Tesla Threatens Customer with $50K Fine If He Tries to Sell His Cybertruck

https://jalopnik.com/tesla-threatens-customer-threatened-with-50-000-fine-i-1851521421

by thunderbong • 2 years ago

53 26 2 years ago

This will surely help sales numbers

neontomo• 2 years ago

I believe the rationale here originally was to dissuade people from flipping Cybertrucks for profit, since there's a lot of demand and they want to fill the genuine orders first, so it's been in the agreement for a long time to not resell it, but it's still mad to make him pay 50k for a product he owns.

jbombadil2• 2 years ago

If the original intent was to stop scalper (which I agree with), the agreement could have said “you’re not allowed to sell it for a profit. If you sell it at or below cost, you’re fine”.

kobalsky2• 2 years ago

then some would sell at the same price they bought plus their profit under the table.

wbshaw• 2 years ago

The secondary intent is to crush the real market at any price to keep Tesla customers from competing with Tesla.

Larrikin• 2 years ago

It would be nice if he did get a lawyer and we got some new case law that banned ridiculous contracts like this. But seems like he is already feeling defeated after the divorce.

staticautomatic• 2 years ago

Probably don't need new law. It looks like a textbook unenforceable penalty masquerading as liquidated damages clause.

josephcsible4• 2 years ago

I'd like to see the laws around this kind of thing changed in two ways:

1. Contracts banning resale outright should be prohibited. The strongest similar provision allowed should be a right of first refusal at the original purchase price.

2. Freedom of association should be limited to human persons. Companies as large as Tesla shouldn't have any more power to ban customers than the USPS does.

tallowen• 2 years ago

What size should a parking spot be? Who should pay for a larger one?

Over the last number of years, it feels like large vehicles have become more commonly used but most built infrastructure remains the same. I notice this at the city owned parking lot a couple blocks from my house - the whole thing becomes very difficult to navigate with the length and width of some modern pickup trucks/SUVs. It sounds like it's not a big enough issue in this parking lot (perhaps because it's only one large vehicle) but it would become an issue if everyone were driving a cybertruck there.

Should parking spots in parking lots be made bigger? This would probably mean fewer spots / more expensive. Should cars be split into "standard" and "XL" classes? XL spaces or lots that support XL cars could be priced accordingly. People purchasing vehicles would have a better sense of "oh this car won't be allowed in many parking spots.

Ekaros• 2 years ago

Even "standard" cars have become bigger in past decades. In many countries the norms of width and length of parking spots have been updated. So it is not just pickups, but pretty much all cars outside very few models like maybe Smart.

rpgwaiter• 2 years ago

No, parking spots should be made smaller and people should be prohibited from buying large vehicles unless commercially or otherwise necessary

bitbangboom• 2 years ago

I disagree with this approach. Forced compliance by the “stick” approach I think never wins against a compelling “carrot” approach. Some people are reflexively defiant to what they see as arbitrary punishments for personal choices. Incentivizing smaller and more efficient cars is better. This is an electric truck, it’s still big, but would the net positives of someone buying an electric truck be better than a gas one regardless of size?

sunflowerfly• 2 years ago

On a related note, many economists argue public free parking should not exist. People should have to pay the real cost of providing it, which includes maintenance, but also the opportunity cost of not using that land for something else. Therefore larger spaces should cost more.

jmclnx• 2 years ago

OK, I think that agreement may not fly in a sane court, but ...

1 year ? Did he divorce and move happen a week after buying the truck ? 1 year is not that long to wait. So, make arrangements to park in the back or visitors lot and take 2 spaces with the complex stating "on this date I will sell and get a regular car."

Or maybe even temporally swap the truck with a friend for the limited time.

Tesla Threatens Customer with $50K Fine If He Tries to Sell His Cybertruck

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