US guys repair a Tesla Model S with a salvage title but when they take it to a supercharger they fear it might be blacklisted
- A group of friends bought a salvaged Tesla Model S from an auction
- The car was blacklisted by Tesla, blocking access to Supercharging
- They tried to bring it back to life, using a Supercharger to test their work
Published on Mar 23, 2025 at 4:01 AM (UTC+4)
by Andie Reeves
Last updated on Mar 20, 2025 at 12:48 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
These friends bought a Tesla Model S with a salvage title, hoping to fix it up.
The car had been totaled and blacklisted by Tesla.
This makes it impossible for the vehicle to access Supercharging, as well as software updates and Tesla support.
To remove a car from the blacklist, it needs to pass a strict inspection, but these guys tried another way.
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The totaled Tesla Model S
Sam, who runs the YouTube channel Samcrac, is no stranger to troubled cars.
This is the same guy who bought the worst Tesla at auction, ultimately spending thousands on repair bills.
This time, however, he split the costs with his friends, with the agreement that one of them, Alex, gets first dibs on buying the fixed-up car.
Sam got the damaged Model S on auction for a fraction of what would cost new.
At the time, it had zero miles of range and the screen simply said ‘Service Mode’, complemented by an insistent beeping sound.
The team of friends began the rebuild, tackling the subframe repairs first.
The aim was simply to get it working again, no unusual mods like the guy who turned his Tesla Model S into a tiny home.
But the question of whether the maker would remove the car’s blacklisted status remained.
Can a blacklisted Tesla use a Supercharger?
Bringing a totaled car back from the dead can cost anything from $330, like this Bentley Continental GT, to much, much more – like the McLaren Senna that’s going to cost $350,000 to rebuild.
The case of the totaled Tesla Model S is extra expensive, seeing as the owner will need to pay Tesla up to $3,500 just for the Salvage Vehicle Inspection.
So Sam took their DIY repaired EV to the Supercharging station and hoped for the best.
Sam was most nervous about the AC system, as it hadn’t yet been repaired and is crucial for keeping the battery cool during charging.
Incredibly, once plugged in, the car started to charge
The friends waited for about an hour for the car to reach 80%, which equated to 220 miles of range.
It could’ve been worse, like the Model S with 250,000 miles on the clock that now takes nearly three hours to fully charge.
Andie is a content writer from South Africa with a background in broadcasting and journalism. Starting her career in the glossy pages of Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, Andie has a broad portfolio, covering everything from sustainability solutions to celebrity car collections. When not at her laptop Andie can be found sewing, recording her podcast, taking board games too seriously or road-tripping in her bright green Kia.
