of all sorts of add ons being removed (sometimes with half the paint with it! such that the car needed a respray).

Seems a fairly significant jump for Tesla to have decided to keep such cars (and remove add-ons / warranty them) rather than just send them to Auction (as I suspect they did before).

As is typical for Tesla they implemented the plan before they had the back office tools / training / etc. etc. in place, and just relied on "staff heroics" - which in my experience, in any organisation that resorts to that, leads to the outcome being "variable"

So my thought / hope is that this will have improved by now.

 

[MrPickle]

So still no update on our side. Other than being told by the delivery advisor that expected delivery is 4 weeks, then being told by online chat it's 6 weeks. And being told by online chat that we can't have a used M3 delivered, but being told by delivery advisor we can? The lack of communication, and the amount of conflicting information, has shaken any trust I had with buying used.

We're now looking at going privately, but I have concerns about buying a Tesla from a dealer that may or may not know much about them. I, myself, have very little knowledge on EVs, coming from a background in ICEs, I know how to buy a secondhand ICE, and I know what to look for, but not with a Tesla or an EV.

How large is the risk buying a Tesla from a dealer - I'm guessing they don't do tests as throughly as Tesla do (at least I hope they do!)? The Tesla coming from Tesla would have the additional year warranty, and they claim the following (based on VIN):

APPB - enhanced auto
APBS - auto pilot
DV2W, - rear wheel driveI
N3BW - interior black and white
PPSB, - deep blue metallic colour
PRM30, - Partial Premium Interior
SC04, - Pay Per Use Supercharging
TW01 - Tow Package
MDL3 - model
3W39B,- 19" Sport Wheels
MT308 - Model 3 Standard Range Plus Rear-Wheel Drive
CPF0 - Standard Connectivity
DRRH, - right hand drive
RSF1 - Rear Heated Seats

It was just over 27k, and they claim it'll be delivered. We've only paid the deposit at the moment - in everyone's experience, did we over pay, under pay, of get it just right? What are the chances we'll find a decent M3 2020 with this spec elsewhere? I'm trying to weigh up whether we wait it out with Tesla, or go elsewhere?


The delivery advisor also said we'd get images and a delivery date by end of last week (been and gone) or "very early" this week, which I would have thought would be today/tomorrow, but no news yet!

 

[spdpsba]

decent M3 2020 with this spec elsewhere

Tesla did few upgrades in a short time period - M3 2020 has both old version and a new version (I may be wrong but from Q3). The newer one came with the an updated interior and dechromed versions - there was also some change in terms of battery capacity etc., - also not sure whether this had a LFP or the regular battery. I think need some more information regarding the model before commenting on prices.

 

[Jason71]

How large is the risk buying a Tesla from a dealer - I'm guessing they don't do tests as throughly as Tesla do (at least I hope they do!)? The Tesla coming from Tesla would have the additional year warranty, and they claim the following (based on VIN):

Do we actually know if Tesla do any tests on used cars? Most manufactures claim a 5000point test on approved used vehicles.
Do Tesla even claim that? if its anything like the new cars they probably give it quick clean and tell you to book a service if there are any issues
Depends to some degree if its still in warranty. if so I would not worry too much about where you buy it

The last manufacture approved used car I bought, a Mini not a Tesla, they didn't even remember to MOT it before they delivered it to my house! so so much for those claims!

if you want to know if you over paid I would recommend checking Autotrader.

 

[WannabeOwner]

The lack of communication, and the amount of conflicting information, has shaken any trust I had with buying used.

If you can cope with the uncertainty of "When" (and quite possibly "where") I'd stick with it - for the warranty aspects - EV stuff is all a bit new for conventional "Just buy one privately" for most people. Pretty much everyone (bar some unfortunate exceptions where Tesla has handed over a car which has had no checking, no valeting, nothing) is happy with the result. But the bit between "I want one" and "I've got one" can be horrendous. Thereafter you are very likely to be happy (with the notable exceptions, which I hope you are already aware of, of Wipers, USS and phantom braking when using AP (which does not seem to affect everyone's cars)

This sounds to me like Tesla have still not got the back-office systems in place for their recent broader expansion into 2nd hand vehicles. Tesla have plenty of history of "Let's get into X" and then it being years (literally) before they have half decent systems in place to support the move. They rely on staff-heroics in the interval, and the knowledge of Person-A vs. Person-B is variable - as you have found out! Plus there are huge numbers of stories of support / sales staff who have just made stuff up. I have no idea why. "I don't know" or "I will find out" seem a perfectly valid answer to me, whereas "Here's some complete bull I made up" is very annoying when you find out that that is, indeed, what it is

How large is the risk buying a Tesla from a dealer - I'm guessing they don't do tests as throughly as Tesla do

There is plenty of discussion on here about how little maintenance EVs need ... but a reason for getting rid of one would be if it is a Lemon, and it would be hard to know that for you (a newbie) and the dealer too quite possibly (for same reason, at this point in time). There are some EV specialists, but other than that I, personally, would be cautious - but if the car still has plenty of manufacturer's warranty then I guess buying it anywhere would be fine, and if its from a 3rd party dealer and if it turns out to be a Lemon, I guess you'd have comeback with the dealer.

What are the chances we'll find a decent M3 2020 with this spec elsewhere?

tesla-info.com aggregates sales adverts from all over the place, and has good filters to match available cars with your requirements, so is a good source of what is currently being advertised

Do we actually know if Tesla do any tests on used cars? Most manufactures claim a 5000point test on approved used vehicles.
Do Tesla even claim that?

Their software must know the answer to quite a lot of those, potential, questions. When I phoned to check if one of my fuses might have failed after a bit of tap-tap-tap on his keyboard the support person said "No Sir, all your fuses are fine"