The first evidence of Tesla enforcing its anti-flipping policy for the Cybertruck has been shared online. An owner claims that their two existing reservations have been canceled, and they are now being prevented from ordering new vehicles from the automaker after attempting to sell their truck.
The owner, known as ‘Malinecentral’ on the Cybertruck Owners Club, shared their experience on a forum post over the weekend, explaining that they had listed their new electric truck on multiple online classified websites to get a sense of how much interest there was in the vehicle. The user claims he humorously set an asking price of $242,069.
Although they have not yet sold the truck, Tesla’s Loss Prevention team flagged the owner, as mentioned in their post. Subsequently, a store leader reached out to inform Malinecentral that they were being blacklisted.
Read: First Cybertruck Owners Not Allowed To Flip Them Without Tesla’s Consent Or Will Be Fined $50,000
“Moving forward, any future orders placed by you will be cancelled without a refund of the $100 reservation or $250 order fee as official notification has been provided to you regarding this matter,” the forum user quotes Tesla as writing.
The automaker did not respond immediately to our request for comment, and given Tesla’s past behavior, we won’t hold our breath.
Since the owner did not actually sell their vehicle, Tesla has not enforced the most drastic part of the contract. The automaker stated that it would penalize individuals who sold their Cybertrucks within the first 12 months of ownership with a fine of $50,000 or the profit gained from the truck’s sale, whichever was higher. While there was some online debate about the enforceability of this clause if someone decides to challenge Tesla in court, reports suggest that it effectively deterred Cybertruck owners from selling.
However, the first Cybertruck to be resold at auction recently fetched $244,500, and more are entering the market, though they are struggling to command the same prices. Over the weekend, a new Tesla Cybertruck auctioned at Mecum’s Glendale event in Arizona failed to reach the seller’s reserve price, despite some bids reaching up to $200,000. It will be interesting to see if this, combined with Tesla’s efforts to blacklist resellers, can effectively deter more owners from attempting to flip trucks.