Early Cybertruck owners likely wouldn’t be able to resell their cars until a year after delivery, according to an update to Tesla’s Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement.
With the launch of the Tesla Cybertruck at the end of the month, we’re slowly starting to get more and more informed about it. We’ve recently noticed it going through off-road, wrapped in matte black, and we’ve noticed leaks of all dimensions. , so we still know how big it is.
And as the launch approaches, an auction was held last month at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, where a “first Cybertruck VIN” was auctioned off for a whopping $400,000.
You might be thinking: I have a Cybertruck pre-order, can I get a low VIN and do the same?
Well, if Tesla has anything to say about it.
It turns out that Tesla will prevent you from reselling a Cybertruck for the first year, and if a situation arises where you want to resell the car, Tesla requires that you give them an initial right of refusal to sell before presenting it. to the public. . . And if you sell your car and don’t tell Tesla, the company threatens to sue you for $50,000 (or more) and may not sell you long-term vehicles.
The clause was added to Tesla’s Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement, which you can read directly on its website. In the “No Resellers” segment, which prevents dealers from purchasing Teslas en masse for resale, a segment titled “Cybertruck Only” was added. which says the following:
For Cybertruck Only: You realize and acknowledge that Cybertruck will be released first in limited quantities. You agree not to sell or attempt to sell the vehicle for the first year after the date of delivery of your vehicle. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if you must sell the vehicle within the first year of its delivery date for an unforeseen reason and Tesla agrees that your reason warrants an exception to its non-resale policy, you agree to notify Tesla by writing and give you an explanation of why the time era. purchase the vehicle from you at its sole discretion and at the purchase value shown on your final value sheet less $0. 25/mile driven, explanation of wear and tear, and the vehicle repair charge based on cosmetic and mechanical criteria for used Tesla cars. If Tesla refuses to acquire your Vehicle, you may resell your Vehicle to a third party only after receiving written consent from Tesla. You agree that if you violate this provision, or if Tesla has reasonable grounds to believe that you are about to violate this provision, Tesla may seek an injunction to prevent you from changing the name of the vehicle or seek financial compensation from you. for the amount of 50,000 dollars. or the fee earned as service for the sale or move, whichever is greater. Tesla may also refuse to sell you long-lasting cars.
Keep in mind that there are exceptions: If you have smart reasons to resell your vehicle, you can notify Tesla, and if Tesla gives you approval, you can resell the car to the company. But it depends on Tesla’s proposed purchase value and whether they will come to an agreement. by his reasoning in the first place.
Tesla is no stranger to popular cars that sell well above sticker value when they launch. Several of Tesla’s earlier cars were put on the road in limited numbers, and early owners were able to resell them for much more than they had paid. .
Some of those early models ended up being purchased through other automakers, most likely for opposing engineering purposes. And we saw this with the Cybertruck, which has many facets that move away from the classic structure of the car (very thick stainless metal body, 48-volt electricity). architecture, etc. ), which will be of interest to other car manufacturers.
And that creates a more chaotic exit, with buyers scrambling to get a first car and sell it for a profit, and low-VIN cars that historically have more clutter ending up in the hands of other people who have paid too much and don’t. Not have a pre-existing relationship with the company.
Tesla tried this with the launch of the Model 3, with the first few months the cars were for the workers rather than the public, and the first public cars were more commonly for other people who already owned a Tesla, they were close to the factory. and had camped overnight to reserve one.
So there are reasons why corporations might need to put some limits on early cars.
And while at first glance it might seem legally unenforceable, those types of clauses are relatively common in the world of conventional cars. For example, wrestler John Cena was one of the first to acquire a Ford GT in 2017 but sold the car in a matter of months in violation of a clause in Ford’s acquisition agreement that prohibited resale for two years. Ford sued him and the matter was eventually settled with an apology from Cena and a donation of the proceeds to charity.
Ferrari is also known for this kind of behavior: to acquire limited-edition Ferrari cars, you’ll have to be on a list of known customers, and the company will refuse to sell cars to certain people for reasons. Ferrari also has a preemption contract and may even prevent you from racing their cars.
We’ve noticed this in EVs, and even EVs, as the Hummer EV originally had a 12-month no-resale clause, which was later reduced to 6 months.
But those cars are much more expensive and much more limited than the Cybertruck. Clauses like this are much rarer in cars that are meant to appeal to the general public or sell in gigantic numbers, which is what Tesla recently said in the case of the Cybertruck.
Of particular note is Tesla’s claim that the Cybertrucks “will first launch in limited numbers. “While this seems to be true at first glance for just about any vehicle, in Tesla’s third-quarter update, the company said it has a production lately. capacity of 125,000 cars per year.
Although it would probably take a bit of time to get to 125,000 from the start, it looks like Tesla promises to deliver cars at six-figure prices next year. Therefore, first-time buyers may not be able to resell their cars up to six-figure priced cars available.
However common or moderate such clauses may be, it should be noted that they are also unpopular. No one likes scalpers, but no one likes to be told what they can’t do with their car.
Anyone who has walked into a Ferrari dealership can tell you that it’s not a smart company to buy from. Unless they already know who you are, they act like you shouldn’t be there, like they don’t say whether you need to buy your car or not. They don’t sell cars to you, but they do sell them to them.
I suppose it depends on the intent of this article, but I’m not immediately opposed to it. Resellers are a huge problem, so any attempt to short-circuit those other people deserves serious consideration.
It’s elitist, haughty, and frankly, I think it makes a lot of other people less interested in their cars, not more. And in the early days of the Roadster, one of Tesla’s sales tactics was to tell consumers to stop by the nearby Ferrari Dealership and see if they’d get back to you, and then come back here if they didn’t.
Therefore, it is disappointing to see a similar clause in Tesla’s acquisition agreement, especially without any explanation as to why or how long this clause lasts. I hope not for long.
One thing we don’t know is how long the clause will last. Will this apply only to the first few months or two of deliveries, to everyone in 2023 or to everyone in the first year?If Tesla plans to market trucks with five or six figure value, it’s a bit expensive to have a year’s worth of resale for so many owners. If it’s just the first employee/VIP purchases, it will disappear as the floodgates open for wide delivery in a giant production. numbers, then it’s not so bad.
We’d ask Tesla about this, but they don’t have a PR department, so you’ll have to give your own explanation.
Jameson has been driving cars since 2009 and has been writing about them and about blank energy for electrek. co since 2016.
You can contact him at jamie@electrek. co