this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023

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RealTesla

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Tesla repossessed my car due to an extreme oversight on their end (news.ycombinator.com)

submitted 1 year ago by dragontamer to c/realtesla

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

This is a Hacker News -> Reddit/r/RealTesla post.

Good to see the "original" RealTesla getting such large attention. Over on the Reddit, there's over 3000+ upvotes, while most of the discussion on Hacker News is supportive of the story.

While Hacker News has [flagged] the story (thereby removing it from the frontpage), it shows that even in the high-tech industry / San Francisco venture capitalism tech-discussion site, Elon Musk's reputation has really nosedived this year.

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[–] JustZ 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Owner ignored his emails, wasn't set up to receive calls while out of the country for an extended period, and is mistaken about why the title wasn't transfered. Half the outrage is owner's own fault.

[–] dragontamer 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Tesla was in the wrong to send the emails, because Tesla employees were in possession of the cashier's check.
Tesla was in the wrong to send the phone calls, because Tesla employees were in possession of the cashier's check.
Tesla was in the wrong to send the Tow Truck, because Tesla employees were in possession of the cashier's check.

After all of these errors on Tesla's side:

The next day, we received another email stating that the car is now back under our name and it can be picked up from the tow yard.

No apology. No restitution.

Absolutely crap service. No dropoff, no towing the vehicle back to the rightful owners, no nothing.

[+] JustZ -10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah Tesla was more at fault, no doubt. But it's not unheard of for a business to lose track of a check. Happens all the time.

The emails and calls would have ripped the owner to a mistake.

[–] dragontamer 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

But it’s not unheard of for a business to lose track of a check

Businesses should not be losing track of $50,000 Cashier's checks.

That's, for all practical purposes, the same error as losing a $50,000 briefcase full of cash. You don't mess with Cashier checks unless you're a competent business.

[–] JustZ 3 points 1 year ago

Should not happen either way, I agree.

I would say $50k is $50k no matter its form, it deserves due care and attention just based on the dollar amount. A cashier's check is an order to pay the seller by name, signed by the issuer's bank. It's way more secure than a briefcase full of cash and thus requires less of a duty of care than something as fungible and transferable as cash, just based on the foreseeability and likelyhood of harm.

The owner took possession without the paper title. I'm not sure how the transaction was set up, if there was a note issued or an escrow. I would think either way when the owner gets back from vacation and finds the title is not there waiting in the mailbox, that's notice the transaction hasn't closed, in addition to the emails and phone calls. From the seller's perspective, of course it repo'd the car.

I wonder if Tesla's contract specifies the method of notice.

[–] piecat 3 points 1 year ago

A million things could have happened to the check: burned in a fire, accidentally thrown away, stolen by an employee.

As long as it wasn't a fraudulent check, the law considers it payment.

On a similar note, a landlord agency demanded second payment after an employee stole the rent money. The courts laughed them out.

[–] drdabbles 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They weren't more at fault, they were ENTIRELY at fault.

[–] JustZ -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have to draw legal lines as to the extent of harm traceable to each step in the events, and the extent of such harm which could have been avoided by each party's own acts or omissions.

"But for" cause by itself is useless, cuts the wrong way as much as it does the right: but for the owner's decision to buy a Tesla, none of this would have happened. You can go back and back with such naked reasoning.

[–] drdabbles 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This argument is nonsensical. The owner paid Tesla with a cashiers check, which is the checking equivalent of paying them in cash. He no longer possessed the cash, nor was there any way for him to recover the cash as soon as his bank generated that check. Tesla's negligence with the payment caused literally the entire problem here.

There is zero chance that literally any court on the planet would even spend time hearing any such case. Not responding to emails that were obviously incorrect isn't his problem, it's Tesla's problem. Not giving them a phone number isn't his problem, because HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG.

I have no idea why you're bending over backwards to allot any blame to the person that paid for a car in a manner Tesla requests. Tesla has a long, LONG history of fucking up payments for vehicles, insurance, and literally anything else you pay them for. There's thousands of people that have complained about this shit, and Tesla has done nothing to fix the problem. Obviously. The buyer deserves to have their expenses reimbursed if they have any. You can simp for a corporation all you want, but nobody here's going to give you any leeway. Tesla was in the wrong, they caused the entire issue. Anybody arguing anything else is either intentionally lying for Tesla, or a fool.

[–] JustZ -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nah I don't give a shit about Tesla.

There is a duty to mitigate damages though, and Tesla would be heard on the issue in court. Shows what you know to say otherwise.

[–] drdabbles 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Such a case would never make it to court. lmao

[–] JustZ -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Shows what you know.

[–] drdabbles 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Elon isn't going to notice you here.

[–] JustZ 0 points 1 year ago

No shit. I deleted my Twitter account and stopped advertising on the platform the day they announced his purchase was going to go through. I wouldn't want that creepy apartheid loving bitch to notice me anywhere.