After just seeing an article about how Tesla tried to put a clause in the contracts for the cybertruck where if you sold it within less than a year of owning it, they would fine you $50,000 in damages and it just made me think… with how many people hate the way Elon and Tesla does business and this being a perfect example of them bullying their customers… I wonder how this idea would go.
First run Cybertruck owner, takes it to a shop and gets it body wrapped with text all over listing every negative thing about Tesla. Initially, we know Elon would try to sue for defamation, but as long as all of the text on it is factual, it would get thrown out of court. I’m thinking things like “Can’t work on your own vehicle.” “Tesla won’t sell you simple repair parts.” “If they find out you got third party work done on your car, they may disable supercharging and other software features.”
Once Elon finds he can’t hit you with legal action, he has two options. Ignore it as you continue to drive it around in public and it continues to catch the eye of news media (We know Elon can’t let something like that go), or he can offer to buy the truck back from you. I wonder how much he’d be willing to pay to get that truck off the road ;)
I don’t get the hate on the clause. It’s not bullying. The truck is in demand, people are going to flip it for crazy money during that initial period.
Ford did this clause with the Ford GT, other brands have done similar things. It’s to protect you from scalpers, but because it’s Tesla they suck?
Exactly, the issue here isn’t specific to Tesla. Also, adding a contract clause prohibiting a buyer to quickly flip a vehicle would for sure disincentivize scalpers and thus benefit those who are in the market to buy and own such vehicles in good faith.
That being said, there is a fundamental problem with trying to enforce a clause in a contract after the contract has been completed, at least in American law. Even if it’s determined that such a contract isn’t completed until all its clauses are fulfilled, despite you being in full possession of the good that you bargained and exchanged for, that runs into an issue regarding property rights.
Let’s say you go through the normal process of purchasing a car and now you own it. Let’s say you even paid for it in cash so you own it outright. Yet, Tesla gets to decide what you are and aren’t allowed to do to or with the property you now own for the next twelve months. What if that gets increased to 2 years while you’re patiently during that time? 5 years?
Of course those are all just hypotheticals but they show the scalpers’ argument for what would result from enforcing a post hoc contract provision like that which OP is referring to.
I hope that this doesn’t come off as an attack or objection to your comment because I agree with it. I suppose I just want to highlight the “other side” to the matter.
TLDR: there are two balancing interests at play here: protecting prospective buyers from scalpers and discouraging scalping, versus adhering to the established values/legal precedent for property rights. In any case it’s a complicated issue and one that’s reflected in the current state of the car market now.
I actually love the idea for anti-scalper activities (I wish we would make that shit illegal in general. If we legally put some kind of limit on it, it would help greatly. I remember when there was a news media who interviewed a woman who thought she was going to buy like 10 new Iphones cash. She paid one of the people who had been waiting at the front of the line, $500+ for the spot. Went in the store when the opened and they would only allow her to buy a single phone. I lmao!
That said to force someone to have to keep a vehicle thar they pre-ordered, never tried before, never seen in person before for at least 1 year before reselling is BS. What if I pre-ordered it thinking it was the perfect fit for what I needed and then once I had it, I realized it didn’t work as well for me as I thought I would. Lots of people lease vehicles and that exact same reason. That’s not an option with Tesla though. So if I decide after I bought an untested, unseen item, that it doesn’t fit my needs, I can’t return it for a full refund AND I can’t resell it? I can only sell it back to Tesla for a likely far discounted price since they no longer deal in used vehicles, or suck it up? Sorry, but that’s some BS.