Tesla will sue you for $50,000 if you try to resell your Cybertruck in the first year::Tesla may agree to buy the truck back at the original price minus “$0.25/mile driven” and any damages and repairs.
This is, surprisingly, not that unusual for vehicles in high demand. It’s to prevent flipping.
GM does it on certain vehicles as well:
(the C8 Corvette Z06, GMC Hummer EV, and Cadillac Escalade-V if you want to know without clicking the link.)
GM wasn’t harsh enough IMHO. They should have black listed people who immediately flipped base C8s for significantly more than MSRP. Base C8s (not Z51) going for over 100k, with miles on them, was fucking ridiculous.
I’ll say it now: car dealers are useless dinosaurs and there is no point to having them anymore. I don’t need a dealer to tell me what options I want on my car. I can select those on a webpage after I’ve reviewed the available options. I need a place to take my car for service if it’s a factory failure / warranty work. I can do the rest myself or pay another focused professional to do the work.
Yeah, pretty much every Hummer EV I saw was at a dealership lot, used, and marked up $100k
I really like your second paragraph!
Agreed, but I absolutely need somewhere to test drive the car as well before purchasing. There’s no way I would buy a car without it.
I would agree with that. I had a car shipped by an online sales company and when I showed up to test drive & but it, I didn’t actually fit in the car properly, so I didn’t end up buying it. Such is the life of being tall.
I’m just shy of 6 feet so not excessively tall by any means, but I test drove the Fiat 500 some years ago, and found there is no way for me to be comfortable in it. Interestingly the Mini Cooper was very comfortable, and could have easily accommodated someone taller - as long as anybody sitting behind you didn’t have legs.
Yeah the Fiat is VERY small and I concur on the Mini. I’m a bit over 6’ and I found regular Minis to be very comfortable with headroom with the countryman’s being a bit better on the backseat situation 😂
I’m no fan of flipping/scalping but the choice of the degradation of ownership is much worse. If they really own the car then they aught to be able to resell it.
Prediction; this will extend beyond just high end cars.
Like with other manufacturers with similar limitations, the limitation for resale is only for the first year. It literally is just to try and prevent people buying and flipping the car for a profit. If you don’t like the vehicle you can sell it back to Tesla outside the normal return window. Or wait a year and sell it to someone else.
The reduction in ownership rights is worse than scalpers. Not sure why you assume this is pure benevolence instead of companies making more money via their control of property you paid for.
the limitation for resale is only for the first year.
I hate the “slippery slope” argument, but in this case…
What if the limitation was 2 or 5 years? What if the fine was $100,000 or a million? If they get away with lesser restrictions, why wouldn’t they? The point is, companies already have way too much power over what a private person does with things they legally bought (Right To Repair, anyone?) and this seems like an escalation of that…
How about the manufacturer builds enough stock so scalping makes no sense? I believe that if I buy a product I am entitled to do whatever I want with it as long as it doesn’t brake the law. I hate scalping too, no1 did anything when it happened to GPUs or consoles or toilet paper during covid, so why are cars special?
Stock does not just appear out of thin air. Manufacturing takes time to ramp up. So it’s often not possible to produce enough for a high demand product.
So maybe don’t release a model until you have at least a decent amount of units? Still doesn’t explain why cars are any different than other products that are scalped. Why are they not lobbying to create laws against such practices?
I feel like if they want to prevent flipping for profit, make the agreement that you can’t sell it for more than you bought it for, but still allow the sale. Otherwise you’re not policing the right thing.
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Only for the first year is bs. I bought an object, I own it and I decide when to put it on sale for whatever reason I want, because you know, I own it.
If Tesla doesn’t like that they can stop selling vehicles to the public. Or they can come up with something creative like renting them, or only selling one of this trucks to someone who has proven to be a fan boy and have already brought 1 or 2 Tesla’s before
Or… Get this… You can just not buy the fucking car if you don’t like the terms. You’re not forced to buy a Cybertruck at launch.
Once production increases I’m sure this restriction will be removed just like most other vehicle resale restrictions from other manufacturers. Not all though, Ferrari has limitations even on things like paint color and wraps, Deadmau5 completely got rid of his wrapped Purrari because of that bullshit once Ferrari started trying to enforce it.
But none of you people will be in comments talking about the resale restrictions being removed once production is ramped, just complaining now about hypotheticals for a vehicle you never intend on purchasing to begin with because you either don’t like Tesla or Musk specifically.
Problem is, the more manufacturers pull this kind of shit the more it becomes normal. At some point your entry level yaris has some kind of stupid rules like this and maybe it spills over other industries too. Again, how about we stick to my property is my property and I decide what to do with it, the way it should be.
Real estate and Ticketmaster: “Fuck yeah, flip that shit and inflate our markets to insanity!”
Auto industry: “Fuck you, we do the inflating around here. Pay me!”
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Dealerships are the biggest scalpers.
Dealerships suck and everyone except the dealers themselves will be over the moon once they’re gone, manufacturers most of all.
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Not really. I don’t particularly like them, but they don’t contribute much to the cost of cars. They barely make anything selling the car. That’s why they are always pushing extended warranties, accessories and trying to get you back in for service. Most of these guys are just hustling and getting as bad a deal as the rest of us.
The dealers are under huge pressure from the manufacturers to move cars. They are given sales targets they have to hit or they don’t get paid. That’s why they end up selling a car for like $500 profit or even break even. There’s a good episode of This American Life called “Cars”.
Of course, none of this applies to high-demand cars that sell themselves. They will mark those up like crazy to survive because the manufacturer doesn’t pay a bonus for those and barely gives them any inventory.
…forreal? You do realize dealership markups in the past few years have jumped as high as 40%?
They barely make anything selling the car.
If you’re as much of a snake as they are, maybe. For the rest of us, not so much.
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There’s nothing to stop anyone from buying a single unit and scalping it
Except, you know, the economic principles of supply and demand
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How
Presumably there’s going to be very few Cybertrucks. Supercar manufactures, with their very low production rates, generally have some kind of wait list, Ferrari goes to extremes and won’t even consider selling you most stuff if you’re not already driving a more entry-level Ferrari.
It’s not really about the money, though: If a Sheikh comes along and wants your car, he’s just going to add double the penalty amount to his offer. It’s more about getting shitbinned by the manufacturer.
Shame though. Would absolutely love to see a guy with a garage full of these things because he couldn’t find enough crypto bros to gouge.
I imagined them stacked on top of each other haphazardly, piled up in a garage with a sad white 30ish year old guy standing in the driveway looking sad.
Same with Ford F150 Lighting when it came out. Not sure if it still stands.
It’s to prevent flipping scalping
Somehow I get this weird feeling that the cybertruck will flip all on its own. ;)
Hey look, freedom!
Not sure what you are talking about. I have the freedom to not sign some dumbass agreement with tesla and not purchase a shitty looking cyber truck, and I will use that very freedom. No one is being forced to take this deal.
You have the freedom as long as it stays niche. Having no protections against such practices means they have a chance of becoming so commonplace as to be unavoidable.
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as is customary nowadays with everything now
“Just don’t buy it” is a time-limited argument. If it becomes the norm to require signing a contract for ownership then you’ll have to argue “just don’t buy a car”. If you don’t like cars then maybe that’s okay but for other items that position sucks ass.
At some point, people need to band together and do something. Like $12 hotdogs and beer at stadiums. If people would just collectively say no to shit like that and refuse to buy them for a number of games, they would be forced to bring the prices back down to something more reasonable. But we as a group just cannot seem to do things until an extreme is met. To put it in perspective what I am saying is, if everyone just didn’t buy it, then it wouldn’t become the norm.
I appreciate this, and I agree with you completely. However, I think you’re greatly overestimating the strength of principles and the willingness to boycott of the average person. Which is why we have $12 hot dogs.
Yeah, I completely agree. There’s no way it would ever happen, but damn wouldn’t it be beautiful to watch if it did.
It’s an extreme edge case that car companies use when they have low units and very high demand, this applies to like 10 car models lol. Definitely no indication that it’s going to become the norm.
If there’s monetary intensive for them to control reselling then I think it’s fair to assume. Cars manufactures have already tried to charge a subscription for heated seats already in the car and presumably stopped due to a perceive a backlash which would cost them more money (for now).
In software it’s very common to be unable to resell a purchase and it should be no surprise when car manufactures try to prevent functionality being used by 2nd hand owners (if they are not already doing that).
The dumbass agreement is the problem, not the buyer.
Imagine this:
If I were the second hand buyer of such a vehicle (yes, that means the original buyer has violated the dumbass agreement), would you say then that I am bound to the dumbass agreement too?
Freedom for scalpers! Yay!
“ Given the subscription model of much of the software Tesla EVs use, resale can be complicated. The Full Self-Driving feature, which costs up to $199 per month, is not transferable to a new owner, Fast Company reported.”
Just another reason I’m never buying
Wait so another owner can never have that or…?
I mean it’s not actual “full self drive” to begin with. It’s a lame impersonation of more advanced self driving vehicles that aren’t even being sold yet. That doesn’t matter to the elon fans though.
The lie that actually gets people killed, while also tainting the overall perception of autonomous vehicles. Thanks elon.
It’s just that the license isn’t transferable. The second owner has to (re)license the software from Tesla. Irrespective of whether the seller has a “perpetual” license.
I guess if your license could be transferred to your new vehicle this would kinda make sense —- although frankly I’d expect a recurring revenue subscription model instead. Basically this feels like they’ve just been throwing shit at the wall while failing to deliver the feature.
I read it as the second owner would have to pay for it themselves to (re)unlock it. So Tesla would get paid twice for the feature in one car.
When I sell you my PC, you don’t get all my software licenses, games, and my internet service for free with it. You have to get your own licenses / subscriptions to those.
The best solution to this problem is not to buy one in the first place.
It is bizarre how much of a comic book villain Musk has turned in to.
What do you mean “Turned into” ?
He probably always was a bit of a right-wing loon, but everything about him over the last few years screams “cry for help”.
If he were a normal pleb, he’d have probably lost his job, or had a friend tell him that he needs to seek professional help. Because he’s a billionaire, I assume people just say he’s “eccentric” and laugh while people push him to do more crazy shit.
He doesn’t realise it, but people are laughing at him, not with him. He’s a performing monkey for the apathetic, and aspirational for the morally questionable.
It was always there. He just has the wealth not to care what anyone thinks now.
I don’t think any amount of money replaces human interaction, and because of his status, his perception of himself is probably so fucked up that I’d be shocked if he did anything but care.
I don’t want to infantise Musk, nor do I want to excuse what a total cunt he is, but if he were a child you’d basically call it a cry for attention or help. The primary difference between us and him is he can mask whatever mental health issues he’s got with money and social media…
He has the wealth, but not the ego.
I think he has an inkling of that now. Since he got booed off stage multiple times and locked himself in isolation for a while.
I think the correct phrasing should be “turned out to be”
Apparently some people are okay with extreme racism so long as you convert it into money first.
There was a time when he was like “watch this, I’m going to make the entire auto industry go electric to help save the planet.”
And he has pretty much done that. Great for him. But yeah other shit like his antisemitism and childish tweet wars have dialed up in recent years. Now he’s ruining Twitter itself because he doesn’t believe in content moderation or rules of engagement in a forum. Unless it’s tweeting already-public data about his plane transponder! Oh then it’s wrong! His pro-Texas bullshit and his anti-union bullshit has gotten stronger and stronger. He’s posting pictures of his gun now.
Yeah. The guy has changed. Maybe this is always who he was going to be. Maybe this was always who he wanted to be. But he wasn’t necessarily this guy, always, outwardly.
Jokes on them. I’d never buy one of these hilariously abhorrent piles of shit.
I used to think Teslas were cool. Now I just see the specter of Elon. Regardless, these look like a test for suckers.
I honestly would rather have a cyber truck than a generic F150. Fuck Musk though, so I’ll pass.
There’s a reason Ford sells so many F150s.
They’re great trucks.
They sell based on name recognition and history. Their father, grandfather, and great grandfather all bought a Ford so they will too. They have tens of decades of repair shops with experience, cheap third party parts replacements, and because many people just keep buying the same thing without ever doing any comparison or thinking about it.
Behind the wheel of one, I’d feel like an asshole.
Have you actually encountered a Tesla in the wild? They actually are all assholes.
I am from the vaginal canal of Tesla. Toyota Camry status.
In my experience they’re all Indian.
While this is an asshole move, companies like Ferrari do stuff like this too. They, for example, do not allow certain modifications on their cars and if they find out that you have done them, they will ask you to restore those parts back to originals. It is unreal how much car companies try to get from us.
Papa Enzo knows best. Don’t understand how that’s legal unless it’s some sort of lease agreement
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Well, you’re welcome to not buy a Ferrari if you don’t like the strings attached, right?
Sure. But ownership comes with certain rights by definition. If you don’t have those rights, you don’t really own the thing. You’re just paying to subscribe to their club.
Right, the club being Ferrari owners. They maintain a specific image of owner, and part of that image is “if you don’t like it then go buy another car”. I think it’s silly too, but for what they cost it’s not as if you’re bumming for a daily driver at unfavorable APRs.
Sure. But, again, just don’t buy it if you don’t like the conditions. Not sure why that’s so controversial to say.
I think because it goes against the concept of ownership that you can’t do certain things with it after you buy it. I get that with digital or conceptual things, though I don’t agree with that either in many cases. But not being allowed to alter, resell, or repair a physical object you bought can be frustrating.
It’s because they have a brand to protect and that brand belongs to Ferrari, not the owner of the car.
I am also not welcome to buy a Ferrari because
- I can’t afford one.
- if I could afford it, I would buy something sensible and invest most of my cash for the future. (Land, Gold, etc.)
Implying this, less attractive than a Lego brick, thing is as desirable as a Ferrari is… Insane
Ferraris are dogshit just the same as this.
Absolute deal-breaker. I will not be dictated to on what I may or may not do with my personal private property, beyond the bounds of the law.
Isn’t the fact that the thing is ugly and poorly-designed more of a deal-breaker?
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but I’d really, really love a car that doesn’t ding if you look at it the wrong way.
Well you better hope you never ding the Cybertruck unless you want to replace an entire stainless steel panel and hope it aligns properly.
Perfect panel alignment is more than one can expect from a Tesla direct from the factory
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I don’t know if you’ve ever owned anything with brushed stainless panels, but ding-proof they are not, and they’re generally WAY more noticeable. They also still need to be clear coated, otherwise every panel will become discolored over time.
otherwise every panel will become discolored over time.
Yeah I don’t care about that. My issue with my current truck is many of the places (50?) where I’ve scratched the paint off, and cleaned/re-painted it as soon as I could, have started to rust - which is probably going to result in the car being sold for scrap metal even though it’s still perfectly drivable. Eventually that rust is going to become more than just a cosmetic problem and the car definitely isn’t worth the time required to fix it properly (cut out the rust and put new sheet metal in it’s place).
I won’t be buying a cybertruck… but I definitely would prefer stainless steel over mild steel body panels. I’d like aluminium even better (stainless steel does still rust, just not as easily).
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Is an electric vehicle really the best choice for you if you live in the mountains? I’m pro-electric vehicle but the thing about them is they really shine in denser areas where everything is close by. Unless your remote mountain region also has an adequate amount of superchargers but I feel like I probably wouldn’t.
Absolutely. You can easily create electricity on a remote mountain. Creating gasoline… that’s not really possible. You have to pay a fortune for someone to deliver it (or worse, go get it yourself). You can’t get gasoline delivered in bulk either - common ethanol blended gasoline can spoil in just two months and wherever you’re buying it from might have already stored it for a month or more.
Gas prices in back country areas are often double or quadruple what people pay in the city and living there also means driving a lot more per week. Electricity on the other hand is practically free if you produce it yourself (small scale hydro for example can cost a couple thousand dollars for reliable continuous power and if you’re in the mountains then you probably have that option).
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, but I’d really, really love a car that doesn’t ding if you look at it the wrong way.
Then don’t buy a Tesla, those pieces of shit fall apart if a bird shits on it.
There are multiple deal-breakers, yest.
Well here’s the thing, they don’t want it to be your personal private property, nevermind that you bought it they still want it to be theirs.
Fun fact, I could give a fuck what they want.
Because otherwise, you would have bought one.
In fact, I would not. But even if I would, this bullshit would be a deal breaker. It’s basically saying “we know you’re going to regret this purchase, but we’re going to put a barrier in place to keep you from dealing with it.” That’s a gigantic red flag for any product.
Did you write this on a PC or iPhone?
I borrowed your mom’s Zune.
You weren’t buying one anyway, what a weird comment.
You seem highly interested in whether I would have purchased one or not. What a weird comment.
Forget the obvious bullshit that is being unable to sell it. What’s this about autopilot/FSD not being transferable?
Who the hell would buy this monstrosity of a truck. Be sure not to buy FSD since it will be a lost cost and never recouped for a capability that really doesn’t work yet. $12,000 down the drain.
Who would buy it? The same type of people buying new BMWs. We all hate them, but they sell like crazy.
If you pre ordered it, you locked in the fsd price at the time which was 7k I believe.
If you add FSD to a trade in service, you’ll get 2-3000 back.
So it’s not as terrible a deal as buying it at full price right now where its unquestionably not worth it.
But don’t expect anything beyond level 2 for the lifetime of the vehicle.
I mean that is slightly better. Still a waste of money. Get enhanced autopilot and leave it there.
So is this thing actually called a “Cybertruck”? Because that sounds like something my 7-year-old would come up with. I hadn’t really given it much thought until now…
That’s how Musk names everything. He loves the letter X, he named the Tesla models “S”, “3”, “X”, and “Y”, the Cybertruck, his five most recent children including “Techno Mechanicus”… He’s absolutely unfit to be in charge of anything.
Oh my fucking word, it’s true
If this was 40k, Techno Mechanicus would be an amazing name 😂
It’d still be a job title
Yeah, true that
Wow I never realized the letters/numbers for the Tesla models spells “sexy” in l33t5p34k
He wanted the E instead of 3 but I think GM had the trademark on it.
It also looks like someone drew the initial plans for it in crayon on a napkin, so that checks out.
I can’t see it without seeing Homer Simpson in that car he designed.
Musk being childish and you’ve only realised now? What hole have you been in (and is there space for one more?)?
Oh no, I know Musk is childish. This was just the first time I thought about the name “Cybertruck.”
The glass punch during presentation was the sign of things to come.
It’s shit behavior that should be illegal, but I also can’t feel bad for any moron that sees this truck and still agrees to buy it.
In this situation there would be two morons
Very true.
Is this to be an asshole, or to avoid people reselling the car at x2 the price because of the lack of supply during the first year?
I hate Musk, but if this is intended to prevent price go urging, it might be a good thing (see nvidia scalpers)
Even with the best of intentions, which I doubt is the case here, a company that sells you a product shouldn’t be allowed to dictate what you do with the product once you’ve purchased it. They can be selective about who they sell products to, and use that as a barrier to attempt to stop scalpers. But once I own something if I want to turn around and resell it the manufacturer should have no say in that.
So because your personal taste is not in favor of this car, you don’t feel bad for people who happen to like it. Got it. Moral superiority is alive and well.
Agree with the sentiment but not the tone.
Implying they produce enough to sell any at all, anyone is dumb enough to buy one, anyone if dumb enough to buy it off another dummy who bought one.
This is just Tesla stirring up a story, and trying to make it seem like anyone wants one of these monstrosities, and that they can make them.
I can’t wait to make fun of one of these in the wild. What a stupid, ugly vehicle.
are we doing the jerk off motion? I think it’d be pretty neat if everywhere you drove one of these people did the jerk off motion at you
You need more meaningful things going on in your life.
Hey, now… Don’t go tearing on people’s hobbies!
I actually have developed a language of pure meaning, it’s communicated entirely via the jerk off motion
They are usually seen grazing together with tech bros
what game is this
Looks like someone modded Gran Turismo 2 and is playing on an emulator on a 8-year old PC.
Maybe trying to discourage reselling market because of high demand and low supply. Similar to graphics cards, except nvidia does not do anything
Yeah if Nvidia did this It would actually be amazing
How is this legal in the US given the first sale doctrine?
Ferrari has some similar bullshit, but you agree to it in a contract when you buy the car. If you refuse they simply don’t sell you the car.
(Ferrari chooses you, not the other way around)
If you refuse they simply don’t sell you the car.
Sure, question is of course: will they be able to do something about it if you agree to the terms and sell it anyway. I don’t think ‘breaking’ an agreement based on unlawful stipulations is actionable (ianal)
For Ferrari, if you break their stipulations, they put you on a blacklist and won’t sell you another ever again. I can’t find any other hard-and-fast things they do because there’s a lot of rumor milling, but barring you from purchases and ending your dealership maintenance seem to be “for sure”. I imagine it comes with some other stigmas from the community too. But much like real estate covenants if you agree to something in a contract, and then break it, you’re subject to civil action. In a Covenant, the contract holders are permitted to buy back your house and evict you.
If I recall correctly, Ferrari being assholes is why Lamborghini isn’t just a tractor brand.
That is correct
Yeah for the people in question (buying ferraris/teslas) that blacklisting part might be deterrence enough. Still, even in that real estate covenant construction you mention, that ‘something’ they stipulate cannot be unlawful I think.
If they simply forbade resale, it would be an unenforceable term. The obligation on them to buy it back (at an agreed price) in order to enforce the term likely makes it legal.
Deadmau5 was threatened with a lawsuit over his “Purrari” Nyan cat livery.
How does Monsanto avoid this?
They sell you seeds. You can grow things with those seeds, but you cant plant the grown plants’ seeds.
In that case, it’s a patented product that happens to reproduce itself as part of its normal operation.
In this case, it’s just shitty business behavior.
(To be clear, no, living organisms should not be patentable. But it’d be fucking hilarious if patented genes went feral.)
On the plus side, some of those patents have already expired.
It’s even worse than that. You can buy seeds from the market place have no agreement with Monsanto but can’t plant those seeds.
