this is definitely not true speaking as someone who just bought a used Tesla from Tesla with all software features
There are dozens of forum posts discussing this over the years on Tesla Motors Club and Reddit. [1]
People get confused because a site might list a car based on the VIN as having FSD but on Tesla.com the car is listed without FSD and the price is lower.
It’s up to Tesla to decide if they want to try to sell a used car that they own with or without certain software features. It all comes down to the sales contract between Tesla and the new owner (in this case the used car dealer) which is the key piece of information missing in this story.
[1] - Just one example...
https://www.reddit.com/r/RealTesla/comments/cx3dww/more_proo...
Also, when people buy a used Tesla and add FSD, do they charge the same price as buying it new? Most Teslas aren't that old, but I could imagine if you bought one with 25% of its useful life gone, you'd find it pretty unfair if they asked 100% of the FSD price.
Also, just on a price discrimination basis, I'd think people who buy new Teslas are willing/able to pay more than people who buy used ones.
Correct, if you trade-in your car to Tesla, they do not consider software upgrades as having any value. If you want to recoup any resale value for FSD you need to sell to someone other than Tesla.
It does seem like a wash however, not “paying twice” for the same features. The resale price is lower for Tesla without those features. And on a lemon law return nobody actually paid money for those features in the end anyway.