Tesla Sentenced to Refund Model S Owner for Fraud

Today, a Tesla Model S owner posted a blog on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Weibo, saying that, after 755 days, he has finally won his fraud case against Tesla. The owner will receive four times the amount he spent on the vehicle.

At the end of May, 2019, the owner purchased a second-hand Tesla Model S from its official website. The official website listed the vehicle as never having had a major accident, no structural damage, nor had the vehicle been submerged in water or burned. Through more than 200 tests, the car was in good condition, which was also confirmed by several salespersons.

However, under the new owner’s control, the vehicle broke down after about 3 months, and Tesla said that the reason was that several parts were damaged. The owner’s request to return the vehicle was rejected.

At the suggestion of the Market Supervision Administration, the owner entrusted the local motor vehicle judicial authentication institution to inspect the entire vehicle and found that there were cutting and welding marks on the rear coamings of the vehicle, proving that it had an accident before the owner had purchased it. After failing to negotiate a settlement with Tesla, the owner filed a lawsuit against the EV maker.

On December 4, 2020, Tesla was sentenced to fraud and was instructed to refund four times the amount of money the owner had paid. Tesla filed an appeal, which was then rejected.

Tesla has had prior inspection failures. One of the more recent examples was the #TeslaBrakes campaign that occupied the first half of 2021 on Weibo, and trended 130 separate times during that period. The ranking showed that netizens were worried about Tesla’s safety issue. But in terms of sales volume, Tesla’s domestic sales volume in August was 44,264 units, up 275% year-on-year. In September, a new delivery center was opened in Beijing with more than 100 delivery spaces and making it the largest delivery center in Asia.

SEE ALSO: Tesla Brakes Became Trending Topic on Weibo 130 Times in First Half of 2021