The electric car company quietly brought back the controversial rule for customers to resell their Cybertruck within a year.
In mid-November, Tesla added a clause to the sales contract for the Cybertruck pickup model. The agreement states, that the customer “will not sell or attempt to resell the vehicle within the first year from the date of delivery”.
Accordingly, for anyone who violates the contract, Tesla has the right to sue in court, or request damages of $50,000 or more. This provision applies to the resale of order accounts on Tesla’s system.
However, this agreement caused controversy, even opposition from customers and interested people caused Tesla to remove it from the contracts.
The penalty clause for customers who resell their vehicles within one year is applied by Tesla to the electric pickup model
But now, the electric car company has brought back the above clause, with the exact same wording as in November. Meaning, customers will not be able to resell the Cybertruck in the first year without written permission from Tesla.
Tesla decided to take possible action to prevent Cybertruck owners from quickly reselling their cars for profit. However, it seems this approach was not successful. Many people can still find ways to violate the contract.
In fact, car companies fining customers for violating car resale terms like Tesla has happened, but very rarely. Less than 1% of vehicles on the market are subject to similar regulations, and manufacturers only apply this method to special editions with limited quantities to protect product image as well as like price, Ivan Drury, an auto analyst at Edmunds, told Business Insider.
Ford GT is an example when the American company sued wrestler and actor John Cena after the actor sold the GT in November 2017. The same year, Ford sold 138 GTs. The lawsuit was then settled by both parties.