In theory, I agree with you — for hardware items. If Tesla sells a Performance Model 3, with a spoiler, special wheels and brakes, but mistakenly prices it as a Standard Range Plus, I’d say you got a sweet deal and of course Tesla shouldn’t come buy and rip off the performance bits.
But service items are different. They don’t exist unless there is a contract, a “true meeting of the minds,” in legal parlance. Your insurance company may send you a copy of your policy, but it is not in effect unless you pay the premium.
I'm with Oren in fact, not theory. If Tesla themselves sold the vehicle which they had taken back from an owner with a software set enabled, then it was incumbent on Tesla to remove said software set _before_ sale.
It is clear I was right about my analogy. Tesla licenses their FSD software to the owner of the vehicle and it is a non transferrable "license to use".
They need to be 100% clear about this so that mistakes don't happen.
In this case they should take it on the chin and just put it back. In future they should be better prepared.
Now that this is clear, it will make second hand Tesla's far less attractive. After all who wants to buy an 8 year old Tesla in mint condition only to find out they have to shell out $8k more to get the license for the features the car was sold with? I certainly have now been totally put off even looking at a second hand Tesla. I was checking prices and seeing where they moved to. I have now, officially, stopped.
This has always been a sore point in the IT world. Car owners are going to dislike it WAY more. After all, this means Tesla could sell FSD several times over the lifetime of the vehicle. They may be a blend of a technology company and a vehicle manufacturer, but this is one thing they don't have to emulate from the technology world.
NeilT, how exactly is it clear that it's a software license?
I just looked at my purchase paperwork and there is nothing that indicates it is feature akin to a software license. In my purchase agreement there is a description of the vehicle configuration. It includes the base model, the long range add-on, the wheel style, the paint color, etc., and "Full Self Driving Capability." Nothing in the text of the contract lays out any details about how FSD is treated any differently than any other physical aspect of the car.
Re that particular case, from the horse's mouth (
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/tesla-yanked-fsd-option-without-notice-class-action-lawsuit-any-lawyers-here-pending-resolution.183804/)
Teslas that pass back through Tesla's ownership often have those software options removed before resale. Just like they might have different wheels installed. At the very least Tesla definitely screwed up in not disabling FSD when they sold it on. But they don't disable FSD on cars sold from one third party to another (and have not gone back through Tesla ownership).
Somewhat of an aside, Tesla has acknowledge their mistake and is re-enabling FSD on that owner's car:
"A couple of hours ago I have got a call from Elon! Just joking! It was a customer experience rep, she apologized for my troubles, told me that Tesla has restored all missed options cited a miscommunication and it was not intentionally!"
(from the thread linked above)