Tesla Lemon Cars Are Turning Into Loaners In The U.S. And Norway

If the company cannot resell them, it is putting them to use at Tesla Service Centers.

Tesla Lemon Cars Are Turning Into Loaners In The US And Norway

Gustavo Henrique Ruffo

By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo

Dec 23, 2020 at 10:28am ET

Add InsideEVs as a preferred source in Google

Comment

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right? What if it was not life but you who gave them away? What if they are returned to you? Tesla was accused by lawyers and consumer protection entities of trying to resell their lemons, something classified as lemon laundering. To avoid that, the company is apparently putting its lemons to work at in the US and also in Norway.

If you are not familiar with the lemon stories in that European country, we have told our readers about them in an article from July 21, 2020. It was about what Ola Spakmo, Jens Petter Lund Sommerlade, and Marius Andrè Langø had to through with their Teslas. Summing up, Spakmo's Model S had so many defects it was sold back to Tesla. He later discovered it was sold to Sommerlade. Langø saw his problematic Model S for sale at Tesla's Norwegian website after the company bought it back.

Check Evidence That Tesla Also Resells Defective Buyback Cars Abroad

The lemon cars got back to our attention when Sergio Rodriguez sent us an intriguing discovery he made after leaving his Model X at the Jacksonville Tesla Service Center last December 17. If you do not remember Rodriguez, he is the owner of the Model X that had water pouring out of its A-pillar after driving through puddles.

Rodriguez managed to sell that Model X back to Tesla not only due to the water leak but also to suspension issues. He ended up buying a 2020 Performance Plus Model X in March. Unfortunately, it also had issues, such as the fogging in its taillights that you can see in the video below.

Sergio took the car for inspection at the Service Center and received information that no loaner was available. After waiting four hours for a rental car, a loaner arrived. He then could leave the Service Center, not before noticing his loaner was a lemon. For the record, he was later told the taillights were “within specs.”

By coincidence, Langø got in touch with us two days after Rodriguez to share a new article about Spakmo and Sommerlade at Motor.no. It pretty much tells the same story we told back in July apart from two things: Tesla’s official response about the issue and the confirmation that the car currently belongs to the company.

Lemon Laundering? Tesla Also Resells Defective Buyback Cars Abroad

According to Motor.no, Even Sandvold Roland – Tesla’s senior communications manager in Norway – said there was “a routine failure in the process associated with this car.” Still, he refused to say what went wrong. He also stated that the company considered the case to be “cleared up” and that it did not “want to go into any greater level of detail in the media.” Although this is disappointing, at least Tesla Norway and Tesla China still have working press departments, something the US cannot say.

More Lemon Electric Car News:

Jaguar Reportedly Buying Back Defective I-Paces With Non-Disclosure Clauses

Roland ended his clarifications by adding that the car is now registered to Tesla Norway and "in daily operation." Considering it had braking issues, it would better have had these problems sorted out if it works as a loaner – which is very likely. Apparently, Tesla has no plans to put it for sale again.

What do you think?

View

Comments

Although the company's customers still drive these vehicles, it is a relief that they were not offered to buy them. If this lemonade is too sour, they can just spit it out without losing a penny on the process – at least if these cars are properly insured. Make sure to check that before you leave your Service Center with a loaner.

Source: Motor.no and Sergio Rodriguez

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Insideevs.com?

Take our 3 minute survey.

- The InsideEVs team

Share this Story

GO TO COMMENTS

(

)

Got a tip for us? Email: tips@insideevs.com

View all comments ( )

Trending

Kia EV3 Lease Deals Are Here, And It’s Cheaper Than The Chevy Bolt And Nissan Leaf

I Let Android Auto Plan My EV Roadtrip. Here’s How It Worked

This Chevy Bolt Has 470,000 Miles. Here’s How Much A New Battery Was

Here's What It's Like To Take Delivery Of A Rivian R2