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FINDING A PREVIOUS OWNER???

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R

rolling18

Member
Jul 11, 2017
92
40
Portland, OR
#1
Greetinz all,
does anyone know how I could find/ contact the previous owner of my car?

I got mine a couple weeks ago from EV.CPO (w/ warranty) it was shipped from AZ.
I would like to ask the former owner some questions (with their consent of course!)

Natrurally, Tesla wont tell me anything due to privacy laws. and carfax can only get me as close as the city/ state where was registered and serviced.

is there any other way to fid out this info?? maybe they were even on here!. hmmmmmm....
thankx!!
M
 
  • Funny
  • Like
Reactions: gaswalla, cookie99 and EV-CPO
#6
rolling18 said:
Greetinz all,
does anyone know how I could find/ contact the previous owner of my car?

I got mine a couple weeks ago from EV.CPO (w/ warranty) it was shipped from AZ.
I would like to ask the former owner some questions (with their consent of course!)

Natrurally, Tesla wont tell me anything due to privacy laws. and carfax can only get me as close as the city/ state where was registered and serviced.

M
Click to expand...

how do you ask for their consent?

"hey i had to search you on google and i found your phone number so i thought i'd give you a call, is it ok that i tracked you down and found out where you live? hows martha and the 2 kids doing by the way"
 
  • Funny
Reactions: Cheburashka
#12
haha "creepy"??
it's not like i'm sitting in the bushes out side their house in a black trench coat on a foggy rainy night with night vision goggles or giving them side eye as I follow them.. (or am I? ) hmmmm.....

"no reason" to talk to previous owners? really, "none"?
not the fact Tesla wouldn't tell me if its been in a crash that didn't happen to be in the car-fax because it was repaired outside of insurance claim?
or because Tesla or salesman would lie or mislead me in order to make a sale in hard times? or because the tires were worn so far down from hard driving and launches that they had to put brand new ones on? or to find out how the car was cared for maintenance or other wise that no one else would know? or if they had any problems or ongoing things that may have led to the trade in? ... ect ect..
no, no reason at all to contact prior owners... Uhhh....

y'all are way to paranoid. LOL! and if I was any of that, do you think I would post any of it on an internet forum for Tesla??? HAHAH
Yes I use a VPN.... I'm not stupid.

If it were me, I would gladly welcome any questions for any of my over 100 past cars/ trucks/ motorcycles... I am a car enthusiast and enjoy talking autos whenever I get the chance! I am on many many specific auto forums... yea I know i'm weird that way.

soooo if you cant think of anything HELPFULL thanks for the humor:)
 
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Reactions: jsmay311 and HankLloydRight
#13
It's not creepy, and I can totally understand why you might want to speak with the previous owner. When I bought my car used from Tesla, it was listed as "accident free," but I found evidence of repairs.....which was a major red flag, and I would have loved to be able to have a 3 minute conversation to understand what was fixed on it.

I'd also want to know the maintenance history....usually readily available even from folks like Chevy, but Tesla won't share previous maintenance details at all. Previous owner could clear that up pretty quickly.

And as someone who meticulously cares for my cars, I might want to know that the guy who bought my trade-in is taking good care of it! Hell, I heard from the new owner of my old BMW M5 a few months back (he just bought it from someone else and had some older maintenance questions), and I was thrilled to know it was still out there doing hood rat M5 stuff.

This is a completely rational thought process. And while I can completely understand Tesla's hesitation to give the information out from their own liability standpoint, i don't fault OP for asking.
 
#14
rolling18 said:
haha "creepy"??
it's not like i'm sitting in the bushes out side their house in a black trench coat on a foggy rainy night with night vision goggles or giving them side eye as I follow them.. (or am I? ) hmmmm.....

"no reason" to talk to previous owners? really, "none"?
not the fact Tesla wouldn't tell me if its been in a crash that didn't happen to be in the car-fax because it was repaired outside of insurance claim?
or because Tesla or salesman would lie or mislead me in order to make a sale in hard times? or because the tires were worn so far down from hard driving and launches that they had to put brand new ones on? or to find out how the car was cared for maintenance or other wise that no one else would know? or if they had any problems or ongoing things that may have led to the trade in? ... ect ect..
no, no reason at all to contact prior owners... Uhhh....

y'all are way to paranoid. LOL! and if I was any of that, do you think I would post any of it on an internet forum for Tesla??? HAHAH
Yes I use a VPN.... I'm not stupid.

If it were me, I would gladly welcome any questions for any of my over 100 past cars/ trucks/ motorcycles... I am a car enthusiast and enjoy talking autos whenever I get the chance! I am on many many specific auto forums... yea I know i'm weird that way.

soooo if you cant think of anything HELPFULL thanks for the humor:)
Click to expand...

I get this. When I traded in my Volt for my Tesla, I went out of my way to track its sale then contacted the dealership where it was sold from to provide more information about the car to be passed on to the new owner (e.g. extended warranty in effect, etc...).

Unless the previous owner is on this forum (or another you frequent), I'd say the odds of getting their info would be pretty slim.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HankLloydRight
#15
rolling18 said:
Greetinz all,
does anyone know how I could find/ contact the previous owner of my car?

I got mine a couple weeks ago from EV.CPO (w/ warranty) it was shipped from AZ.
I would like to ask the former owner some questions (with their consent of course!)

Natrurally, Tesla wont tell me anything due to privacy laws. and carfax can only get me as close as the city/ state where was registered and serviced.

is there any other way to fid out this info?? maybe they were even on here!. hmmmmmm....
thankx!!
M
Click to expand...

Check the glove box.

When I bought my used S from Tesla, those knuckleheads left the registration receipt of the previous owner. I have all of their info :D
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: PhilDavid
#17
gaswalla said:
isn't the old data (home address) stored on the emmc and not actually deleted? Some folks on this forum could tear apart your car, hack the memory, and get you the answers... careful what you ask for!
Click to expand...

True story: Many years ago I bought a used MB SLK350 at auction. Fun little hard-top convertible. Some people have called it a "chick car". But when I got the car, I looked at the GPS history (not cleared out), and 95% of the locations were high-end/upscale hotels, resorts, restaurants, and conference centers in the same metro area (I forget which one, I think it was in the south like maybe Atlanta?). Sometimes on the same day. But no home addresses or shops or long trips as far as I could tell. Any guesses on who the previous owner was? (I don't actually know, but I could make a few guesses).
 
  • Like
Reactions: rolling18
#19
dannycamps said:
I get this. When I traded in my Volt for my Tesla, I went out of my way to track its sale then contacted the dealership where it was sold from to provide more information about the car to be passed on to the new owner (e.g. extended warranty in effect, etc...).

Unless the previous owner is on this forum (or another you frequent), I'd say the odds of getting their info would be pretty slim.
Click to expand...
yes i was hoping maybe they are on this forum as well ..
 
#20
HankLloydRight said:
True story: Many years ago I bought a used MB SLK350 at auction. Fun little hard-top convertible. Some people have called it a "chick car". But when I got the car, I looked at the GPS history (not cleared out), and 95% of the locations were high-end/upscale hotels, resorts, restaurants, and conference centers in the same metro area (I forget which one, I think it was in the south like maybe Atlanta?). Sometimes on the same day. But no home addresses or shops or long trips as far as I could tell. Any guesses on who the previous owner was? (I don't actually know, but I could make a few guesses).
Click to expand...

mine was CPO so all personal info was wiped.
 
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