Tesla's Cybertruck VIN Activation Tracker (NOT Customer VIN Allocations)

[Celiboy]

Tesla

I bought a 2014 lease return MS in 2019 from Tesla.

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[Woodrick]

yeah, thanks

the suggestion was there’s some reliable and widely known data to that point

which I’d find more interesting than assertions that can’t on their face be distinguished from urban legend


And point of clarification: “most” people can’t hate it, bc few people have the luxury of buying new cars from new car dealerships

Sort of to the point of data being interesting - how many people lump together the ‘used car salesman’ trope with all car sales, the same way most people lump together ‘ambulance chaser’ trope with all lawyers

Since so many new car dealers seem to be selling more used than new cars, is there a difference?

Since I've always bought new and hate dealing with the scum, I'd hate to see what used car dealers do if they are worse!

 

[Beastmode]

I noticed something strange in the tesla app and wondering if anyone else has seen this.

When toggling from my model Y profile to my Cybertruck RN profile a 16 digit number flashes before displaying my RN#... Anyone know what this 16 digit number might be? I was hoping it was a VIN but it is just numbers and no letters. I ordered the FS CyberBeast on 12/8 and still don't have a VIN...

Anyone ideas?

 

[Woodrick]

I noticed something strange in the tesla app and wondering if anyone else has seen this.

When toggling from my model Y profile to my Cybertruck RN profile a 16 digit number flashes before displaying my RN#... Anyone know what this 16 digit number might be? I was hoping it was a VIN but it is just numbers and no letters. I ordered the FS CyberBeast on 12/8 and still don't have a VIN...

Anyone ideas?

There's another thread that just started on the subject, as well as an older one. It's some sort of internal tracking number, it's' been there for a while, doesn't mean anything. You can start breathing again.

 

[MajorVictory]

I noticed something strange in the tesla app and wondering if anyone else has seen this.

When toggling from my model Y profile to my Cybertruck RN profile a 16 digit number flashes before displaying my RN#... Anyone know what this 16 digit number might be? I was hoping it was a VIN but it is just numbers and no letters. I ordered the FS CyberBeast on 12/8 and still don't have a VIN...

Anyone ideas?

I saw that too a few weeks ago and it was mentioned on this forum. It was not a vin, trying to recall what someone opined and it made sense.

 

[evnow]

car to elaborate on what this means, exactly?

I'll link the surveys when I get time.

Simply put most buyers don't like the car dealership experience compared to say buying clothes at a shop.

 

[Lsanchez82]

San Diego!

Hoping you get yours sooner rather than later - have patience...it'll be worth the wait! It's the most comfortable yet most badass vehicle I've ever driven.

If you have enough referral credits, check out what was just released in the Refer & Earn shop in the Tesla App:

so you already drove the truck? I asked because you mentioned you will be picking up next week...

 

[GuyV]

Yep, Tesla people do not work on commission and nor have the relentless competitions against one another as dealer sales people do.

 

[GuyV]

Since so many new car dealers seem to be selling more used than new cars, is there a difference?

Since I've always bought new and hate dealing with the scum, I'd hate to see what used car dealers do if they are worse!

Sadly, they are worse. With used cars they have more things to lie about.

 

[cvalue13]

Simply put most buyers don't like the car dealership experience compared to say buying clothes at a shop.

Only because mental masturbation like this is what we’re reduced to absent Tesla tuning back in its VIN data stream, or otherwise stopping prioritizing influencer-weighted promotions and sales tactics…

Yes, I understand the trope that “most buyers don't like the car dealership experience.”

And, I wouldn’t suggest for a moment that it’s not fundamentally true to some degree and subject to some conditions.

But, especially in the context of comparisons to Tesla’s model, I find it a trope that smells rife with some other degree of misunderstanding or urban legend. For which reasons, I’d be interested to disabuse myself of that suspicion with some reliable and compelling data.

But, for me, here are some examples of what would be unsatisfactory brands of data:

• assertions that people don’t like dealerships because they don’t feel there’s enough trust or transparency

if people merely *feel* that way, absent sufficient data and particulars as to how/why their feelings are rationally related to their experiences, it does more to confirm my skepticism than undermine it

because I view there to be a lot of reasons, nether rational nor blame-worthy, as to why people *feel* that way despite sufficient experiences

For just some examples, there is obviously a social trope in the U.S., which we’re indoctrinated by and comes to set expectations and tone. And we each have too many personal experiences with such tropes that we individually care about and find irrational and unjustified, to not be skeptical of others we hear of.

in the late 80’s and early 90’s, take a poll of Americans regarding how real and legitimate is the threat of Satan-worshiping heathens doing ritual murders across the country, and most would *feel* like that’s a real issue. All th historical data shows this widespread fear of Satanic ritual killings was nothing more than a mass-hysteria propagated by platitudes and media. People’s feelings were real, it’s just that those feelings weren’t actually based on experience or reason.

meanwhile, as for car dealerships and car salespeople, given this social trope it will color the experience and emotions of people having even otherwise ‘fine’ to good experiences. If a person is told from birth that they’ll get slapped every time they walk into a grocery store, they’ll have a latent uneasiness walking into any grocery store even if they’ve only once been slapped.


• the opinions/experiences of buyers who fundamentally don’t understand the business of automobile sales


one reason that people have this pervasive trip about car dealers, is a completely misunderstanding of the business of car sales. Specifically, they believe incorrectly that car dealerships are robbing them vast sums of money.

The reality is, and there is vast and concrete independent data to support this, dealerships make surprisingly little net profit on a new car sale. The typical car dealership sees net profit margins of only 1-2% – or around $400-$800 per new car sold.


Of course, dealerships can net further profits if a customer comes without good credit and needing to finance, if the manufacturer is offering a dealer holdback, etc.

But if a buyer doesn’t understand even these fundamentals, they simultaneously have an outsized fear to what degree they’re being “fleeced,” nor are the unprepared to understand the basic principles of how to address financing or where to learn about existing manufacturer holdbacks, etc.

In other words, these customer’s ignorance is not merely limited to misunderstanding how low the net profit is on a new car sale, but also the basics of how to buy a car.

In which case, assertions like “most buyers don't like the car dealership experience,” starts to beg the question: does the rest of that sentence read, “… in some part because they’re ignorant of even the basics of how car sales work”? In which case, what is the intended conclusion I’m to reach about the bare observation that people don’t like things they don’t understand?

Which brings me to the next bit:

• people who have unreasonable expectations about what’s involved in the purchase of an asset with material headline value


you raise the example of buying clothes

there’s very little to understand about buying clothes. And moreover, there are a range of “clothes” for every income bracket, such that the emotional experience of buying new clothes is self-regulated.

take someone who is sanguine about buying $20 dress shirts, and instead put them in a Kiton clothier with $2,500 dress shirts, and see how they feel emotionally about that experience.

Cars are an expensive asset, for MOST people in the U.S. the most expensive single asset they will own at any one point in their entire lives.

Not only does this mean stresses are high when considering a purchase, it also means that these same people have little familiarity with the very reasonable and necessary complications involved with the acquisition of expensive hard assets.

The point of this sub-topic being: most people are used to buying fungible assets like clothes, and unused to the natural complications of instead buying material hard assets. You buy a whole company, the transaction involves some level of thinking and self-care. You buy a house, the transaction involves some level of thinking and self-care. And, for a LOT of people, buying a new vehicle is as close to these experiences as they ever get.



I could go on with some other skepticisms about from where - not entirely - but in some part, this trope comes from about “I dislike the car buying experience.” But sufficed to say, when I hear that, I’m left wanting to know also based on what experiences exactly, whether they had those bad experiences despite understanding the reality of car sales businesses (and their margins), and whether their discomfort was colored by some natural and unavoidable stresses and complications around making the sort of investments they’re simply unused to experiencing, for starters.



Which altogether brings me to the response someone would have:

“Well, Tesla fixes all that.”

Which is exactly my point. Do they “fix” all that, or do they also do some material degree of sedating the customer into a FALSE sense of comfort.

I won’t belabor this side of the discussion only because I know the densest of fanboi’s will go knives-out, but let me leave it at one key observation on this point of how exactly Tesla “fixes” this.


In short, people “like” paying what everyone else is paying.

But have you ever noticed that fanboi’s will in the same breath say “Tesla buying experience is better,” AND “Tesla is so amazing because they have such high profit margins.”

Funny, that.

People are worried that traditional dealers will fleece them, are untrustworthy, and there’s no “transparency,” when a car dealer has a net profit of $400-$800 per vehicle.

And apparently all it takes to make some people happy is the naked assurance that Tesla will make far more per vehicle, and in exchange, it will simplify matters *for* you by a take-it-or-leave it sales strategy.

In other words, Tesla doesn’t appear to ‘fix’ these fundamental concerns by them not still being present. Tesla ‘fixes’ these fundamental concerns by assuring you that neither you nor NOBODY else gets a better deal, or more transparency, or better trust. But, only because Tesla is going to make more off everyone equally, allow no transparency to anyone equally, and leave nothing to be trusted over equally.



Now, as a corporate matter, good on Tesla.

As a customer satisfaction matter?

I’m, as said, left skeptical that people are getting what they think they’re getting with Tesla, and equally skeptical that people that gullible ever knew what they were getting with a traditional dealership.

Not discounting that bad experiences are out there, should and can be remedied. Instead moving past that obvious point to wondering whether people are even intellectually honest about their reasons.

 

[cvalue13]

Yep, Tesla people do not work on commission and nor have the relentless competitions against one another as dealer sales people do.

yep, because Tesla makes so much off of you on each car they sell, that there’s no need - customers just line up to give Tesla much more net margin on each vehicle than elsewhere, wirhout even questioning if it’s a good thing! Tesla’s told them it is, must be true!


Obviously the overall dynamics are more complex and multi-factorial than all that, but just to make the point that sometimes people appear to shout proudly about how, on one hand, they hate how traditional dealers squeeze money out of them, and much prefer just bending over and giving whatever Tesla wants because at least they have the comfort everyone’s getting the same buggering!

 

[evnow]

But, especially in the context of comparisons to Tesla’s model, I find it a trope that smells rife with some other degree of misunderstanding or urban legend. For which reasons, I’d be interested to disabuse myself of that suspicion with some reliable and compelling data.

Well, if you have any data to the contrary I'd like to see it. You have given a very long reply with no backing.

A quick search shows people like buying cars online. You can easily find the links to those like this one ...

This is how the happiest car shoppers bought their vehicle - MarketWatch

or this ...

Study: Car Shoppers Happier With Buying Experience - Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com)

or this ...

Car buyers more satisfied with shopping experience than pre-pandemic, Cox survey says | Automotive News (autonews.com)

 

[cvalue13]

Well, if you have any data to the contrary I'd like to see it. You have given a very long reply with no backing.

oh no doubt people like buying online!

it’s why, for example, Ford has just forced 1/2 of its dealers to get onboard with a hybrid Tesla model or get out of the way

I’m not sure what backing you’d like for which points. Like you said, it was very long

Here’s a start at one suspected aspect (that touches on some others) - regarding net profits from new car sales

As for new vehicle purchases being the largest (or second largest behind a home) purchase by the majority of people in the U.S.: not sure that needs much backup citation, but if deeply interested:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/07/business/car-ownership-costs.html

For related reasons, as for most people not having regular/sufficient experience buying large hard assets - again not sure that needs much backup citation, but the point is that the vast majority of people who have ever been a party to large hard asset transactions, those transactions are primarily for homes and vehicles (see prior link), which for the vast majority don’t occur frequently.

In the point of Tesla’s relative net margins per vehicle: *gestures broadly at this forum’s ubiquitous quips about how awesome that is for Tesla shareholders, and relative silence on the implications for consumers*

 

[evnow]

I’m not sure what backing you’d like for which points. Like you said, it was very long

You are basically saying that buyers are not satisfied because they believe the "urban myth" that buying cars is a bad experience.

Do you have any data to show this is true i.e. when people go and buy a car their experience is different from what they thought it would be ?

It is wrong to think people need a lot of experience to figure out what the experience is like. You don't go and visit a country 25 times to get a "statistically valid" opinion about it. You don't go to a doctor that many times to form an opinion. I might buy the car only once - but if I feel pressured, later if I feel I was lied to etc that is good enough to form a valid opinion. And most people have a few experiences (and examples of people they trust).

BTW, for transparency - do you have any links to dealerships, past and present ?

 

[Lsanchez82]

i am curious @cvalue13 do you own a dealership or something because my god man you certainly like to argue. so either you are a closet car dealor in a tesla forum or you just enjoy arguing with people (like my wifes ex husband) you know god well that no-one here will ever come around and be like "oh my god your right, thanks for telling me that, ive been wrong all this time" as is the case with virtually all online forums. can we just stop the bickering at some point and get back to bitching about our reservations ? lol

In case you want to feel drained and miserable for several hours, don't go to a dealership to buy a car. Sales people there are not regular sales people, they are sales people that uses the cheapest sales tactics. In my opinion, in general dealerships are full of crooked people. A recent example that I can share is this... I needed pepper tape to cover some cables in my MY due to rodents destroying them. Honda sells one, I went to the dealership to see if they have it and they sold one to me. At the time of payment, the guy told me it was $80 dollars for tge roll of tape. I told him that was strange since at the official honda parts online store it was $40. His answer was yeah, I see, but we are a "dealership." I ended up buying it there, then buying 2 rolls online, and then returning one at the crooked dealership for a full refund after a couple days.

They roll like this all the time, they are crooked, their services, their prices, their markups over sticker prices excusing themselves with COVID-19... all of it.

At least at Porsche they give you breakfast and fancier stuff, but the crooked core remains the same. The hell with dealerships...

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