Auction Terms

Licensed dealers and private owners list their Teslas for timed auction. You register once with a phone number, bid on any lot, and the highest bid when the clock runs out wins. Every lot page shows the car's photos, VIN, a free vehicle history report, who is selling it, and a public Q&A where the seller answers questions before you bid.

There are no buyer fees of any kind — no registration fee, no bidding fee, no premium on top of your bid. If you win, the price you pay the seller for the car is your winning bid, plus the taxes and DMV fees due on any car purchase.

A bid is a commitment to buy the car at that amount if you win, and it cannot be retracted. This protects every other bidder: nobody should lose a car to a bid that was never real. The minimum opening bid is $100 and bids advance in $100 increments. Only bid what you are ready to pay.

Each lot has its own scheduled end time. A bid placed within the final 5 minutes extends that lot by 5 minutes from the moment of the bid, repeating until 5 minutes pass with no new bids. A last-second bid never wins by surprise — every bidder gets a fair chance to respond.

Lots marked No Reserve sell to the highest bidder, full stop. Other lots carry a confidential reserve set by the seller; the amount is never shown while bidding is open, but a Reserve met badge appears the moment bidding reaches it — from then on, the high bid wins the car.

If a lot closes below its reserve, it is not over: the high bidder gets 24 hours to make a best offer, and the seller can accept it or counter once. A reserve that isn't met is an invitation to make a deal, not a dead end.

The moment a lot closes in your favor you see a confirmation on the lot page and receive an email with the final price, the seller's contact details, and what happens next. The seller contacts you at your registered number, and you can contact them too.

On a dealer's lot, payment, title transfer, taxes, and pickup or shipping are completed with the dealer exactly as they would be for any car bought from a dealership — you deal with a licensed dealer, not a stranger. On a private seller's lot you deal with the owner directly; read Private-seller auctions below before you bid on one.

You can reach TeslaTracker at any stage of the deal at support@teslatracker.com — with a question, a concern, or simply because the seller has gone quiet. If you haven't heard from the seller within one business day, tell us and we will chase it.

Every lot page says who is selling the car: a licensed dealer, named with its location, or a private owner. Sellers answer questions publicly on the lot. On a dealer's lot, inspections at the dealership are welcome while the auction runs. Vehicles are sold as-is unless the seller states otherwise in writing, so use the history report, the photos, and the Q&A — and ask before you bid.

We run the auction platform, verify the dealers, review every private seller's listing before it goes to auction, and support both sides through the sale. The purchase contract itself is between you and the seller: TeslaTracker is not the seller, does not take title to any vehicle, and does not hold your payment for the car. That is what keeps bidding free. We do not make representations about a vehicle's condition or title status — the seller does, on the lot page and in your sale paperwork.

Some cars are sold by a private owner, not a licensed dealer. The lot page says so under Seller Type. Everything above applies to these lots, with the differences below.

• What we check. TeslaTracker reviews the listing before it goes to auction. We do not inspect the car, we do not verify who owns it, we do not take title, and we do not hold any money. The details and the condition answers on the lot page come from the seller.
• Paying. You pay the seller directly, and you pay sales tax and registration at your DMV. See the car and the title before you pay, and never send a deposit. You and the seller may instead agree to close the sale through an independent service such as KeySavvy, which charges its own fee, holds the payment until you pick up the car and handles the title (how that works). That is between you, the seller and that service: TeslaTracker is not affiliated with it and is not a party to it.
• Title and loans. Giving you a title you can register is the seller's responsibility. If there is a loan on the car, the lot page says so, and paying it off is the seller's responsibility too.
• Condition. The car is sold as-is. To inspect it before you bid, message the seller from the lot page or ask in the Q&A, and arrange it with them. If the car turns out to be materially different from how the seller described it, you may walk away without losing your right to bid.
• Completing the sale. A winner who walks away for any other reason, or a seller who does not go through with a sale, loses access to TeslaTracker auctions.
• Fair bidding. A seller may not bid on their own car or have anyone bid for them.
• Fees. Buyers pay no fees. TeslaTracker currently charges private sellers no fee. The fee for a lot is the one shown to the seller when they send the car in.

Winning a car and walking away hurts the seller and every bidder who lost to that bid. A winner who does not complete the purchase with the seller within a reasonable time loses the right to bid in future TeslaTracker auctions. If something genuinely comes up, contact us before the seller does — problems are far easier to solve early.