Tesla - side stepping Consumer Rights

Cheam

I recently had some very scary experiences (electrical/motor failures, brake failure) and issues with my 10m old Model Y Tesla.  I wrote to Tesla expressing my concerns and that I wanted to return the car and they should refund me my money given it was not fit for purpose.

I got a snotty response back telling me to get lost as I had no Consumer Rights as the car had been purchased in a company name.

" Having checked your account, we must advise your vehicle appears to have been purchased and paid for by the business entity ‘xxxx’ meaning your purchase is not covered by the Consumer Rights Act 2015. As such, Tesla would only offer repair as a viable remedy under the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994 and would be unable to facilitate your request to return.......We can only apologise if this is not the answer you sought from your email below. Please be advised our Customer Service team work alongside our Senior Management teams, therefore, any response from our team is provided as a response from the business respectively. As such, we would not be able to provide any further routes for escalation."

Obviously buying such cars through businesses has been trumpeted widely as being a fantastically tax efficient way in which to buy an EV.  But clearly what fools like me failed to realise was that it comes at the cost of losing your (individual) consumer rights.  For a producer of sub-standard products such as Tesla this is clearly fantastic news.  For a consumer like me it is really bad news.

Anyone looking to buy an EV through a company should bear this in mind.  

Anyone thinking of buying a Tesla should think again because if it goes wrong, it really goes wrong. 

RefluentBeans

Hi,

I appreciate you not being happy that business purchases aren’t covered by CRA. This is not new. Business transactions often have multiple benefits to them (cost being just one), and should have a way of sharing issues with the product. 

I believe the Supply of Goods (implicit terms) will still have coverage for your sale, but I’m not familiar as others on the terms of that bill. 

In all honesty, I think even if the car was covered by CRA, Tesla would make it hard to claim. After 6 months, unless the fault is obviously a manufacturing defect, Tesla can ask you to prove the fault was present when sold to you/the item should’ve lasted longer/thst it wasn’t user error. Normally that’s done through a report, and even so, Tesla would have a chance to repair or replace the product first. After 30 days there is not automatic right to refund (unless the product has been repaired/replaced once before for the fault)

born_again

Have they not repaired under warranty?

End of the day, as not covered under CRA. Could you look to sell?

Keep_pedalling

So what is happening about a repair? You have a 4 year /  50,000 mile warrantee to fall back on. Cars go wrong and need to be fixed from time to time and it happens to all makes. 

Cheam

Thank you all for what are all good points.  

They have now fixed the car (for the second time in 4 weeks) so lets see how long it lasts this time.

Of course any car can breakdown or have issues.  But it is the material nature (and frequency) of the problems I have that leads me to question Tesla quality control.

I am now contemplating selling the car but the substantial value drop is less than attractive.

Grumpy_chap

Cheam said:

I recently had some very scary experiences (electrical/motor failures, brake failure) and issues with my 10m old Model Y Tesla.  I wrote to Tesla expressing my concerns and that I wanted to return the car and they should refund me my money given it was not fit for purpose.

I got a snotty response back telling me to get lost as I had no Consumer Rights as the car had been purchased in a company name.

" Having checked your account, we must advise your vehicle appears to have been purchased and paid for by the business entity ‘xxxx’ meaning your purchase is not covered by the Consumer Rights Act 2015. As such, Tesla would only offer repair as a viable remedy under the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994 and would be unable to facilitate your request to return.......We can only apologise if this is not the answer you sought from your email below. Please be advised our Customer Service team work alongside our Senior Management teams, therefore, any response from our team is provided as a response from the business respectively. As such, we would not be able to provide any further routes for escalation."

Obviously buying such cars through businesses has been trumpeted widely as being a fantastically tax efficient way in which to buy an EV.  But clearly what fools like me failed to realise was that it comes at the cost of losing your (individual) consumer rights.  For a producer of sub-standard products such as Tesla this is clearly fantastic news.  For a consumer like me it is really bad news.

Anyone looking to buy an EV through a company should bear this in mind.  

Anyone thinking of buying a Tesla should think again because if it goes wrong, it really goes wrong. 

TESLA are absolutely correct, if the car was purchase by a business then it is a business-to-business contract and not a business-to-consumer contract where consumer rights apply.

You have gained through purchasing and 100% first year right down, thus avoiding taxation on the purchase cost.
You are paying a minimal BIK in return.