A Cybertruck owner who recently sold his truck on the secondary market was surprised to learn Tesla had permanently banned him from purchasing any of the company’s products in the future. If you sell your Cybertruck, you will get blacklisted by Tesla.
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More than a million people are waiting in line to buy a Cybertruck. However, Tesla only recently hit a Cybertruck production run rate of 75,000 trucks annually. With this mismatch between production and interest, the Cybertruck is sold out for years to come.
This allows scalpers to buy a Cybertruck and sell the truck for a huge profit without adding value. We’ve seen Cybertrucks go for as high as $350,000 a piece, and we have also seen videos showing a dealer pressuring an NFL player to purchase a Cybertruck for more than double the vehicle’s price.
To stop these bad actors, Tesla requires all new Cybertruck owners to sign a purchase agreement that bars them from reselling their trucks within a year of purchase.
If new Cybertruck owners fail to comply, Tesla says it can sue the new owners to pay more than $50,000. In addition, people who sell their Cybertrucks less than a year after purchase will be permanently banned from purchasing any other Teslas in the future.
As of now, we haven’t seen Tesla going after anyone financially; however, a Cybertruck owner who sold his truck on the secondary market has found out that Tesla is at least partially enforcing the Cybertruck purchase agreement.
Brandon Kennedy, who goes by the online handle “Tesla Cybertruck,” recently sold his Cybertruck and revealed online that he had faced repercussions for his action. Explaining his situation, Brandon wrote…
“Well, I guess Tesla decided to ban me from buying new vehicles from them for selling my truck, lol. If they didn’t mislead, misrepresent, and hold me out for 4.5 years, maybe I wouldn’t have sold. Don’t double the price, lower the range, make it 5% smaller, do a few other miscellaneous things, and expect me to keep it. Didn’t they mention that they don’t like manufacturers showing off a cool prototype and then changing it up? Damn, that sure is what happened here. It’s okay, I never buy new, but it's still pretty funny to expect people to hold what isn’t what they signed up for.”
Despite Tesla’s warnings, many people have been flipping their Cybertrucks on the open market. However, it appears that Tesla has learned about Brandon’s actions and decided to ban him from purchasing any other vehicle from the company.
Brandon’s defense for his actions is that Tesla did not keep some of the biggest promises regarding the Cybertruck. To be fair to Brandon, when first unveiling the Cybertruck in 2019, Tesla set an ambitious target for the all-electric truck.
The Cybertruck was supposed to have a 500-mile range, a starting price of $39,900, bulletproof windows, and a 14,000-lb towing capacity; however, we got a truck with a 340-mile range, a $63,000 starting price, “shatter-resistant glass,” and an 11,000-lb towing capacity.
To add insult to injury, the $63,000 standard range Cybertruck version is not expected to come until 2025. Currently, Tesla is only selling “Foundation Series” versions of the Cybertruck, which have a starting price above $100,000.
Brandon is correct in this aspect; the Cybertruck did not meet some of the biggest spec targets initially unveiled in 2019. Having said that, there are two things to keep in mind here.
First, although the Cybertruck under-delivered in some key aspects, the final version of the truck has also over-delivered in unexpected ways.
Without promising much, Tesla gave the Cybertruck a revolutionary steer-by-wire system, a 48-volt low-voltage architecture, an 800-volt high-voltage architecture, a 350KW peak charging speed, a 2.6-second 0 to 60 miles per hour time, a structural battery pack, rear-wheel steering, and many more improvements over the prototype shown off back in 2019.
This means that Tesla underdelivered some key Cybertruck aspects; however, the Cybertruck also became a technological marvel in unexpected ways.
The second thing to remember when considering Brandon’s argument is that even if Tesla did not deliver on all the Cybertruck promises, he still had the chance to get a full refund for his $100 reservation fee and not buy the Cybertruck.
When Brandon signed the Cybertruck purchase argument, he knew all the final specs and prices for the vehicle, which means he entered the contract knowingly. Now, he is trying to claim that Tesla duped him.
What likely happened here is that Brandon was lured by the huge financial gains to sell his Cybertruck in breach of the contract he signed with Tesla.
To be fair to Brandon, he is not the only Cybertruck owner engaging in such behavior; however, it appears that in his instance, Tesla has found out about his actions, and now he has to leave with the repercussions.
Another warning for people purchasing the Cybertruck solely to flip their truck in the secondary market: Tesla is quickly ramping up Cybertruck production, and prices of the all-electric truck in the secondary market are starting to fall precipitately.
Overall, we hope people will refrain from engaging in such behavior. If they think the Cybertruck did not deliver on all of the promises, that’s understandable; however, if they feel that way, they should take their $100 refund and leave the line for people who are actually excited to own the Cybertruck.
There are still countless Cybertrucks illegally listed for sale online, and we will keep you posted as Tesla starts to crack down on these sellers. Until then, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.
So, what do you think? Are you surprised to learn Tesla banned a Cybertruck owner from ever purchasing the company’s vehicles for selling his Cybertruck? Also, do you think the EV maker has the right to dictate what Cybertruck owners can do with their truck after purchasing it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below by clicking the red “Add new comment” button.
Image: Screenshot from Top Gear YouTube channel
For more information, check out: A Lifted-Up Diesel Chevy Silverado Truck Tried to Coal-Roll My Cybertruck, but My Tesla Cybertruck Left Him in the Dust
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.
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You are lucky you sold that…
You are lucky you sold that pile of crap. BTW those are NOT TRUCKS they are very expensive shopping carts. Total Junk
Do you think the other car…
Do you think the other car manufacturers do this heck no. Gm, Ford, Kia, Polestar, etc that you buy a vehicle from them and then decide to sell it do you think they care they already made there money when you bought it. Tesla the only one with this rule and also not allowing them to do what they want with it like painting or wrapping it there dumb as posts. I just saw a white cyber truck the other day. They're the only ones with this garbage rule. You bought it you paid for it it's yours to do with as you wish example when the PS5 came out people did the exact same thing buy them and turn around and sell them can't be stopped you own it not them anymore once it comes off the lot.
I’m not surprised Tesla…
I’m not surprised Tesla banned him for reselling his CT. Yes, I think Tesla has a right to penalize people for reselling the CT. I have a CT. I’m very happy it is an EV and that I can use it to haul stuff. I haven’t had reliability/service issues and hope I don’t. I expect Tesla to fix any issues that may come up. The negatives I have are keeping it clean and the sharp edges that can cut you. I love the Tesla OTA updates and the fact it is an EV. Gasoline/diesel vapor literally stinks and will kill you eventually. Tesla isn’t perfect, but who is?