American shocked to see his broken Tesla running again in Ukraine
The Tesla Model X electric car, which was sold for spare parts in the United States, unexpectedly returned to the network and started sending messages to the former owner’s phone. It turned out that the car started working again, but in Ukraine, writes CNBC.
We’re talking about the car of CNBC senior editor Jay Yarow. Late last year, he sold the car for parts after an accident. But when he opened his Tesla app and used the geolocation feature, he saw that the car had appeared online in the southern region of Ukraine.
The new owners also used the editor-in-chief’s still-connected Spotify app to listen to his playlists.
CNBC found that after the accident, the car was put up for sale on the online auction site Copart. That company has connections with salvage yards across the United States, including one in New Jersey, where the car ended up.
Copart specializes in damaged or wrecked cars and sells more than 2 million vehicles annually, operating in 11 countries. Such cars cannot legally be driven in the United States, but some countries have less strict approaches.
“Cars go to the repair shop or junk yard then find their way to a second market and then are suddenly being shipped overseas,” said Mike Dunne, CEO of auto consulting firm ZoZoGo.
According to Stephen Lang, auctioneer and founder of 48 Hours And A Used Car, this practice has been going on for decades and has accelerated with the advent of digital auctions.