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Tesla remotely unlocks Model 3 car, uses smart summon to help repo agent

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Re: Tesla remotely unlocks Model 3 car, uses smart summon to help repo agent

#91

As a bicycle and old motorcycles user I am gobsmacked that so much people accept that the vehicule they are using is connected or regularly phone home to the manufacturer. I guess if you share all your life on facebook and instagram, why shouldn't you also give away all your errands to any third party. Is there at least a license agreement you are showned at and have to agree to upon delivery? Can you operate those v…

I am not really surprised people don't care, they mostly want technology for either status or convenience and I don't think I can blame them for the latter

Re: Tesla remotely unlocks Model 3 car, uses smart summon to help repo agent

#92
post #24

Not much into US law, but can someone tell us what is happening if you had personal possession of value in your car?

This is my problem with it. Not that payments shouldn't be kept up to date. But that it moves decision making on the issue to a corporate entity a million miles away and you can bet there won't be any accounting for personal situations, or admin errors, or anything else. Your car will just be gone. Sorry, f@ck tesla on this.

Are you saying it's better to take loans from the local mafia.

Re: Tesla remotely unlocks Model 3 car, uses smart summon to help repo agent

#93
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, what happens if you remove the SIM card or the cellular antenna?

There was a story of some rental car that couldn't be unlocked again on some remote parking lot, because it was out of range. The customer did nothing wrong. They ended up having to tow the car in the end, if I remember correctly. With actual possession of vehicles going down, in favor of leases (or leases-to-buy) and short term rentals/"ride-sharing", and with ever more permanent monitoring, the future seems to go i…

There's a difference between owning something or renting it. When you rent something, there's a contract you sign that specifies what you can and can't do. You generally expect the owner to have the technical capability to enforce the contract in case you breach it. But when you own it, then no one else should retain any sort of control over it, period. It's yours only. (You obviously don't own something if you got it on a loan, not until you paid it off.)

Re: Tesla remotely unlocks Model 3 car, uses smart summon to help repo agent

#94
Why does Tesla even care if the car owner is delinquent on the bank note? At the time of the sale, Tesla was paid in full by the bank.

Is Tesla trying to become the underwriter of future loans, and this is their way of testing their automated repossession process?

Re: Tesla remotely unlocks Model 3 car, uses smart summon to help repo agent

#95
post #12

The main issue here I guess, is Tesla assisting the bailiffs. Bailiffs (here in the UK) have certain legal rights to enter and repossess your house and/or remove property you haven't fully paid for. They are granted this right via a case-by-case court order. If Telsa are also granted the rights within the court order to assist the bailiffs, then presumably it would be a fully legal action. At the end of the day, you…

Most US car dealerships will make a new key for someone repossessing a car. As Tesla is the dealership this seems like the exact same situation, the only difference is someone with the key can now remote summon the car.

Re: Tesla remotely unlocks Model 3 car, uses smart summon to help repo agent

#96
post #94

Why does Tesla even care if the car owner is delinquent on the bank note? At the time of the sale, Tesla was paid in full by the bank. Is Tesla trying to become the underwriter of future loans, and this is their way of testing their automated repossession process?

They don’t need to be the underwriter to affect the underwriting process. By enabling this feature, banks could be more willing to make loans to credit challenged people, thus rendering more Tesla’s on the road.

Re: Tesla remotely unlocks Model 3 car, uses smart summon to help repo agent

#97
post #4

While this is an "interesting" story, I'd love to get some verification on it. It sounds plausible, but almost illegal ? I'm in EU so don't know how really things work over there, but I would assume Tesla would need a judicial order siding with the bank to be able to do this ? I mean it's probably not the wild west over there. Or is it ?

In the US this is legal. Banks are authorized to repossess property if you’re late on a payment^. Private companies are allowed to participate in repossession as long as they don’t break any other laws. Tesla didn’t break into the owner’s house to steal their passwords or keys, they didn’t assault the owner. All they did was take his car. They verified that they were taking the correct car. Since the repossession was…

> Private companies are allowed to participate in repossession as long as they don’t break any other laws.

Why do they do this? Did the bank pay Tesla to do so? (I'm sure there must be some incentive system here).

Re: Tesla remotely unlocks Model 3 car, uses smart summon to help repo agent

#98
post #4

While this is an "interesting" story, I'd love to get some verification on it. It sounds plausible, but almost illegal ? I'm in EU so don't know how really things work over there, but I would assume Tesla would need a judicial order siding with the bank to be able to do this ? I mean it's probably not the wild west over there. Or is it ?

I think the mention of a bank is misleading. I think in this case the owner organised finance with Tesla directly. When he failed to pay Tesla on time they repo'd the car themselves.

Ahhhhh. This does make a lot more sense.

Re: Tesla remotely unlocks Model 3 car, uses smart summon to help repo agent

#99
Ya’ll are overlooking the reasoning behind this for Tesla: this would make a bank more willing to give out a loan to nearly anyone, even with questionable credit, if the car assisted with its own repo. It’s a play to get more Teslas on the road.

Re: Tesla remotely unlocks Model 3 car, uses smart summon to help repo agent

#100
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a story of some rental car that couldn't be unlocked again on some remote parking lot, because it was out of range. The customer did nothing wrong. They ended up having to tow the car in the end, if I remember correctly. With actual possession of vehicles going down, in favor of leases (or leases-to-buy) and short term rentals/"ride-sharing", and with ever more permanent monitoring, the future seems to go i…

There's a difference between owning something or renting it. When you rent something, there's a contract you sign that specifies what you can and can't do. You generally expect the owner to have the technical capability to enforce the contract in case you breach it. But when you own it, then no one else should retain any sort of control over it, period. It's yours only. (You obviously don't own something if you got i…

> But when you own it, then no one else should retain any sort of control over it, period.

Right. But there is another issue especially with vehicles... You need insurance to operate them on public road. And insurers like to monitor things now that the tech is available/becomes available...

And the current US government wants your car to monitor your "impairness" as well[0] and brick itself if it considers you impaired.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29427068

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