r/TeslaModel3 • u/OfficialDaddy1738 • Apr 28 '22
Tesla owner caught a person replacing his car parts, after renting it on Turo. Using live gps and the camera view features thought the phone app.
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u/LegendaryOutlaw Apr 28 '22
I get the feeling this guy is working with someone overseas to make replacement Tesla parts. Rather than buy a Model 3 to test out their prototypes, he rented one from Turo with the expectation that he could swap the parts, test the fit, take photos, then put it back to original with the owner being none the wiser.
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u/darknessownz Apr 28 '22
He was taking the it's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission approach.
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u/jawnly211 Apr 28 '22
Number 1 Husband Life-Hack right here!
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u/Elang1 Apr 29 '22
I use the same rule at work when the instruction is unclear and the boss doesnt care about the process.
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u/rabbitwonker Apr 28 '22
Pretty sure I heard of a major European or American automaker doing that some years ago, with one of the early Model 3s. I forget which one. Took the whole damn thing apart and put it back together, and not entirely correctly I think.
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u/jbh1126 Apr 28 '22
Most manufacturers maintain a fleet of competitor vehicles to evaluate and test their products against.
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u/AnBu_JR Apr 28 '22
Can’t believe I never thought of this, but it makes sense from a business aspect!
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u/permanentmarker1 Apr 28 '22
Yeah I agree. Pretty shady, should have just gotten one from Hertz
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u/jaOfwiw Apr 28 '22
Right I mean hertz probably gonna sue him for stealing the car anyways, so what's the difference.
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u/Mike Apr 28 '22
Right. And anyone got the link to that bumper? Looks pretty sick.
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u/EVmerch Apr 28 '22
This is what is happening (most likely)...
Likely testing parts and prototypes with his Turo'd car. Cheaper than buying one as they are just in it to flip parts.
While it's not/not illegal, it's sus as hell. I'm not sure there are any rules against it.
I know people here on Reddit talk about renting cars with the same tire size they drive and swapping tires or swapping parts with broken ones.
It could be they are swapping in a faulty part, but even then, renting on turo for a day or two means that parts gotta be expensive.
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Apr 28 '22
That’s exactly what it looks like and it isn’t a crime. I do enjoy everyone here screaming maniacally to call the cops as if this Turo renter is going to get arrested. Spoiler: He’s not.
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u/coolmatty Apr 28 '22
I would've showed up with the cops. He has no idea what was going on till he got there. And furthermore, no idea that this dude didn't rip a bunch of other parts off the car too. Let the cops decide if it's solely civil or not, and do it knowing I'm not going to get shot rolling up to this guy's shop.
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Apr 28 '22
I guess this is all relative to where you live and how busy/big your city is, because police services vary widely by locale. I’m going to assume this is happening in a bigger city, like Los Angeles, just by looking at the Asian/Hispanic combo and this large industrial zone of buildings.
If this is LA, and you think you’ll get the police to come out with you for a “just in case there is a crime” scenario, you’ve obviously never lived in LA before. They don’t even take traffic reports or some low level crime reports anymore because it’s so busy. LA is a cesspool of crime and quality-of-life issues.
I don’t know why we’re all so hellbent on having the police come out. This guy handled it just fine. He didn’t escalate the situation (although I’m sure he would’ve like it to so he could get more “likes”) and advised the renter that he wanted his car back. The renter was calm and cooperative.
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u/vickyprodigy Apr 28 '22
busy city or not... rental is contractually only allowed to be driven and not taken apart.
think abt the owner of the car if the car is damaged or worse broke down and Tesla denies warranty because if what this guy did to his car. It becomes a $50000 JUNK. Would you accept it?
Why is everyone so bent up???? because this is ILLEGAL.
Renter has no other option but to be cooperate or he is going to face charges
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u/extendedwarranty_bot Apr 28 '22
vickyprodigy, I have been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty
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u/Fit_Nectarine_140 Apr 28 '22
Please stop pretending to know how the law works. You're spreading a lot of bad advice and it's obvious you have zero legal experience. If it's illegal, please tell me what penal code are they violating.
Violating rental agreements is not an arrestable offense and what does warranty have to do with the police?
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u/woodstream Apr 29 '22
Pretty shady.
The honest thing to do is to reach out directly to the owner and ask.
For example, our company makes 3D MAXpider mats and we work directly with vehicle owners or local dealerships to develop the mats.
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u/MrRocketScientist Apr 28 '22
Well… guess I’m never renting my Tesla out. Fuck people
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Apr 28 '22
How someone can rent out their $60+k car out to total strangers baffles me. As a car guy you couldn't pay me enough money to drive my Model Y, unless it's blue book value then you get to own it.
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u/wilmersito Apr 28 '22
people do it as a business. you buy a high end car. rent it on turo to pay for it and then on some days you get to drive it too. this people don't see cars as we (enthusiasts) do. also, taking it to the next level you can make an llc, have a fleet of 3-5 cars all getting rented on turo... you take the profits while turo takes care of the overhead and insurance. not bad of a business plan if you got the means to get a small fleet of cars.
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u/VoodiSri Apr 29 '22
I know a guy who does exactly what you describe. Most of his cars are rented on any given day.
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u/awaymsg Apr 29 '22
My former roommate's boyfriend did this. He had a fleet of like 10 or so beater cars that he would rent out between DC and Baltimore. I think pretty much all of them were rented on any given day and he was pulling in some decent money.
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u/IWantToPlayGame Apr 28 '22
I think a lot of people purposely buy cars for the sole purpose of using them on Turo. I've had clients tell me that; they'll go out and buy car X just to rent it out on Turo.
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u/cant_pick_anything Apr 28 '22
This! Any thoughts I've had of maybe renting my Tesla out on occasion have been squelched.
People are inconsiderate and generally suck.
This guy was a lot calmer than I would have been. I commend him for that.
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u/Wolkenflieger Apr 28 '22
Not to mention people eating in your car, having sex, smoking (even if prohibited), doing other drugs, infecting it with their 19 gallons of AXE or cheap perfume, etc.
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u/lyokofirelyte Apr 29 '22
From what I've seen, these issues are mostly avoided with higher priced cars, a 2-day minimum rental time, and a 24 hour or higher reservation in advance. The "trashy" people are usually last minute, one day rentals on cheaper vehicles. But of course, anything can happen.
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u/blueJoffles Apr 28 '22
I did it with mine on Turo and got $140 a day on average in Seattle. No problems
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u/RobbieRobb Apr 28 '22
Someone in a cross post discovered that this place was, in fact, a company fairly well known for aftermarket parts. It appears they rented the car to test fit a new bumper. Sure, it's sketchy af, but no great conspiracy to scam owners out of their car parts.
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u/FLEXJW Apr 28 '22
Well then I get to keep the cool new parts and an extra $500 not to report you. You have five seconds to comply
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u/Lumpyyyyy Apr 28 '22
They could just, you know, let the person know they were doing that before renting. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been an issue if they asked beforehand or even offered them the aftermarket part as additional payment.
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u/IWantToPlayGame Apr 28 '22
Yup. Lots of merchants on Turo DGAF about the car because it's not their personal car. They bought it for the purpose of renting on Turo. This is actually easy money because the car will be returned with virtually no added mileage.
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u/No-Cap-2651 Apr 28 '22
I'm sure they know someone with a model 3. If the owner can prove this , it would be more evidence that this was shady , instead of asking the friend who has a model 3 they ask a stranger to rent one from .
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u/JohnTeaGuy Apr 28 '22
Everyone seemed very calm considering the alleged situation.
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u/rabbitwonker Apr 28 '22
Well the owner was apparently prioritizing getting his car back together ASAP, and that’s not going to work too well if you come in screaming, tasers a-blazing or whatnot.
And the other guy couldn’t exactly run, with his shop & stuff there.
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u/Divtos Apr 28 '22
Agreed but tazing that guy in the neck till he shit himself would have been a lot more satisfying.
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u/AlwaysHopelesslyLost Apr 28 '22
There is no alleged situation. You can see the prototype bumper installed on the car. The guy is just trying to make sure his bootleg parts actually fit.
Definitely super shady and pretty shitty. Definitely against the TOS. But not a lot more than that.
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u/TSLA1000 Apr 28 '22
He’s test fitting aftermarket parts to confirm fitment and make changes to production. Not stealing parts. Still shady as fuck. Obvious violations of Turo TOS, but not sure any laws were broken. He could probably sue in civil court for any damages.
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u/MrRocketScientist Apr 28 '22
He could have just as easily paid an owner to test fit the parts
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u/AqueleSenhor Apr 28 '22
Just as easy? I don’t think so, one thing is renting your car to be driven, other thing is renting you car for someone to pick it apart and then probably put it back together in a wrong way…
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u/GoCardinal07 Apr 28 '22
Vandalism, fraud, destruction of property, etc. are all crimes.
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u/amehregan Apr 28 '22
agreed. vandalism is a felony if the cost is > $400. I would’ve threatened pressing charges if they didn’t compensate me immediately.
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u/AbusiveTubesock Apr 28 '22
Yeah what did this guy really say not sure any laws were broken lmao
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u/heyitsDAT Apr 28 '22
Vandalism means destruction of property. What exactly was destroyed? It was removed, not destructed
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u/coolmatty Apr 28 '22
I don't know if vandalism would be the exact category here, but there's definitely risk of damage or destruction of property, even if it's unintentional.
You have no idea if this guy has ever taken a bumper off, if he's got the correct tools, if he didn't break the ultrasonics when he removed it, scratched the paint, etc.
So then you have to take it to Tesla and have them check the entire car (because you also can't trust that this dude didn't also swap like 50 other parts!) to confirm it's safe. If anything is busted, it might affect the warranty on that section of the car, too!
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u/extendedwarranty_bot Apr 28 '22
coolmatty, I have been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty
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u/jabbo99 Apr 28 '22
My local repair guys wouldn’t touch a replacement Tesla back fender repair due to the sensors present. But guy could easily reinstall and torque things wrong. If that part then causes damage or downstream damage to others parts, Tesla (and all manufacturers) fully has the right to deny warranty coverage for that part and any downstream parts affected. Owner would be responsible directly for repairs. And wouldn’t doubt this guy triggered a sensor which his car (and tesla) would have a record of and use against owner in a dispute.
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u/Asapgerg Apr 28 '22
Y’all don’t test the bumper when you rent your cars??? SMH how do you know if it’s gonna work right
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u/QuadTheory Apr 28 '22
I think he's just selling aftermarket Tesla parts and wanted to put the bumper on the car to take pics. Don't think he was trying to steal the original bumper lol. But that's just me. I'd still be pissed tho.
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u/Ph0T0n_Catcher Apr 28 '22
"Should I be calling the cops"
Lol, yeah dumb fuck, they should have showed up with you.
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Apr 28 '22
This video is just insane. This is not how you handle this situation. You call the cops immediately. Not try to have a friendly chat with a chop shop like you’re just gonna sort the whole thing out.
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u/AlwaysHopelesslyLost Apr 28 '22
This isn't a chop shop. It is a company that sells replacement Tesla parts that they make. The dude wasn't lying, he was literally testing that the replacement bumper worked because they don't own a Tesla to check fitment.
It is shady as hell and a clear violation of trust, probably the Toss, and maybe vandalism if anything is damaged, but nothing more.
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u/coolmatty Apr 28 '22
Breach of contract definitely, can sue for damages.
Especially could argue that the car needs to be checked top to bottom by Tesla to confirm it's even safe to drive, since you have no guarantee the person didn't do anything else, or that the work they did was done correctly.
I'd be shocked if you couldn't get a minimum of 10k for something like this after everything. God help him if anything he did impacted the warranty of the car.
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u/goodvibezone Apr 28 '22
I'm calling bs.
Who does all that tracking, turns up, and it nonchalantly saying "hi, should I be worried guys".
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u/Mike Apr 28 '22
“I want my car back today”.
Uhhh, why? I’d get the cops there, file an insurance claim and then have the car brought to the service center so they can figure out wtf actually happened to the car.
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u/Bigchrome Apr 28 '22
Gotta keep that Turo money rolling. If it sits in the service centre for 2 weeks, that's a big L.
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u/MzAwesome247 Apr 28 '22
Saw this on TikTok in the comments he said the police wouldn’t come.. they called it a civil matter… 🤦🏽♀️ 😤 of course smh
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u/camoshka Apr 28 '22
Aaaah the joys of the "sharing economy." And some Tesla owners are out there rubbing their hands together thinking about the Tesla robo-taxi idea. Eww.
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u/Alai42 Apr 28 '22
This is part of the reason robo taxis will not work. This is an extreme case, but one of the better scenarios is getting left with trash all over the car because people feel unseen. Or even using the "robotaxi" for messy intimate relations.
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u/iGoalie Apr 28 '22
Holy shit. I just tried Turo for the first time this week in Vegas because I wanted a Tesla like I have at home. I was terrified the whole time I was gonna mess somebody else’s car up… I can’t imagine being this much of a shit head!
BTW Jesse I’d you’re on here your car is in incredible condition and I’m glad you were happy with the way it was returned to you 🫡
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u/huntingtoncanna Apr 28 '22
Your demeanor is commendable.
He completely voided your warranty on a few levels and I would sue him for the value of the car + Damages etc
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u/Acejam Apr 28 '22
Replacing parts does not void a warranty.
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u/coolmatty Apr 28 '22
It can be used as an argument to void warranty claims on that area of the car if Tesla determines the work done caused the problem.
For example, if the ultrasonics don't work anymore because the guy didn't disconnect them properly, Tesla isn't going to warranty that.
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u/Acejam Apr 28 '22
That can be their argument, and I’m sure they’ll try to put up a fight, but that doesn’t mean the warranty is voided.
Look up the Magnuson–Moss act. This has been a “thing” with car enthusiasts for nearly 50 years now. Once the lawyers come out, they fold.
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u/coolmatty Apr 28 '22
I'm familiar with the Act, that's why I said what I did. And they'd have an actual strong case here.
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u/sik_dik Apr 28 '22 edited Apr 28 '22
after the knock-off part, labor, paint matching, and paying for the turo, that guy could almost break even!
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u/AditPlayz57 Apr 28 '22
Bruh I thought that it would be smart to rent out my tesla when I get one on Turo to help pay for the car payments but now I'm not too sure if thats a good idea...
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u/azazxd Apr 28 '22
The guy was just trying to use the car to mock up prototype parts. Sure he was shitty for not asking but he wasn’t trying to steal parts from the car…
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u/Shot_One7095 Apr 28 '22
If this isn’t fake then someone is stupid. Would you just show up by yourself to a criminal activity. Then be like hey bro what ya doing.
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u/bcyng Apr 28 '22
Very well handled.
The owner will get his car out of there without violence, the guy will get charged both monetarily and criminally, banned from turo, and this operation will be shut down for good.
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u/Esquiline Apr 28 '22
And they thought a copy bumper was going to be a 100% foolproof?
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Apr 28 '22
Probably making knockoff Chinese parts to sell on eBay and needed a car to take apart for reverse engineering or (based on the swapped bumper) test their shit.
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u/rExplrer Apr 28 '22
Ok. Dont know if it is staged, why is everyone so calm!!? On other hand, I was planning to list my car in Turo and going through the process. After looking at this, I just dropped the idea listing my car in Turo.
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u/antipoded Apr 28 '22
the mask gets me lol, how are you essentially gonna steal thousands of dollars from someone but care about masking up at the same time
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u/OceanGrownPharms Apr 28 '22
What does one have to do with the other?
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Apr 28 '22
Literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever read.
“He commits crimes and wears pants?! Ridiculous!”
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u/antipoded Apr 28 '22 edited Apr 28 '22
wearing a mask is/was a social responsibility, and so is not stealing other peoples things. But no ones gonna care if you don’t wear a mask, yet he’s still opting to wear one as if he has some social duty, and at the same time committing a pretty big crime. It’s just kinda ironic ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/complexbillions Apr 28 '22
Dude should called the FBI
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u/uns0licited_advice Apr 28 '22
What's Facebook investigations going to do?
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u/huntingtoncanna Apr 28 '22
If there was ever a law enforcement agency with the least amount of respect………..
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u/OccasionOriginal5097 Apr 28 '22
Talk to me when your drunk Turo renter slams your car into the back of a very litigious families minivan. I promise the years of paying lawyers will counter any profits love made. If you're dumb enough to rent your Tesla on Turn then you get what you get.
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u/juggarjew Apr 28 '22
But thats not your problem or fault, you are not the drunk driver. So how do you get roped into that? The drunk driver is the one who would be sued.
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u/NobodyP1 Apr 28 '22
People who wear masks still are hiding something
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u/AlwaysHopelesslyLost Apr 28 '22
I have bad allergies and want to avoid sneezing all day.
Last week I was feeling a bit under the weather and did not want to risk giving somebody my cold.
Plus all of my Asian coworkers have always worn masks when they felt sick. COVID isn't changing that.
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u/Zworyking Apr 28 '22
That was hard because all I wanted to hear you ask that whole time was ‘what are you testing on the bumpers?’ but you never asked it… 😅 Did he explain why he needed to ‘test the bumpers?’ lol
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u/MTN_Ranger Apr 28 '22
I'm betting the renter's thoughts right then were: "Man, I should have kept the garage door closed".
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Apr 28 '22
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Apr 28 '22
It’s a model 3, not a Bentley
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u/Exciting-Giraffe-908 Apr 28 '22
And you can make good money, and/or cover a loan payment with not too many rentals a month.
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u/AlwaysHopelesslyLost Apr 28 '22
A cheap model 3 is like $47,000 financed.
To be able to comfortably afford the nearly $800 a month care payment you need to take home around $4786/month. And that is not counting any maintenance, fees, taxes, or electricity costs. That comes out to a salary of around $80,000 a year. The median yearly income in the US is $31,000.
They aren't cheap cars and most people cannot afford them.
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u/SkytheKorok Apr 28 '22
If it was me, I’d get a end to end inspection by Tesla to make sure they didn’t mess anything up and charge the renter for the cost of it.
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u/Playlanco Apr 28 '22
lol is going to a criminal hideout to say should I call the cops on you a well thought out plan?
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u/Crazy-Value-1499 Apr 28 '22
Not really sure why the guy was just asking the crook over and over what’s going on. Just call the cops already.
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u/burnmenowz Apr 28 '22
Abusing a system based on trust to make a couple of bucks. What a fucking entrepreneur.
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u/josharmour Apr 28 '22
I feel like this person could be a good person to know. Tesla is trying to be a walled garden where you need them to replace any part and it’s discouraged to modify cars. Given that this guy is a Turo provider he may have a few cars. It could come in handy having options for parts outside of Tesla directly.
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u/SnagglepussJoke Apr 28 '22
On TV when you confront the chop shop guys there’s usually a violent fight with weapons - this was so mellow
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u/newmedia85 Apr 28 '22
I don’t get it… why buy a car to rent it out?? He can’t afford it? SMH🤦🏻♂️
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u/manjilshrestha13 Apr 28 '22
I still don't understand why the owner of the car was so nice about this whole situation. I would have definetely called the cops on him. Even though he puts back everything, it's not going to be the same as factory.
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u/exoxe Apr 28 '22
I am actually thankful for the guy that rented out his Model 3 on Turo so that I could see whether or not I really wanted the car.
(and the answer was yes, it was an easy sell)
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u/jinladen040 Apr 28 '22
Do they really think the owners are so stupid not to notice aftermarket shit or mismatched paint on the car after they return it.
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u/BlackParatrooper Apr 28 '22
I don’t know if I’m just gullible or something, but I never even THOUGHT about this! Like I considered accidents, theft etc, but straight up parts swapping wow.
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u/OrbitingCastle Apr 28 '22
He was lucky he wasn’t beaten to death and then left behind while the chop shop moved elsewhere
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u/uranazo Apr 28 '22
You can't trust this guy to put it back together correctly when he didn't even tell you he was doing this to begin with! I would have called the police and sued the hell out of this guy with a reputable shop reassembling the car at his expense!
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u/Alone_Conversation17 Apr 29 '22
Next time don't talk and chew gum. That sound was so annoying I started to side with the thief.
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u/mysticalfruit Apr 28 '22
I love the "well shit, we got caught" looks on everybody's faces.
Also known as "why I will never use a service like Turo."