And it's not like a 'worn out' Telsa is going into the car crusher. Every part is going to be pulled from it and sold on eBay.
I look forward to being able to buy a Telsa motor for cheap on eBay. Maybe in 2026.
Well, it actually might. The article mentions it - if a car is deemed a "write off" by the insurance company(because cost of repair is quoted as >50% of the value of the car) then only Tesla can re-activate it. It's crazy, my dad used to have a car repair shop any buy dozens of cars that were "written off" by insurance companies, he would fix them, they would go through an official check-up process to be allowed on the road and that was it. He never had to ask Mercedes or Honda or Audi to "reactivate" their cars.
They go into the car crusher, but only after every part with any value is stripped from them.
(Yes, I agree that a functioning Telsa car is worth more then a bunch of Telsa parts)
If Mercedes could prevent people from buying written-off Mercedes cars, fixing them up and re-selling them, they certainly would!
Telsa can do this, and they have a phony-baloney reason for doing this (safety! protecting the children!), so it makes sense for them to do it.
And also, this is good for Telsa-buyers. If I spend 100-large, or 70-large on a Telsa, I don't want the hoi polloi to be able to purchase value-priced Telsas!
It's a win-win-win. Telsa gets more money, Telsa-buyers get a more exclusive brand, and hackers get cheaper Telsa parts on eBay!
Also used car market. people who pay 100k often don't drive it 8, 10 or more years - they get something new before that. Person who buys a $50k CPO car and maybe soon even lower will care.
Then there is the 35k Model 3 whee it will matter a lot more