Looking at model 3 which I thought was a bargain. Now I'm just... Confused. Need help solving the mystery!

[Carl Walster]

I thought I had found a bargain, but the more I research it, the more confused I am.

So I found an M3 for sale, and the pictures are wrong, description is wrong and the reg plates hidden on AT. I’ve found the reg plates for it and all automated car services which involve putting in the reg plate (WBAC, blackcircles) everything, they say it’s a LONG RANGE AWD. Even AT lists the range as 389 miles, but the dealer has manually written standard range plus.

Thinking I’m potentially getting a LR for the price of a SR, I bite the bullet and pay for carvertical to make double sure before I commit to a reservation payment.

Again, car vertical says AWD Long Range, no other issues with it. But now I have the VIN, I found this tool : Tesla VIN decoder.

Step by step it all tallies up, then I get to digit 8. Which is ‘A’, which according to that tool means it’s single motor.

How can it be AWD and have one motor? Something is very wrong here, right? Why does every website, including carvertical think it’s an AWD long range?

Obviously I can't ask the dealer or they may realise it's under valued. And the dealer it's at is 130 miles away, so don't want to travel all that way to find out it's a single motor

For reference I am in the UK

Help!

 

[jjrandorin]

Vin decoders are not infallible for Teslas.

I have zero idea what "the pictures are wrong" means, but one thing I usually tell people to do is, especially for someone who creates a brand new account on a website they have never posted to before to start asking questions about a specific used car is... "trust your gut".

Nothing about that situation sounds right, so you should just pass on it. For all you know, the car has been repaired and used to be a LR AWD but now only has one motor and the seller is actually being forthright.

There are WAAAAY too many used teslas to buy one with any sort of issue. find another one.

 

[Carl Walster]

The images are wrong, they have used a 2020 model interior for a 2021 car, I know this because they have 2 model 3's for sale, one is a 2020 and one is 2021, and they have used the same interior pics.

But I was sent pictures of the car before the dealer bought it (auction site) and the interior is correct for the 2021 model year (the wood trim extends onto the doors).

While I appreciate what you're saying, this is potentially £1000 cheaper and has 10,000 miles less miles than the average 2021 used model 3, so if it turns out it is actually a long range AWD, then i've got myself a good deal.

But yeah, you're probably right - probably not worth the risk.