In the US, that's not legal unless you explicitly give permission.
As shitty as the situation is for him I think he is not telling it quite truthfully. I don't think Tesla has actually proactively "locked" him out of the car. It sounds like the battery is dead and the doors are locked and they won't unlock without power. The car is out of warranty and really, it's not their problem. Be a smarter consumer.
Exactly. Can guarantee he signed a contract stating he would pay for it on specific terms and failure to pay accordingly would result is immobilization of the vehicle.
It's legal because he's essentially leasing a software based project with some hardware that he sort of owns but can't run without that software lease being in place. They didn't revoke access to the hardware he owns, they revoked access to use the software he is renting from Tesla. Which is "legal" even though it's shady as fuck and obviously not what the law intended by allowing software licenses to be revoked in that way.
Not really.
You'll find that he signed a contract stating they have a right to do this. This is standard contracteze for those who buy from those no credit lots. They put equipment (immobilizer with GPS) into the vehicle to do exactly this until the vehicle is paid off. If they miss a payment the vehicle is turned off. Take too long to catch up and they pick it up.
But without the contractual clause they can't legally disable a vehicle until it has been lawful repossessed. Thus the contractual requirement.
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