Washington teen who bought totaled Tesla Model 3 for $15k reveals how much it cost to restore after built-in computer gave him surprise

The Washington teen who bought a totaled Tesla Model 3 for $15,000 has revealed how much it cost to restore.

You may recall the story of Winston Pemberton, who secured the car from Geico.

He’d gotten the car after his parents encouraged him to fix up the car for the family.

When he looked at the car’s built-in computer system, though, he discovered the truth behind its crash – so how much would this rebuild end up costing him?

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How much has this Washington teenager spent fixing up a Tesla Model 3?

Winston had been passionate about Teslas for quite a while, and his parents were very encouraging of that interest.

They encouraged him to restore an EV from a wrecking yard, and settled on a Model 3 at a wrecking yard.

Purchasing it for $15,000 – $13,000 for the vehicle and $2,000 for the fees – he took it home and got to work.

But how much did the car cost to repair in total?

Leaving aside the $15,000 spent on purchasing the vehicle, there was $10,000 spent on car parts.

Of that $10,000, $1,000 of it went to taxes, making the price more like $9,000.

At any rate, he’d spent approximately $25,000 in total on the project.

It was money well spent, as Winston shared on his YouTube channel, WinstonsGarage.

“I rebuilt a Tesla Model 3 for my parents, and we have been driving it for a couple months now! I hope to one day bring another Tesla onto the channel and rebuild it, but we will see,” his bio reads.

What did he see on the car’s computers?

The most attention-grabbing part of this story has to be the footage that Winston uncovered when he popped a USB into the Model 3’s computer.

The camera showed another car driving out in front, and the Model 3 subsequently smashing into its side.

When you see footage like this, it’s no wonder that it’d been declared a total loss.

Fixing it up wasn’t as big a challenge as restoring this Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye, but it was still no small feat.

Timeline of Tesla Model 3

2016: The Model 3 was unveiled at an event in Hawthorne, California, with reservations opening that same day. 180,000 were placed within 24 hours.

2016 – 2017: Development and production ramped up.

July 2017: The first Model 3 ‘production unit’ rolled off the line, and the first 30 customers received their cars.

Late 2017: Output remained low as supply chain issues were resolved.

2018: The Model 3 becomes more widely accessible as production accelerated.

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