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#389 - Twilight Blue - Florida? [ Caution - multiple listings ]

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TEG

Teslafanatic
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Aug 20, 2006
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Tesla : Roadster Base Convertible 2-Door in Tesla | eBay Motors

$(KGrHqJHJCwFCe,rL!8YBQoR1d1bH!~~60_3.JPG
 
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Apparently a dealer has this car listed at $50,000 which is absurdly priced-to-move.:eek:

Dealer link: http://a-bautos.com/index.php/preowned-inventory/item/118-2008-tesla-roadster

Updated ebay listing shows same price and new location as Sandy Hook, CT:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2008-Tesla-Roadster-/121026136297?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1c2db848e9

The lowest I've ever seen one listed for, that wasn't damaged was $57,500. If it seems too good to be true...... Just be careful out there. If it winds up being legit, my hat will be off to the lucky new owner!

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The lowest I've ever seen one listed for, that wasn't damaged was $57,500. If it seems too good to be true...... Just be careful out there. If it winds up being legit, my hat will be off to the lucky new owner!

Hurricane Sandy passed thru recently, did this car get wet? Hmmm. Enquiring minds.....
 
In my hunt for a roadster i tried to contact the owner but never heard from him...think it's a scam

Something's definitely not right on at least some of these ads. Actually saw two ebay listings a moment ago, same pic & vin, the one $50k CT already mentioned and now one at $30k indicating Randolph, NJ:mad::
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2008-Tesla-Roadster-/181031639719?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item2a26539aa7

Dealer page would look fairly credible, same pics, but no VIN.... contact info in Miami, OK.

Proceed with caution.
 
Illinois? Florida? New Jersey? Connecticut? Where is Waldo?

The eBay listing takes you to this registration history:
Vehicle: 2008 Tesla Roadster (5YJRE11B781000389)
Event dateLocationOdometer readingData SourceDetails
05/05/2009 WADSWORTH, IL
Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL
06/05/2009 WADSWORTH, IL 25
Motor Vehicle Dept. TITLE (Title #:X9156853020)
02/18/2010 WADSWORTH, IL
Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL
07/01/2011 CLEARWATER, FL
Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL
07/11/2011 CLEARWATER, FL 9,087
Motor Vehicle Dept. TITLE (Title #:0106772966)
10/10/2012 CLEARWATER, FL
Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL

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New eBay only $30K (?!) back in New Jersey new seller with no feedback history:
nj1.jpg


Yes, use extreme caution if thinking about bidding on this. Research if the seller is for real...
 
How are you finding these classified ads on ebay? When I search for "tesla roadster", I find the cars listed for Auction / Buy It Now, but none of the classifieds.

From ebay home, on the left side pane I browse by category -> motors -> cars & trucks, which brings up cars & trucks finder on the left. I select Tesla, any distance.:smile:
 
Thanks Pharma! That's helpful.


This particular car is painful for me - from when it was up as an auction (rather than now as a classified listing), this is probably the one I would pick for myself. Twilight Blue is probably my favorite of the 'common' colors (orange, yellow, red don't seem to show up very often). It's still got a few months of warranty remaining. Standard mode charge to 194 ideal miles. Just over 10k on the odometer. So seeing it now with these confounding and hard to explain things going on is just killing me :)

Anyway, I've been in touch with the dealership, and I can't explain the second classified ad at $30k. That makes no sense. The explanation on the first one is that they made a mistake with the location (take that with whatever grain of salt you feel necessary); in their defense, when I called about the car, before I could ask my first question, he did make a point of apologizing and clarifying that car is really in Miami, OK.

Anyway, unless anybody can think of another approach, it looks like I'll be passing this car by. As a dealership, they feel like it's reasonable to get the money for the car, and then ship it out. THey even have a 7 day no-fault return policy, and if you activate it, they not only return what you paid for the car, but also what you paid to ship it. I actually grew up not far away (NW Arkansas), and it's a way of doing business I grew up with (something you do in person, with a handshake). I hope for the best, but I also work in the computer industry and I know how easy it is to create a website, and otherwise fake up something that looks real.

I offered to proceed using escrow.com for the money side of the transfer and they weren't interested. I can't think of another way of protecting myself except to walk away. Ah well.

Too bad I don't live in/near Oklahoma; I'd go by the dealership and see if it's for real or not. Continuing to assume goodwill on their part, this is apparently the first electric car that's gone through their lot. I suspect it will sell early next week with somebody arriving in person on Monday for a test drive.

<must be patient>
 
Twilight Blue is probably my favorite of the 'common' colors (orange, yellow, red don't seem to show up very often).

Would you much rather have one of those other colors? There's not a lot of them lately, but in the past year we had multiple oranges bouncing around and a yellow that didn't move in the $80k's over multiple auctions before finally selling. Saw reds also. Really depends on how sensitive you are to price & time vs. importance of color and other features to you.

Anyway, I've been in touch with the dealership, and I can't explain the second classified ad at $30k. That makes no sense.
Some 3rd parties post bogus ads using pics from the real ads... need real owner to police it. My main worry from the dealer site was the lack of VIN# last time I looked.

Anyway, unless anybody can think of another approach, it looks like I'll be passing this car by. As a dealership, they feel like it's reasonable to get the money for the car, and then ship it out. THey even have a 7 day no-fault return policy, and if you activate it, they not only return what you paid for the car, but also what you paid to ship it.
Is the 7-day in writing, from the day you physically receive the car (i.e., to finally drive it)?

Tesla Menlo Park handles certified preowned's I think...maybe the car could be shipped there as a condition of purchase to get checked out (e.g., annual service+).:confused: If anything is wrong outside warranty, the dealer could choose (a) to pay to remedy it or (b) to take the car back under their return policy. If nothing is wrong, you pay for the service. (Could also try Denver or Seattle...).

Or hop on a plane, ready to test drive and handshake?

I offered to proceed using escrow.com for the money side of the transfer and they weren't interested. I can't think of another way of protecting myself except to walk away. Ah well.
Did they say why? Seems like a good option if you don't know the party you are dealing with remotely. I'd worry about the refusal here unless they think the escrow.com website is the bogus one.:tongue:

If it ends up just being a 7-day verbal thingy with no interest in any of the above, I'd say walk.
 
This car is not charging to 194 in Standard Mode. When you look at the battery icon, it shows it as nearly full. Normally a Standard Mode charge shows the battery at 80% full.

They probably charged in Range Mode to max miles and then changed the display to Standard Mode. I would be willing to bet that this is the max range + maybe another 15 miles (when switched over to Range Mode) for this car.

Screen Shot 2012-11-24 at 9.18.10 PM.png
 
Twilight Blue is probably my favorite of the 'common' colors (orange, yellow, red don't seem to show up very often).

There looks to be a fusion red sport with 5900 miles listed by owner Ms. Puckett at $83k in St. Peters MO, however no VIN listed :confused:so you'll have to ask along with all the other good questions:
http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=usedcc&csDlId=&csDgId=&listingId=103272755&listingRecNum=8&criteria=sf1Dir%3DDESC%26mkId%3D28263%26stkTyp%3DU%26mdId%3D21834%26rd%3D100000%26crSrtFlds%3DstkTypId-feedSegId-mkId-mdId%26zc%3D08540%26rn%3D0%26PMmt%3D1-1-0%26stkTypId%3D28881%26sf2Dir%3DASC%26sf1Nm%3Dprice%26sf2Nm%3Dmiles%26isDealerGrouping%3Dfalse%26rpp%3D50%26feedSegId%3D28705&aff=national&listType=3

#530 also looks to be fusion red, listed by Emil Cirone $99.5k, 921 miles in Fort Lauderdale FL:
http://autos.aol.com/used-detail--2721655392605703492-Tesla-Roadster-2010/
 
Would you much rather have one of those other colors? There's not a lot of them lately, but in the past year we had multiple oranges bouncing around and a yellow that didn't move in the $80k's over multiple auctions before finally selling. Saw reds also. Really depends on how sensitive you are to price & time vs. importance of color and other features to you.


Some 3rd parties post bogus ads using pics from the real ads... need real owner to police it. My main worry from the dealer site was the lack of VIN# last time I looked.


Is the 7-day in writing, from the day you physically receive the car (i.e., to finally drive it)?

Tesla Menlo Park handles certified preowned's I think...maybe the car could be shipped there as a condition of purchase to get checked out (e.g., annual service+).:confused: If anything is wrong outside warranty, the dealer could choose (a) to pay to remedy it or (b) to take the car back under their return policy. If nothing is wrong, you pay for the service. (Could also try Denver or Seattle...).

Or hop on a plane, ready to test drive and handshake?


Did they say why? Seems like a good option if you don't know the party you are dealing with remotely. I'd worry about the refusal here unless they think the escrow.com website is the bogus one.:tongue:

If it ends up just being a 7-day verbal thingy with no interest in any of the above, I'd say walk.


I'd say I have a preference for the red/orange/yellow, but not enough to wait very long for (I'm especially interested in the Orange or Yellow - I wouldn't get them on a new car, but on something I'll be driving for a year or two ... it's different, and Very Orange :love:); the primary impetus for a Roadster now is to bridge from now to Model X production. Of the white / black / gray / blues that I mostly have been seeing, the Twilight Blue is comfortably the one I like the best. But really, for an exceptional deal, the color is ultimately of minor importance. Call it price, time, then color in importance (the other Roadster features I'm pretty indifferent to - any flavor of Roadster is an outrageously good car compared to what I've ever driven before).


I have the VIN# along with the Carfax report from the dealer. The 7 days from receipt is in the Sales Agreement; seems to be standard for him and how he handles remote sales over the Internet. Unfortunately, the dealership A & B Auto Sales isn't listed with BBB or with the Miami, OK Chamber of Commerce. It seems pretty clear it's a small outfit, but I'm unable to find any 3rd party footprint for the dealership that looks like more than auto-generated information.


The rationale I was given for not doing escrow.com is that they aren't a private party - they're a dealership, and they don't work with 3rd parties. And of course, at that price and with somebody going in Monday for a test drive, they don't need to either.


Anyway, there's a pile of info there if anybody else wants to pursue this one. I'll probably try the Miami, OK Chamber of Commerce during business hours on Monday - see if I can get anything further from them. Odds I pursue this particular car any further are very small, though I really do hope we'll be welcoming a new Roadster owner soon who got an amazing deal :smile:.

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This car is not charging to 194 in Standard Mode. When you look at the battery icon, it shows it as nearly full. Normally a Standard Mode charge shows the battery at 80% full.

They probably charged in Range Mode to max miles and then changed the display to Standard Mode. I would be willing to bet that this is the max range + maybe another 15 miles (when switched over to Range Mode) for this car.

Thanks for the extra eyes on that one Bonnie - 210 miles Range Mode doesn't sound all that good. Not having seen that display, I wouldn't have caught that the green bar is too full.

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There looks to be a fusion red sport with 5900 miles listed by owner Ms. Puckett at $83k in St. Peters MO, however no VIN listed :confused:so you'll have to ask along with all the other good questions:
http://www.cars.com/go/search/detai...pp=50&feedSegId=28705&aff=national&listType=3

#530 also looks to be fusion red, listed by Emil Cirone $99.5k, 921 miles in Fort Lauderdale FL:
http://autos.aol.com/used-detail--2721655392605703492-Tesla-Roadster-2010/


Thanks for the pointers Pharma - I've looked into the first one. That was the first Red I've seen yet. Sadly, it's already moved to Texas and been registered. That was the other car I was ready to move on; my first hint I was late was when I couldn't get a response from the poster.

The #530 you posted isn't once I've seen previously; it seems that autos.aol.com is going onto my list of websites to haunt!
 
This car is not charging to 194 in Standard Mode. When you look at the battery icon, it shows it as nearly full. Normally a Standard Mode charge shows the battery at 80% full.

They probably charged in Range Mode to max miles and then changed the display to Standard Mode. I would be willing to bet that this is the max range + maybe another 15 miles (when switched over to Range Mode) for this car.

View attachment 11908
From what I see in the picture, the car is still charging at 30 amps in standard mode. This is probably taken just prior to charge completion. It normal at least on my 1.5 to see an extra high indication just before charging stops. I would expect that charging will end shortly and the reading will settle to mid to high 180s within an hour
 
From what I see in the picture, the car is still charging at 30 amps in standard mode. This is probably taken just prior to charge completion. It normal at least on my 1.5 to see an extra high indication just before charging stops. I would expect that charging will end shortly and the reading will settle to mid to high 180s within an hour

Your VDS shows the battery as 100% full when charging in Standard Mode? ... mine doesn't.
 
I would try to find someone knowledgeable from this list to take a look at an out of town car before I bought. I bought from ebay and had inspectmyride.com, (ebay's reccomendation), check out my car. It cost $169 and I thought is was money well spent. I think the best case scenario would be to get both to check out the car.
Good luck!

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If I had known about it, I would have had the seller download the battery history and send it to me. I think that can be done?
 
Here's what my VDS looks like when I charge in standard mode (notice the battery icon is not completely full):

IMG_4309.JPG


And here's what it looks like when I charge in range mode, hit 'top off', and switch the setting back to standard mode (impressive, huh!):

IMG_4315.JPG


It's possible to make it look like the battery is in better shape than it really is - but the battery icon is a pretty good giveaway as to what is going on.