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Tesla Model 3 buyer pays the price after inadvertently buying a resold wrecked unit

A damaged Tesla Model 3. Picture only for reference -- not the car referred to in this story. (Credit: insalvageseller/Twitter)

Published

5 years ago

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A Tesla enthusiast who purchased a second-hand Model 3 from a Florida car dealership website has paid a steep price after his vehicle turned out to be a previously totaled unit. This was despite the Model 3 being sold on the second-hand market as a clean title vehicle, and the fact that its Carfax report did not raise any red flags. 

Luke Jackson, the Tesla enthusiast, told Channel 2 Action News that the Model 3 had been his dream car, and that he had saved up for the vehicle so that he could buy it in cash. When he saw the car being offered online, it looked like he had found the perfect second-hand Model 3. “The title looked clean. There’s only 9000 miles on it. It was a 2018. So perfect scenario,” Jackson told the news agency. 

It took months before Jackson was made aware of his car’s true history. As it turned out, the Model 3 had been declared a total loss last year after suffering extensive front-end damage. It was later sold on an auto auction website where it was listed with an estimated repair cost of $34,000. Yet despite this, the Model 3 still had its original title, and it was not branded as salvaged when Jackson purchased it. 

Channel 2 Action News noted that Jackson’s second-hand Model 3 is related to an investigation that it published back in September. During that time, the news site featured the story of a second-hand 2015 Toyota 4-Runner that has changed hands at least seven times over the last five years in five separate states. The whole time, the SUV had missing side airbags, a critical safety issue that none of its buyers knew about. 

Jackson’s Model 3 and the safety-compromised 4-Runner had something in common. Both vehicles got their clean titles in Texas, and everything about it was legal. This is because Texas law has a 100% “total loss threshold,” which meant that unless a vehicle’s repair cost is more than what the car is worth, the title would remain original. This particular law effectively conceals the history of cars to a point, especially those that were involved in serious accidents.

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Chris Humphries, one of the 4-Runner’s previous owners, has taken it upon himself to do some more digging on why such unsafe vehicles are being sold. Eventually, he noticed a pattern, which he shared with the news agency. A good number of the damaged vehicles for sale in Texas were listed under the same seller name: Progressive Insurance. The name of the seller was eventually hidden on the auto auction website, but not before Humphries was able to take screenshots of the listings. 

When contacted by Channel 2 Action News, Progressive Insurance noted that it was following the laws and regulations set forth by Texas law. “We follow the laws and regulations set forth by the applicable state and are extremely confident we were in compliance with the Texas state law,” the firm responded. 

The damaged Toyota 4-Runner emerged once more in November, this time in Nashville. Humphries noted that the SUV’s new owner actually has children who are riding in the backseat despite the vehicle not having any side airbags. The Model 3 owner, for his part, ended up losing his warranties when Tesla found out about his car’s history. As of date, the second-hand Model 3’s Supercharger access had been disabled as well. 

“If I were to resell it, the value would be cut in half probably. Because it’s not under car warranty. They’re going to know now that it was salvaged. So I kind of just lost $20,000,” the Tesla enthusiast said. 

Channel 2‘s report on the story could be found here.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Elon Musk reveals Tesla’s next Robotaxi expansion in more ways than one

Tesla Robotaxi is growing in more ways than one. Tesla wants to expand and hopes to reach half the U.S. population by the end of the year.

Published

9 hours ago

on

July 24, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the company’s plans for its next expansion of the Robotaxi in terms of both the geofence in Austin and the platform overall, as it looks to move to new areas outside of Texas.

Tesla launched the Robotaxi platform last month on June 22, and has since expanded both the pool of users and the area that the driverless Model Y vehicles can travel within.

The first expansion of the geofence caught the attention of nearly everyone and became a huge headline as Tesla picked a very interesting shape for the new geofence, resembling male reproductive parts.

The next expansion will likely absolve this shape. Musk revealed last night that the new geofence will be “well in excess of what competitors are doing,” and it could happen “hopefully in a week or two.”

Musk’s full quote regarding the expansion of the geofence and the timing was:

“As some may have noted, we have already expanded our service area in Austin. It’s bigger and longer, and it’s going to get even bigger and longer. We are expecting to greatly increase the service area to well in excess of what competitors are doing, hopefully in a week or two.”

The expansion will not stop there, either. As Tesla has operated the Robotaxi platform in Austin for the past month, it has been working with regulators in other areas, like California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida, to get the driverless ride-hailing system activated in more U.S. states.

Tesla confirmed that they are in talks with each of these states regarding the potential expansion of Robotaxi.

Musk added:

“As we get the approvals and prove out safety, we will be launching the autonomous ride-hailing across most of the country. I think we will probably have autonomous ride-hailing in probably half the population of the US by the end of the year.”

We know that Tesla and Musk have been prone to aggressive and sometimes outlandish timelines regarding self-driving technology specifically. Regulatory approvals could happen by the end of the year in several areas, and working on these large metros is the best way to reach half of the U.S. population.

Tesla said its expansion of the geofence in Austin is conservative and controlled due to its obsession with safety, even admitting at one point during the Earnings Call that they are being “paranoid.” Expanding the geofence is necessary, but Tesla realizes any significant mistake by Robotaxi could take it back to square one.

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Tesla warns customers of incentive strategy on EVs as tax credit nears end

If you’re thinking of buying a Tesla, the time to order is now, the company claimed.

Published

11 hours ago

on

July 24, 2025

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla has warned customers about its incentive strategy for qualifying electric vehicles, as the days of both the $7,500 EV tax credit for new EVs and the $4,000 credit for used EVs are coming to a close.

Both tax credits, which impact some of the vehicles in the Tesla lineup, are set to be eliminated at the end of Q3. The phase out of these consumer credits was always in the plans of the Trump Administration, but now we’re in the final quarter of their existence.

As a result, EV companies are scrambling to see how they can reduce costs or make their vehicles more affordable for customers. The $7,500 will price many consumers out of many EVs on the market, and Tesla is not immune to that.

However, Tesla has made a significant push into Q3 deliveries, rolling out numerous incentives to customers, including 0% APR on select purchases, lease deals, free upgrades on certain inventory units, and more.

The extensive list of incentives on Tesla vehicles in the quarter will not get any longer, either. During last night’s Tesla Earnings Call for the second quarter of 2025, company executives stated that their intention for these incentives was to encourage customers to place orders early in the quarter.

Tesla will only be able to apply the $7,500 credit with deliveries that occur before the end of September. Even if an order is placed before then, delivery must be completed by September 31 to receive the tax credit.

CFO Vaibhav Taneja confirmed that the incentives for the quarter are already out and encouraged customers to place an order sooner rather than later:

“Given the abrupt change, we have a limited supply of vehicles in the US this quarter. As we are already within lead times to order parts for cars, we have rolled out all our planned incentives already and will start pairing them back as we start to sell. If you are in the US and looking to buy a car, let’s roll now as we may not be able to guarantee delivery for orders placed in the later part of August and beyond.”

The loss of the incentives will impact every EV maker in the United States. Tesla has a plan moving forward, and it said last night that its affordable models would be rolled out in Q4, as introducing these cars any earlier could have detrimental effects on Model 3 and Model Y sales.

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Tesla Model Y awarded Top Safety Pick+ from IIHS

The new Model Y continues to impress with this new award.

Published

12 hours ago

on

July 24, 2025

By

(Credit: Tesla)

The 2025 Tesla Model Y was one of two midsize luxury SUVs to receive the Top Safety Pick+ award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

To qualify for the IIHS’s Top Safety Pick+ or even the lower-tier Top Safety Pick label, vehicles need good ratings in the small overlap front and side crash tests, an acceptable or good rating in the pedestrian front crash prevention evaluation, and acceptable or good ratings for headlights across all trim levels.

The difference between the two labels is that an “Acceptable” rating in the moderate overlap front test will get a car the Top Safety Pick rating, but a “Good” rating in this category will win the elusive Top Safety Pick+ category.

The 2025 Model Y, codenamed “Juniper” internally by Tesla, was released in the United States earlier this year and received the top rating across each of the categories, automatically qualifying it for the Top Safety Pick+ label:

Other vehicles in Tesla’s lineup have extraordinary marks in crash testing according to other agencies, like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), but there are reasons those cars are not on the IIHS lists.

In 2024, we reported that the IIHS had evaluated some Tesla vehicles for the necessary tests to achieve these marks. Joe Young of the agency told us that the Model 3, for example, was not featured on either the Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ lists because the vehicle had several missing tests.

Here’s why the Tesla Model 3 wasn’t an IIHS Top Safety Pick+, and why it could be soon

This is not to say those other Tesla vehicles would not perform well. The Cybertruck performed better than any pickup has ever in NHTSA crash testing assessments.

The Model Y is Tesla’s most popular vehicle and was the best-selling car in the world over the past two years. Tesla’s intense focus on safety continues to show that this priority goes into every decision the company makes regarding design and engineering. This focus has continued to pay dividends as some real-world crashes save the lives of those inside the cars.

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