Just bought a model 3 at auction, they say no keys, but touch screen says profile adjusted

Congratulations! Based on the trim I’m guessing between 2017-2020? 65K miles nice! Looks like you snagged a good one. If you don’t mind me asking, how much did you end up getting it for at auction?

You can easily get a tesla key , just look up some info on it. Easy fix.

I don’t get it Model 3/Y only has keycards.

2018 dual motor, long range battery, 65k miles. its a salvage car with "front end" damage, so probably something borked underneath. 8k delivered to my door from copart.

Once ownership is transferred to you, you can use the app to get a key or go to Tesla and have a card programmed. In both cases, an account is recommended to make sure you get everything set properly.

Called tesla, looks like a ownership transfer will allow phone usage so its a minor issue, but was curious to know how if the key card is likely to be in the car in this photo

Get at least one key card anyways, I have had few occasions where I’m next to the car with groceries and it refuses to open. Having that one card in the wallet saves the day.

They have to have something. Maybe no key as in physical key, they dont count the card as a key. Remember to go into the locks menu ection when you get it and remove all keys if there are more than one keycard

I’ve bought plenty of cars from insurance auction without keys for whatever reason. So based on what you see on the screen, there is likelihood to be a key(card) present?

I’m asking if there’s likelihood to be a key in the car and if it can be determined from this photo. This is an insurance auction where things are as is. Sometimes for whatever reason keys don’t make it with a car. This particular car I bought is being sold as not having keys included with it.

You can set driver profiles not linked to a key or phone. For instance I have a family member and a friend in my list dont have a key, they just have a profile for when they sometimes drive the car but no profile assigned yo a key

Can't tell from that photo. Look under the locks tab for connected keys I think. It's only going to register if it's tapped on the center console though. Unless Alex left his phone in there...

I definitely plan on it. Looks like they are self programmable too. I will reset the car to factory default and remove previously stored keys once I get mine going

Get the vehicle transferred to you and then use your phone as a key. If you want a physical key you can buy them from Tesla for $40, or even Ebay for $20 and pair it to the car. Unlike most other cars they’re significantly cheaper 🙂

ok, thank you. thats helpful. I thought maybe a owner would recognize a telltale sign that a key is present. doesnt appear to be the case that a profile = key

The keycard only authenticates with the car when placed in a specific spot behind the cup holders. It’s not like a fob where it works from anywhere as long as it’s inside the car. There were traditional fobs for these too but they didn’t come with them and were an expensive add on that almost nobody buys or uses.

thats pretty sweet. ill definitely get some ebay keys!

ha! thanks, that helps. I gotta wait for physical delivery to transfer it, looks like. The steps involve changing the car's name as a form of 2fa

I just bought a 2022 RWD with 130k miles for $11K from copart. I paid a little bit of a premium because it has a clean title (I wanted to remain on supercharger network). It had a lot of stuff to fix. Broken headlight. Broken foglight. Broken side repeater camera. Interior cosmetic damage on driver seat, door, and steering wheel. Fortunately, all the parts were cheap and easy to find on ebay. I probably spent $600 and repaired everything myself. Now it is a great car. \[Edit\] The tesla service mode is also great at helping identify broken parts. But keep in mind that something like a broken camera can cause everything on the same wiring harness to show as bad. Find the one thing that needs to be fixed and everything works again.

Damn. That's a crazy deal. Wow. Are you registered or something to take part in auctions or you just were scrolling the Copart website and smashed the like button on this one?

Not bad. Hopefully Tesla still allows supercharging. I have a 2018 stealth performance with about that mileage. Still running just fine

Just fyi you can buy cheap key cards off Amazon if needed and program them to the car once you're in it. But the phone app transfer can take anywhere from 15min to a day to confirm with Tesla. If they're taking these photos, they have a key card at bare minimum.

You still have to have the Tesla card key to activate your phone. It will ask you to place the card in the center console by the arm rest. Tesla people should have told you that.

Driver profile adjusted just means that your seat settings, or steering wheel, or any other settings you have modified are changed and matched to your profile so you can switch between drivers with ease

As far as I’m aware you have to have a functioning key to program a new key. Unless tesla is helping you with it

You can get a fob for it too.

My understanding was also that you have to have a key with you to program a phone as a key, and only one phone can be associated with one key.

That used to be the case but now you can setup a phone key without having a physical key. You still need the physical key to add another physical key on your own.

interesting. Ill deal with that when the car gets here, I guess. The phone rep at Tesla (just called) said once the car is added to my account, I'd be able to add my phone as a key and then program the keys. He may have been wrong.

Not being familiar with Tesla (yet) didnt know if that was a sign a particular key tailored to a driver is in the car.

The rep did not. Said once the car is added to my account the phone can be used as a key immediately.

My understanding is that Tesla disables supercharging for cars with salvage designations, regardless of the reason, until they can inspect it (for a hefty $1500 fee) and allow it back. I assume they scour DMV databases for tesla vins with salvage titles.

I buy cars there all the time. Im a mechanic / fix cars for a living. I assume something will be wrong with it, but thats part of the discount / risk. It got totalled for a reason. Could be a bump in the floor, could be a battery hit and damaged, etc.

Yeah the only way a key would change which driver profile is active is if it was on the console right behind the cup holders. Otherwise it wouldn’t register in the vehicle. So it’s likely not in the car based on that notification. However, there are some hiding spots in the console especially if they added some aftermarket mods to the interior.

thats what i was wondering about. What about the screen photo tells you there's a keycard present? Other members of this sub seem to think otherwise. The auction has all kinds of equipment to move cars around that dont have keys.

Oh, that's a nice addition

So if I want to program a physical key to the car I'll have to drive to a service center and get it done there

great to know. thank you.

The screen tells me nothing other than they are able to unlock the car natively somehow. The car says it's currently unlocked in that photo.

Nice, I just got a 2018 mid range with 105k miles for about $10k delivered from Manheim.

That’s probably true - still fingers crossed

so if you walk away from the car right now (without a key card) would it automatically lock itself?

clean title and functional, i assume, not salvage like mine

It will remain unlocked if a key card was used. If a phone key was used, it would auto lock.

I could be wrong especially if you already have a Tesla account but you have to have one of the keys to enable the phone otherwise you could just go sit in someone’s car and program your phone as the key. Having the key card that came with the car is like a security two factor authentication for programming your phone. Good luck either way. I also got my Tesla in March of 2022 so maybe the process has changed but I doubt it.

It is always good to have a second key card in your wallet. You never know when or how you might not have access to your phone.

no you can do that by yourself i believe. i can test it later since i have 2 keycards for my car if u want. but if u go to the lock tab, u can unpair any existing phones or keys. i recommend checking that so no one comes take your car without your knowledge. profile is just user preferences like seat position and climate control stuff.

Hey man just wanted to say I have owned Teslas since 2019 and I’m handy + understand the tech, but I learned a bunch from you from your responses in these comments. Looking forward to what you learn as you get it working again. Maybe you’ll become a lifetime fan

there is an account transfer process where I have to provide Tesla with a bill of sale / ownership info and ID to match. its not as simple as one code, but its step one in the process.

sure. if you want, id appreciate it. thanks

As an old dog mechanic you have to move with the times and learn new stuff continually. Ive been dipping my toes in EV stuff, it isnt going away. Ive not driven a model 3 yet, actually. Just a model S and some others, but if i start working on them im sure i can pick up some business, though im pretty busy as it is.

the rep is correct. titoblood is incorrect.

good to know. Do you know if a key can then be programmed having just the phone? Rep did say that was possible

Driver profile adjusted means something has changed and is saved within the car. If I change my seats position for example it gives the same message.

All that message is saying is that those settings are configured and adjusted based on the current active user profile it has no indication of what keys are or are not present.

I have bought a few at auction without keys. You cannot program without a physical key. What i did is use the bill of sale to transfer for the phone access, then I ordered 2 keys on ebay. I had to have the fist one programmed by mobile service which was $12 and then programmed the other myself

How much are model y costing at auction?

I dont think you can create phone keys just because you got the car transferred to your Tesla account. It will still ask you to tap the key card before letting you create a phone key. Going (or towing it) to a service center should fix it.

But there can be multiple phone keys.

How much did you get it for?

ok, thanks. Im not familiar with teslas so didnt know if the car would come alive and display a profile without a key being present. Newer luxury type cars will adjust profiles based on which fob is present.

In my experience that is basically the only time the phone-as-key fails -- when you are standing next to it with groceries in hand. It's almost like the cameras are watching and decide when would be the most inconvenient time to screw with you...

depends on condition, as does every car. I buy crashed and otherwise damaged cars only, and havent really kept track of model Y so i couldnt tell you. Taking a quick glance, the cheapest "BUY IT NOW" is listed at 17k for a 2021. Keep in mind, this is a salvage /as-is auction where cars get turned in various conditions, sold on behalf of dealers dumping problem cars, etc. Its not comparable to the regular car market where you can inspect etc.

Mine started to do it more often once I enabled Sentry mode. As if it likes to watch me fumbling with bags and phone and keys on repeat afterwards. Maybe add some classic Benny Hill tunes to it.

Remove old profiles

This is correct, we have 4 phones used as keys for our car. My phone is the admin of the other three however.

Get one of these. I have a carbon fiber one and my wife has a pick one. I hated having to carry around a key card, but now it's always on my finger in case my phone dies.https://a.co/d/cd2lAOa

I believe so.

Key cards are cheap on eBay do your due deligence

Get the app and get ownership of that vehicle, then clear out all old keys and make a couple new keys they’re cheap and quick to program. Profiles can change just getting in and out of the car depending on settings between easy entry and whatever driver profile may has been selected.

By now, this post has basically explained everything and i've ordered some.

No you can transfer ownership by providing proof of ownership of the car on your Tesla App.

Yes, you can. But ownership in the Tesla app alone is not enough to create keys.

Worked for me. You're misinformed.

Then explain how. If I log in on a new phone in the tesla app and unlock the door through the tesla app, the car will tell me to tap key card in the center console to drive. If I go into the menu and try to create a phone key, it will require a key as well. If you already has another phone key connected, you can add additional phone keys or key cards.

No, I don't care to. Educate yourself, I had this same issue when I bought my car.

You can still always unlock from the app

There are no keys by default, and you don’t need them. What you do is sign up for a Tesla account in the Tesla app, then show Tesla your bill of sale (proving you bought the car). Tesla will add the car to your Tesla account in 1-2 days so that you can control everything from your phone. (Which will be your key) It is possible to buy a key card, or even a key fob, but those are easy for you to add/remove from the touchscreen in the vehicle. If there are any existing key cards/fobs in the key menu (that the previous owner didn’t turn in), then you can simply remove them yourself so they no longer work for this vehicle

This used to be the case and may be on older vehicles, not sure, but newer vehicles no longer require tapping the key to add one. You do have to tap to remove old ones though

Congratulations

8k total

This hasn't been the case for at least a year now. You sure talk confident for someone who isn't informed.

A key exists somewhere on the planet, that place is not with the car or auction house.

😂

I think they dropped that requirement last year.

I didn’t have to have my keycard when I got my car. Bought it directly from Tesla

As a person who has a 2025 cybertruck and 2024 model y and a 2019 model 3 and tried to add keys between them with "new" (to me) phones purchased in Nov 2025 (Galaxy Fold 5's) - I needed a card key in all three cars to configure the phone key. Perhaps ownership transfers do not require this - similar to how getting a "loaner" at tesla no longer requires a card key to setup your phone as a phone key. Loaner process: Drop own car at service Sign loaner documents on Tesla app New car shows up on Tesla App Its already preconfigured as a car key to the loaner

Yes it is. Even if you can’t set up the Bluetooth phone key without a keycard, you can still unlock/lock and start the vehicle from the app.

You can just start the car from the app.

I just bought a 2024 Model 3 performance from Copart. As soon as you get the tittle in the mail fill it out, take pics and start the ownership transfer through the Tesla app. Mine took 2 days. After that you can use your phone as the key. I ordered 2 key cards from eBay for $22. Used one for the 3 and the other for another model Y. If the auction states no key then most likely you won’t receive one. I didn’t but it’s not a big deal. You just can’t do much until it’s transferred over to you.

Sweet. Was yours wrecked ?

How much was it at auction?

all in (bid, fees, delivery) 8k

Yeah it’s really easy just get it towed assuming you have AAA to a Tesla Service Center and they’ll code a new card. Cost 30 bucks for the tab cards and take like 15 min if it’s not to busy.

Great deal!

Do u have older one bc this deff wrong information. I just got a knew phone and didn’t have my other key w me, I just unlocked on my old phone and then added my knew phone and I was all set

Hello, can you update us on how the process went for you to get the keys. I am looking to buy a Tesla without keys from [Govdeals.com](http://Govdeals.com) and will face similar issue as you.

It was super easy. Prior to receiving the car I installed the app, created an account and contacted Tesla and emailed them a copy of the auction bill of sale. After 2 business days the car was added to my app. When it got here, I hopped in, the car detected my phone / Tesla app and offered to pair it. I drove it right off the trailer, fixed it and been driving it since. Killer car !!

Awesome, good to know 👍🏽

Good luck. I got lucky and mine was a damaged battery coolant connection from a racoon hit. The car is phenomenal. I would roll the dice on the Govdeals cars for sure if i were closer. My battery came in at 0% but charged up fine (it was still functional)