A Tesla scam

[OneEyeJack]

A gentleman of questionable morals had the main battery in his Model S fail. No warranty coverage and a $16K estimate for a replacement put his mind to work. He purchased a slightly damaged S with a good battery, swapped the batteries and sold the donor at an auction and ended up with a replacement battery at no cost. He did the swap in the industrial parking lot on a Sunday with jack stands and common tools. It took him about 4 hours. I don't know exactly how the numbers worked out but someone got a royal screwing and probably didn't get flowers and a dinner.

Evidently, anything Tesla is thru the roof expensive. I guess they don't mention that when you purchase one.

 

[Shannow]

Oooh, a Tesla scam that Musk isn't responsible for.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Oooh, a Tesla scam that Musk isn't responsible for.


LOL $16,000 for the battery. I'll stick with gas.

 

[Chris142]

I would not call it a scam. People have been buying parts cars for over 100 years then selling what's left.

 

[Zee09]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
I would not call it a scam. People have been buying parts cars for over 100 years then selling what's left.


When you buy anything used you should assume everything is really worthless unless you have the experience
to judge other wise. Few people sell stuff because it is a 100% perfection. Buyer Beware!

 

[JMJNet]

We need to know what we are buying and see if it makes sense in terms of common sense.

However, common sense is uncommon.

By the way, if you can own a Tesla, it is assumed that you can or want to afford the parts that is needed.
Same thing with owning a Mercedes or BMW or Ferrari, etc.
All of the so called High End vehicle have high(er) price parts.
Because it is relatively low volume production and sales.

 

[goodtimes]

The Tesla battery is warranted for 8 years, and they started selling them in 2012.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: goodtimes
The Tesla battery is warranted for 8 years, and they started selling them in 2012.

That wouldn't cover a salvage vehicle though. Once it becomes salvage, most manufacturer void all warranties, but I think they still do recalls.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: JMJNet
We need to know what we are buying and see if it makes sense in terms of common sense.

However, common sense is uncommon.

By the way, if you can own a Tesla, it is assumed that you can or want to afford the parts that is needed.
Same thing with owning a Mercedes or BMW or Ferrari, etc.
All of the so called High End vehicle have high(er) price parts.
Because it is relatively low volume production and sales.


I believe Tesla is worse than Mercedes or BMW. At least with those guys, there's aftermarket parts and there are always other MB dealers that will discount items off list price, sometimes up to 30%. As Tesla doesn't have dealers, it's list price. Check out the Tesla section on Rockauto and then look at BMW/Mercedes. A very limited amount of parts vs other makes.

 

[goodtimes]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: goodtimes
The Tesla battery is warranted for 8 years, and they started selling them in 2012.

That wouldn't cover a salvage vehicle though. Once it becomes salvage, most manufacturer void all warranties, but I think they still do recalls.


That's right, salvage vehicles have no factory warranty. Which I didn't add because the article is meant to deceive to meet an agenda about electric car batteries, to not be honest with facts. Basically it's nonsense.

 

[supton]

So... this is a salvage sale, where the buyers are buying off the pictures? I guess that's a new way to scam, although I'm not exactly shocked. I mean, "ran when parked" salvage sale could be sold sans motor for all I know.

Since these salvage sales are really unknown, isn't that why they go on the cheap? The buyers know that they will get burned on some percentage of their buys. They only care if they don't flip enough to cover their losses--it's part of their business model. Or am I mistaken?

Heck you don't even have to go salvage sales. I wonder how many cars in the past were traded in at the dealer sans a spare tire or who knows what.

 

[Rand]

My take is if you are buying one buy it from the insurance company at the auction..
if you buy a 3rd party seller vehicle(at the insurance auction) its probably been "Salvaged"

 

[Johnny2Bad]

If the insurer decides the repair bill is too high, they will write off the vehicle. That value is based on what they will pay you out (after depreciation) vs what they would pay to repair, and often in pure dollar terms the repair bill is lower than the total loss value, but requires more administrative costs, which they add to the repair estimates, to come up with a number. If they are close they total the vehicle.

Then you have a Salvage Title, which means either it can never be registered, or it must pass a rigid safety to be registered, or perhaps in some jurisdictions you can just go ahead and drive it (not here).

Obviously in the case of the OP's report they could register the vehicle with a salvage title. No ideal if they had to pass an inspection.

But, it must be said, that by far the majority of vehicle parts desired by owners of 10-year or newer cars is body parts, in particular front end body parts. A Tesla without batteries and with good body parts probably has excellent resale value. I don't see how it automatically follows that the buyer of the parts car "got a royal screwing". $15K worth of body work involves surprisingly little metal mashing, especially when half the repair bill is paint.

You can probably buy a perfectly good recent model used vehicle (instead of a salvage model) and not drive it or sell it as a driver, just start pulling parts, and I would bet you would triple your money.

 

[dareo]

Rule number 1: Never feel bad for anyone buying stuff at an auction. There's a reason its not sold at retail.

Rule number 2: Teslas are very expensive, unpractical, rich people's cars. They simply won't be that affordable long lasting vehicle that can match the roughly 20 year service life of a simple gas car.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: dareo
Rule number 1: Never feel bad for anyone buying stuff at an auction. There's a reason its not sold at retail.

Rule number 2: Teslas are very expensive, unpractical, rich people's cars. They simply won't be that affordable long lasting vehicle that can match the roughly 20 year service life of a simple gas car.


Technically they're simpler than a gas car. Tesla just doesn't make it easy or cheap to fix them. No engine, gas tank, exhaust, catalytic converters, PCV, fuel injectors, turbos, etc. But it is buyer beware whenever getting anything at an auction.

If the Model 3's start making it in numbers and Tesla doesn't go under, there will probably be more of an aftermarket parts supplier for common wear items. Right now it's very limited just due to the lower number of cars made.

Anyway looked up the battery pack. Seems they tend to use Panasonic 18650's which are actually some of the best 18650's made out there and they're top dollar about $7-$8 each. I sometimes get cheap no name ones and they don't last or have the mAH rating that they claim. One cell has 444 of them and there's 16 cells in a pack. So 16k is a bargain for that many cells.

 

[talest]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: JMJNet
We need to know what we are buying and see if it makes sense in terms of common sense.

However, common sense is uncommon.

By the way, if you can own a Tesla, it is assumed that you can or want to afford the parts that is needed.
Same thing with owning a Mercedes or BMW or Ferrari, etc.
All of the so called High End vehicle have high(er) price parts.
Because it is relatively low volume production and sales.


I believe Tesla is worse than Mercedes or BMW. At least with those guys, there's aftermarket parts and there are always other MB dealers that will discount items off list price, sometimes up to 30%. As Tesla doesn't have dealers, it's list price. Check out the Tesla section on Rockauto and then look at BMW/Mercedes. A very limited amount of parts vs other makes.


But. Teslas are fast!